“(1) The Consumer Rights Act 2015 is amended as follows.

(2) After section 91 (prohibition on cancellation or blacklisting) insert—

‘91A Limit on secondary ticketing

(1) This section applies where a person (‘the seller’) re-sells a ticket for a recreational, sporting or cultural event in the United Kingdom through a secondary ticketing facility.

(2) The operator of the facility must—

(a) identify the maximum number of tickets available for a consumer to buy from the primary market for any event for which tickets are being re-sold through their facility; and

(b) check that the seller has not bought more tickets than they are permitted to buy as set out in subsection (2)(a) with the intention to re-sell, unless the seller provides proof that they have bought more tickets than they are permitted to buy from the primary market with the consent of the event organiser.

(3) The operator of the facility must not allow the seller or any associate of the seller to list more tickets for an event than can be bought by a consumer through the primary market.

(4) If the operator breaches its duties in subsections (2) and (3), they are jointly liable with the seller for enforcement action against them as set out in section 93’”.—

This new clause would amend the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to introduce provisions banning sellers on secondary ticketing sites from selling more tickets than can be bought by consumers on the primary market.

Brought up, and read the First time.

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

New clause 9—Secondary Ticketing: duty to verify seller’s details—

“The Consumer Rights Act 2015 is amended as follows—

‘After section 90 insert—

‘90A 90A Duty to verify seller’s details

(1) The operator must—

(a) obtain from any seller using their facility the information set out in subsection (2), and

(b) verify that information.

(2) That information is—

(a) proof that the seller owns the ticket they are intending to sell through the facility,

(b) proof that the information specified in section 90(3) is accurate; and,

(c) the seller’s address.

(3) If the operator breaches the duty under subsection (2), the operator is jointly liable with the seller for enforcement action against them as set out in section 93.’’”

This new clause amends the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to impose a duty on secondary ticketing platforms to verify further details from sellers using their platform.

New clause 10—Secondary ticketing regulation: reporting requirement—

“(1) The Secretary of State must—

(a) prepare a report on the merits of introducing a new regulatory function for regulating the secondary ticketing sector; and,

(b) lay a copy of this report before parliament.

(2) The report must include consideration of the recommendation to introduce a new regulatory function to the secondary ticketing sector as set out in the CMA’s ‘Secondary Ticketing’ report published in August 2021.

(3) The report must be laid within the period of 12 months beginning with the day on which this Act is passed.”

This new clause would introduce a reporting requirement on the Secretary of State to produce a report on the merits of introducing a new regulatory function in the secondary ticketing sector, as recommended by the CMA in their August 2021 ‘Secondary Ticketing’ report.

These new clauses all relate to the secondary ticketing market. In particular, they aim to further regulate the market in order to protect consumers in a sector where they are all too often left to fend for themselves. I do not plan to press these new clauses to a vote today, but I do want to speak to them. The Minister’s response will determine how we choose to move forward on Report or in further stages, because this is an important issue.

New clause 8 would amend the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to introduce provisions banning sellers on secondary ticketing sites from selling from more tickets than can be bought by consumers on the primary market. That is a direct recommendation from the CMA’s August 2021 “Secondary ticketing” report. The intent is simple: it would filter out sellers who have obtained tickets through the use of illegal bots with the intention to sell them on at a significantly inflated price. It would also reduce the risk of consumers being sold fake tickets.

New clause 9 would amend the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to impose a duty on secondary ticketing platforms to verify details from the sellers who use them. That would make it harder for bad actors who intend to scam or rip off consumers to use secondary ticketing platforms, as it would be far easier to track their details. That is also a direct recommendation from the CMA’s 2021 report. New clause 10 would introduce a requirement on the Secretary of State to produce a report on the merits of introducing a new regulatory function in the secondary ticketing sector, as recommended by the CMA in its report.

I will take a step back from the specifics of the new clauses to briefly address the broader picture of the secondary ticketing market, where consumers are continually ripped off or put at risk of falling victim to a scam. I am sure that many Committee members, and those who may be watching our proceedings, will have either had their own experiences or heard of constituents being ripped off or scammed for tickets to musical or sporting events. That is not to say that every person who resells on the secondary ticketing market is attempting to scam or rip off consumers—far from it. However, the Minister will know that when those scams and rip-offs occur, there is little in the way of enforcement against either the seller or the platforms that host and legitimise them.

The CMA’s 2021 report helpfully outlined the major areas of concern in the current secondary ticketing market. It said:

“We are concerned that some approaches used by professional resellers to buy up tickets may be illegal – involving committing fraud and/or breaching legislation introduced to prevent the bulk purchase of tickets using computer bots...Such illegal activity will reduce the number of tickets available at face value on the primary market – and increase the number of tickets advertised through secondary ticket platforms at significantly higher prices. The CMA often receives complaints about these practices but does not have the powers to tackle them.”

It went on to say:

“We are concerned that professional resellers may be i) speculatively advertising tickets that they do not own and ii) advertising tickets with inaccurate information about the ticket or the seller’s identity, which sellers are required to provide, by law, when listing tickets for sale. The CMA’s recent enforcement cases required viagogo and StubHub to put in place certain safeguards to ensure key information was gathered and displayed to consumers and that where such information was being displayed inaccurately this could be addressed. However, even if platforms comply in full with these obligations, speculative listings and inaccurate information may still appear if the resellers do not provide correct information to the platforms about themselves and/or the tickets they are listing.”

In each of those cases, there is a clear risk of consumer detriment, through being scammed or ripped off. As a result, the CMA in the same report made a series of recommendations to Government that would enable more robust enforcement in the sector. But shortly before the Bill was introduced, the Minister wrote to the CMA, stating that the Government would not adopt its recommendations. Specifically, and as part of what seems to be the quite weak rationale by the Government for not adopting those proposals, there was the suggestion that the conviction of just two ticket touts three years ago acts as a robust enough deterrent to bad actors. That seems more like the Government kicking the can down the road and failing to act in the interests of consumers, which was so powerfully highlighted by my hon. Friend Mrs Hodgson on Second Reading.

I urge the Government to consider seriously these new clauses. This need not be party political; in fact, it is far from that. They are direct recommendations from the CMA, given the work that it has done and that it does. It is a regulator whose judgment we all clearly and rightly value, considering the increased powers—and expectations for its work—granted in the Bill. The new clauses are cost free and would significantly increase the protections available to consumers using the secondary ticketing market in the UK—they would dramatically increase protections for all consumers. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

Two of these new clauses seek to add further regulation on secondary ticketing and platforms. The third would provide for a report on the introduction of a new regulatory function for the secondary ticketing market, to be prepared within 12 months of the Bill receiving Royal Assent. I thank the hon. Member for these new clauses. I am also grateful for the work of her colleague, the hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West, who has worked so hard in this space.

The new clauses reflect the recommendations made by the CMA in its secondary ticketing report from 2021, as the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston said. She also referred to our position, which we set out on 10 May 2023. At this point, it is too early, we believe, to bring forward further regulation on secondary ticketing.

One overarching point that I think it is fair to make here is that we should all encourage the primary market to do more to inhibit touting and report breaches of existing law. If anybody went to Glastonbury recently, they would have found great difficulty in—in fact, the impossibility of—selling on tickets, because they are limited to the person who bought the tickets in the first place, so it is clear that primary markets can do more to clamp down on secondary ticketing malpractice where it exists.

The Bill, under part 3, will itself give more powers to the CMA and other public enforcers to enforce existing consumer protection law, which includes legislation applicable to the secondary tickets sector. The shadow Minister referred to good work that is going on in this area, including existing laws. As she said, the National Trading Standards eCrime Team successfully prosecuted two ticket touts for fraud and consumer law breaches. They received prison sentences of four years and two and a half years and were subject to a £6.2 million confiscation order. Despite the imposition of additional regulation by the Breaching of Limits on Ticket Sales Regulations 2018, it is those general consumer protection law powers that the regulators have tended to use most effectively.

New clause 8 would make the platform liable where the number of tickets resold on a platform by an individual seller exceeded the maximum set by the event organiser in the primary market. It is already an offence to use automated software to buy more tickets for events than permitted, with a view to financial gain. If the rules are applied, there should be no need for further action on the secondary market, such as that proposed. However, we will work with the CMA to monitor the market and technological developments to assess whether the measure is both practical and necessary.

New clause 9 seeks to put a strict obligation on a secondary ticketing facility to verify certain information provided to it by a seller. The CMA acknowledges that placing a strict liability on platforms in this way would be an unprecedented step. Moreover, thanks to previous enforcement work of the CMA and others in the secondary ticketing market, choices and associated costs are more transparent than they were five years ago. Therefore, it is not clear to me that the proposal would amount to proportionate regulation.

On new clause 10, I would draw hon. Members’ attention to the Government’s response to the CMA report, which I referred to earlier. The new clause would involve producing a further report on giving a single regulator the capacity to utilise police powers and powers under the Breaching of Limits on Ticket Sales Regulations 2018. It would also give them the ability to enforce relevant consumer protection law measures. The proposed combination of powers would be substantial for consumer protection purposes, and we do not think that establishing such a body would be a sensible use of scarce public resources now or in the near future.

The Government have considered the proposal to create a super regulator for ticketing, but ultimately it has been rejected because we believe it would be disproportionate. We will continue to keep this position under review, and there is nothing to prevent us reaching a different conclusion should new evidence suggest it is appropriate. We are committed to adopting a proportionate approach to business regulation. We do not believe the evidence to date justifies new and onerous measures. In light of this, I hope the hon. Member will withdraw her amendment.

I thank the Minister for his response. I think his overall message is that the existing legislation is enough and is proportionate. I take on board that he will keep it under review. He will know that there are different views on whether the regulations are enough, and it will be important to do further work with stakeholders on this. If there are ways that existing regulations can be used further to deal with at least some of the challenges, we would obviously all want to see that.

The principle of not having regulation that we do not need if it can be dealt with by existing regulation is an important one that we all share. I think the question is whether it is enough, because currently the story suggests that it is not. However, I will not press the new clause to a vote today. We reserve the right to bring it back on Report, by which time we will have had further discussions with stakeholders on this. I hope it will be an issue on which we can move forward with the Government if we can demonstrate that there is a need to do more. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion.

Clause, by leave, withdrawn.

I gently remind the Committee that we have a hard stop at 11.25 am.