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Revealed: how touts drew up secret plans to sabotage Labour’s ticket reforms

Exclusive: Footage shows private event, attended by representatives of firms including StubHub and Viagogo, where £73,000 was raised for political lobbying

While the government has rejected proposals to strengthen consumer legislation on touting – with the business minister Kevin Hollinrake even revealing he had “quite happily used Viagogo on many occasions” – Labour is expected to unveil tough restrictions on the practice in its general election manifesto. Attenders were warned of the risks posed by Labour’s proposals, which are designed to prevent touts from hoovering up tickets for events such as gigs by Ed Sheeran and Adele, or the West End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in order to charge huge markups. A spokesperson for the anti-touting music industry group FanFair Alliance said the Guardian’s findings appeared to reveal “a deep-seated collusion between large-scale ticket touts and the biggest resale platforms”, describing it as a “black market hiding in plain sight”.

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