UK minister pledges to speed up proposed ticket touting ban

Creative Industries Minister Ian Murray says he is hopeful the UK government can progress its draft ticket touting bill “quicker than we initially intended”. He spoke at a UK Music fringe event during the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool this week, Mixmag reported.

The policy was first announced by then Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy in November 2025. It would ban the resale of concert tickets above face value in the UK. The ban would apply to touts, to secondary platforms such as Viagogo and StubHub, and to ordinary customers.

“£400,000 a day leaves the pockets of fans and goes into the pockets of touts through ticketing. That has to be resolved,” Murray said. “We have got the draft bill coming as quickly as possible.”

The ban was in Labour’s 2024 General Election manifesto, and an open letter from then Prime Minister Keir Starmer, published by NME, vowed to “put fans back at the heart of events”. The King’s Speech in May, delivered to the House of Commons, listed the ticket touting bill only as “draft legislation”, and the ban was seemingly “deprioritised”.

UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl welcomed Murray’s comments. “It’s very welcome to hear the government is pressing ahead with the promise made in Labour’s pre-election manifesto to deal with the menace of ticket touts,” he said. “Fans have waited far too long for action.”