Keir Starmer unveils ticket touts crackdown as he blasts Tory ‘conflict on tradition’

Keir Starmer would widen entry to music for all youngsters as he vowed to cap gig ticket resale costs to cease followers from being ripped off by ruthless touts.

The Labour chief accused the Tories of pondering “working people don’t need culture” and presiding over a “creativity crisis”, with GCSE enrolment in arts topics down by 47% since 2010. In a speech on the Guildhall School of Music in London, he rubbished the “patronising” view that music, artwork and drama is not for working folks and vowed to assist “arts for the people and by the people”.

Mr Starmer unveiled plans to arrange a brand new National Music Education Network, which might assist dad and mom and lecturers discover classes, instrument banks, repairs providers and exams steering to assist kids.

And he set out plans to cease touts driving up costs. The Labour leaders stated: “We can’t let access to culture be at the mercy of ticket touts who drive up the prices. So a Labour government will cap resale prices so fans can see the acts that they love at a fair price.”

It is known that resales might be capped at round 10% and limits might be slapped on ticket numbers. Labour would additionally beef up powers for the Competition and Markets Authority to deal with touting.

Mr Starmer stated the “war on culture” would finish with a Labour authorities, including: “We will build a new Britain out of the ashes of the failed Tory project.

But the Labour leader warned he wouldn’t be able to “activate the faucets right away” if it wins power when grilled on funding for the arts during a Q&A with the actress Cush Jumbo.

In an attack on the government, Mr Starmer said: “Look how the Tory Culture Secretary in 2014 – in the event you can solid your thoughts again a dozen tradition secretaries or so – stated that solely the ‘chattering center lessons and champagne socialists’ care about ticket costs. They suppose working folks do not want tradition. There is a patronising view that working folks do not care, and should not care, concerning the arts.”

Mr Starmer returned to the Guildhall School of Music yesterday, where he took flute lessons from the age of 11. Writing exclusively in the Mirror, he said: “Learning music opened doorways for me. It gave me that thrill of being on stage. It launched me to folks from totally different backgrounds, and after we performed collectively, it didn’t matter the place you got here from.

“Nobody cared where you went to school or what your parents did. All that counted was your commitment to hitting the notes, getting the timing right, supporting the group. For a working class kid like me, learning music was transformational.”

He additionally paid a go to to the National Theatre, the place he met actors Michael Sheen and Sharon Small, who’re starring in Nye, a play about NHS founder Nye Bevan.

Labour’s plans to get youngsters concerned within the arts have been endorsed by artist Damien Hirst, Happy Valley star James Norton and singer Beverley Knight.