Starmer faces another unfulfilled pledge as ticket resale ban is omitted from the upcoming King's Speech

Despite having promised to eradicate the practice of ticket touting, the prime minister has, as of late April 2026, failed to secure the inclusion of any concrete anti‑scalping measures in the King's Speech scheduled for the following month, thereby allowing professional resellers to continue extracting exorbitant mark‑ups from fans of the Radio 1 Big Weekend, an event slated for May 2026.

Music industry organisations, citing fresh data that demonstrates how platforms such as Viagogo and StubHub have been systematically exploited by traders who inflate prices well beyond face value, have publicly urged the government to act swiftly, warning that the absence of legislative intervention could cost consumers "hundreds of millions" in inflated ticket costs, a figure that underscores both the scale of the problem and the missed opportunity for regulatory action.

The paradox that the government's own leader, who once championed consumer protection in the electoral campaign, now appears content to let a promised reform languish in parliamentary oblivion, is highlighted by the fact that the King's Speech—traditionally the vehicle for major policy announcements—has already been drafted without any reference to the long‑awaited ticket resale ban, a procedural omission that critics describe as a predictable failure of political will.

While the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not yet presented a definitive timetable for the introduction of a ban, the continued reliance on market mechanisms that reward profiteering, coupled with the government's reluctance to confront powerful secondary‑market operators, signals a systemic inconsistency between stated policy objectives and the legislative agenda that is currently being prepared for royal assent.

In effect, the episode illustrates a broader institutional gap wherein pledges made during campaign season are routinely decoupled from actionable policy, leaving industry stakeholders to bear the burden of advocacy while ordinary fans are left to navigate an opaque resale ecosystem that thrives on the very inaction the prime minister once vowed to rectify.

Published: April 23, 2026