Business
Ticketmaster agrees to give fans better price information after Oasis investigation
Chi Chi IzunduInvestigations correspondent and
Mark SavageMusic correspondent
ReutersTicketmaster will have to give music fans more advance information about ticket prices, after complaints about the system used for Oasis’s reunion tour last year.
The Competition and Markets Authority says the company has agreed to tell fans 24 hours in advance if a tiered pricing system is being used, as it was for Oasis tickets, and give more information about ticket prices during online queues.
It comes after the CMA said Ticketmaster “may have misled Oasis fans” with unclear pricing last year.
Platinum tickets sold for almost two-and-a-half times the standard price, but Ticketmaster did not explain to consumers that they came without extra benefits.
As a result of the CMA investigation, Ticketmaster will have to provide more information about prices during online queues, helping fans anticipate how much they might have to pay.
It will also have to use accurate labelling, to ensure the site does “not give the impression that one ticket is better than another when that is not the case”, the CMA said.
The company will also have to regularly report to the CMA over the next two years to ensure it is adhering to the new compliance.
PA Media“Fans who spend their hard-earned money to see artists they love deserve to see clear, accurate information, upfront,” said CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell.
“If Ticketmaster fails to deliver on these changes, we won’t hesitate to take further action.”
The CMA also said it had not made any findings about whether consumer law was infringed.
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster said in a statement: “We welcome the CMA’s confirmation there was no dynamic pricing, no unfair practices and that we did not breach consumer law.
“To further improve the customer experience, we’ve voluntarily committed to clearer communication about ticket prices in queues.
“This builds on our capped resale, strong bot protection, and clear pricing displays – and we encourage the CMA to hold the entire industry to these same standards.”
‘No dynamic pricing’
The launch of Oasis’s highly-anticipated reunion tour last year descended into chaos, as fans found themselves paying hundreds of pounds more than they expected.
Many expressed outrage over allegations that Ticketmaster used “dynamic pricing” – where ticket prices rise and fall according to demand – prompting the CMA to launch an investigation into the sale.
However the CMA said it had “not found evidence” that such an algorithmic pricing system had been used to adjust the price of Oasis tickets in real time.
The confusion seems to have arisen because identical or adjacent tickets were often sold for wildly varying prices, a practice known as tiered pricing.
Although these fees were set in advance, the cheaper ones naturally sold first, leaving only the more expensive ones – leading to an impression that the prices were being hiked due to demand.
Even Oasis appeared to believe that dynamic pricing had been employed, issuing a statement saying they had not agreed to the practice in advance.
However, the boss of Ticketmaster UK told MPs that prices did “not move during the on-sale period”.
“There’s no technology-driven change to those prices,” said Andrew Parsons, appearing before the Business and Trade Select Committee this February.
“They are the prices which humans have agreed to. There’s not a computer or a bot behind it.”
Fans ‘feel let down’
Consumer magazine Which? welcomed the CMA putting pressure on Ticketmaster to make its prices clearer, but said the settlement didn’t go far enough.
“While it’s positive that Ticketmaster has agreed to follow the rules moving forward, it is disappointing that the CMA is not using its power to demand refunds for fans,” said Lisa Webb, a consumer law expert for the magazine.
“Those who felt ripped off when buying Oasis tickets last year will undoubtedly feel let down that Ticketmaster hasn’t been held to account for its past behaviour.
“Since this incident the CMA has been given stronger powers. It needs to show that it is willing to use them to create a meaningful deterrent for breaches of consumer law.”
Getty ImagesThe CMA’s action comes as Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation face legal action in the US over allegations they allowed brokers to buy up millions of dollars of tickets and resell them at higher prices.
The lawsuit was filed in California by the Federal Trade Commission and seven US states, and accused Ticketmaster of deceptive practices, including advertising lower prices that were actually unavailable.
The lawsuit also alleged that, in one instance, a broker had been able to purchase more than 9,000 tickets for a single concert during Beyoncé’s 2023 Renaissance tour.
When some of those tickets were resold on Ticketmaster at a higher price, the company was able to collect additional fees, the lawsuit alleged.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation have yet to respond.
Meanwhile, Live Nation’s CEO Michael Rapino has said he thinks concert tickets are underpriced.
Speaking at the Game Plan conference in Los Angeles last week, Rapino compared rock and pop shows to sporting events, telling Rolling Stone: “In sports, I joke it’s like a badge of honour to spend $70,000 for a Knicks courtside [seat],” but “they beat me up if we charge $800 for Beyoncé.”
The average price of a concert ticket rose 23.3% globally last year, according to data from the live industry trade publication Pollstar, reaching a record high of $130.81 (£104.36).
But Rapino said there was “a lot of runway left” in terms of price increases.
“When you read about ticket prices going up, the average concert price is still $72. Try going to a Laker game for that, and there’s 80 of them. The concert is underpriced and has been for a long time.”
Morrisons has said it will shut 52 of its in-store cafes along with some of its convenience stores, florists, meat and fish counters and pharmacies.
Eighteen market kitchens, 17 convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies will also be affected.
The supermarket said the closures are part of a shake-up which will result in 365 people facing redundancy.
Full Morrisons store closure list
Cafes
Bradford Thornbury – West Yorkshire
Paisley Falside Rd – Renfrewshire, Scotland
London Queensbury – Greater London
Portsmouth – Hampshire
Great Park – Tyne and Wear
Banchory North Deeside Rd – Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Failsworth Poplar Street – Greater Manchester
Blackburn Railway Road – Lancashire
Leeds Swinnow Rd – West Yorkshire
London Wood Green – Greater London
Kirkham Poulton St – Lancashire
Lutterworth Bitteswell Rd – Leicestershire
Stirchley – West Midlands
Leeds Horsforth – West Yorkshire
London Erith – Greater London
Crowborough – East Sussex
Bellshill John St – North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Dumbarton Glasgow Rd – West Dunbartonshire, Scotland
East Kilbride Lindsayfield – South Lanarkshire, Scotland
East Kilbride Stewartfield – South Lanarkshire, Scotland
Glasgow Newlands – Glasgow, Scotland
Largs Irvine Rd – North Ayrshire, Scotland
Troon Academy St – South Ayrshire, Scotland
Wishaw Kirk Rd – North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Newcastle upon Tyne Cowgate – Tyne and Wear
Northampton Kettering Road – Northamptonshire
Bromsgrove Buntsford Ind Pk – Worcestershire
Solihull Warwick Rd – West Midlands
Brecon Free St – Powys, Wales
Caernarfon North Rd – Gwynedd, Wales
Hadleigh – Suffolk
Harrow, Hatch End – Greater London
High Wycombe Temple End – Buckinghamshire
Leighton Buzzard Lake St – Bedfordshire
London Stratford – Greater London
Sidcup Westwood Lane – Greater London
Welwyn Garden City Black Fan Rd – Hertfordshire
Warminster Weymouth St – Wiltshire
Oxted Station Yard – Surrey
Reigate Bell St – Surrey
Borehamwood – Hertfordshire
Weybridge, Monument Hill – Surrey
Bathgate – West Lothian, Scotland
Erskine Bridgewater SC – Renfrewshire, Scotland
Gorleston Blackwell Road – Norfolk
Connah’s Quay – Flintshire, Wales
Mansfield Woodhouse – Nottinghamshire
Elland – West Yorkshire
Gloucester – Metz Way – Gloucestershire
Watford – Ascot Road – Hertfordshire
Littlehampton – Wick – West Sussex
Helensburgh – Argyll and Bute, Scotland
Morrisons Daily convenience stores
Gorleston Lowestoft Road – Norfolk
Peebles 3-5 Old Town – Scottish Borders, Scotland
Shenfield 214 Hutton Road – Essex
Poole Waterloo Estate – Dorset
Tonbridge Higham Lane Est – Kent
Romsey The Cornmarket – Hampshire
Stewarton Lainshaw Street – East Ayrshire, Scotland
Selsdon Featherbed Lane – Greater London
Haxby Village – North Yorkshire
Great Barr Queslett Rd – West Midlands
Whickham Oakfield Road – Tyne and Wear
Worle – Somerset
Goring-By-Sea Strand Parade – West Sussex
Woking Westfield Road – Surrey
Wokingham 40 Peach Street – Berkshire
Exeter 51 Sidwell Street – Devon
Bath Moorland Road – Somerset
Paul SeddonPolitical reporter
Rachel Reeves has suggested she favours removing limits on benefits linked to family size at this month’s Budget.
The chancellor told the BBC it was not right that children in bigger families were “penalised” through “no fault of their own”.
The comments are a sign she could remove the two-child limit on working-age benefits introduced under the Conservatives in 2017.
Some Labour MPs have been calling for a full reversal of the policy, amid reports she was considering paring back payments after two children instead.
In September, the Guardian reported that Treasury officials were considering a tapered approach, under which parents would receive most benefits for their first child and less for subsequent children.
Other options under consideration included limiting additional benefits to three or four children, the newspaper reported.
But speaking to Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 Live, Reeves suggested she did not want to see benefits limited according to family size.
“I don’t think that it’s right that a child is penalised because they are in a bigger family, through no fault of their own,” she added.
“And so we will take action on child poverty. The last Labour government proudly reduced child poverty, and we will reduce child poverty as well.”
She added there were “plenty of reasons why” parents who decided to have three or four children could see their financial circumstances change.
Manifesto pledges
Elsewhere in her interview, she all but confirmed the government plans to break Labour’s manifesto pledge at last year’s general election not to raise income tax rates, VAT or National Insurance.
“It would of course be possible to stick with the manifesto commitments. But that would require things like deep cuts in capital spending,” she added.
“What I can promise now is I will always do what I think is right for our country. Not the politically easy choice, but the things that I think are necessary to put our country on the right path,” she added.
Labour’s 2024 election manifesto pledged not to raise the basic, higher, or additional rates of income tax, or National Insurance – prompting a row last autumn when Reeves announced a hike in the contributions paid by employers.
It also promised not to raise Value Added Tax (VAT), a sales tax, although the manifesto did not specify whether this applied to the rates, or which products are subject to the charge.
The chancellor has not ruled out continuing to freeze income tax thresholds beyond the 2028 date fixed by the last government, allowing more people to be dragged into higher bands as their wages rise over time.
Pressed on whether she could have avoided tax hikes through lower public spending, she said she was “not going to apologise” for increased funding for the NHS, adding that reducing waiting lists was one of her three Budget priorities.
She also claimed that some of the spending she unveiled at June’s spending review had been pencilled in, but not properly funded, by the Tories.
‘Same choices’
The two-child cap prevents households on universal or child tax credit from receiving payments for a third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
This is different to child benefit, which is paid to families where the highest-earning parent earns less than £80,000.
Separately, there is also an overall cap on the amount of benefits working-age families can claim, which has been in place since 2013.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank estimates fully reversing the two-child benefit cap could take 630,000 children out of absolute poverty, defined as households with an income below 60% median average, at a cost of £3.6bn a year.
Pressure to ditch the limit increased during the recent Labour deputy leadership contest, where successful candidate Lucy Powell and runner-up Bridget Phillipson both indicated they favoured more action on child poverty.
Reform UK is pledging to scrap the limit for working British couples if it wins power, although the Conservatives say the cap should remain in place, forcing a symbolic vote on the issue in the House of Commons in September.
Speaking after the vote, Tory leader said her party believes “those on welfare should have to make the same choices as those who aren’t,” and Labour and Reform were expecting working people to pay for “unlimited handouts”.
The FTSE 100 hit an all-time best on Monday, passing 9,800 for the first time, as hopes grow for an end to the US government shutdown.
The FTSE 100 Index closed up 104.58 points, 1.1%, at 9,787.15, a record closing peak.
It had earlier set a new intra-day best level of 9,800.35.
The FTSE 250 ended 194.88 points higher, 0.9%, at 21,968.27, and the AIM All-Share climbed 8.07 points, 1.1%, at 757.54.
The risk-on mood came as the US Senate cleared the way for a formal debate on a motion to resume funding to federal agencies.
The Republican-led chamber approved a procedural vote after a handful of Senate Democrats crossed over to permit debate on a measure that could end the longest shutdown in US history.
“The prospect that the longest US government shutdown in history may end in the next few days has bolstered risk appetites,” said Marc Chandler, at Bannockburn Capital Markets.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 1.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt soared 1.7%.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed at around the time of the London close.
The S&P 500 index was 0.7% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3%.
Nvidia rose 3.9% ahead of results next week while Advanced Micro Devices climbed 5.7% ahead of Tuesday’s analyst day at which new financial targets are expected to be unveiled.
Morgan Stanley said the developments mean the government shutdown could end this week.
The bank thinks the first major data print post-shutdown is likely to be the September employment report, with other data on inflation and spending probably taking a further one to two weeks.
“We think the data in-hand by the time of the December Fed meeting will be enough for them to cut,” Morgan Stanley added.
Kathleen Brooks, at XTB, said the end of the US government shutdown “comes at the right time”, just before Thanksgiving.
“This should allow American families to fly all over the country for the holidays and it should mean that supply chains are fully functioning for the biggest shopping weekend of the year,” she observed.
Sterling was quoted at 1.3160 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Monday, lower compared with 1.3166 dollars on Friday.
The euro stood at 1.1554 dollars, down against 1.1582 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 153.97 yen, compared with 153.07 yen.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was at 4.11%, widened from 4.07% on Friday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.70%, stretched from 4.68%.
Back in London, the countdown to the Budget at the end of November continues.
Speaking to the BBC, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Budget will be focused on the cost of living, getting government debt down and cutting NHS waiting lists.
Speaking to Radio 5 Live, Ms Reeves would not be drawn on specific measures but said tax and spending decisions will be influenced by a productivity review by the Office for Budget Responsibility and ongoing conflicts and disruptions to trade.
It will be a “difficult” Budget, she said, but one focused on “fairness” and growing the economy.
Diageo rose 5.2% after it appointed former Tesco boss Dave Lewis as its new chief executive.
The London-based owner of Guinness stout and Johnnie Walker whisky said Mr Lewis, who led Tesco from 2014 to 2020, will join Diageo at the start of 2026.
Prior to his time at Tesco, Mr Lewis spent nearly three decades at Marmite owner Unilever, where he earned the moniker “drastic Dave” in recognition of his reputation as a cost cutter and turnaround specialist.
Jefferies analyst Edward Mundy said the appointment “ends the uncertainty over leadership transition and brings a heavyweight leader with extensive CEO experience on both brand building and transformation”.
“Not only does he have extensive CEO experience, strong brand-building capabilities and a keen cost focus, he played an important role in changing the culture and restoring the Tesco brand,” Mr Mundy commented.
Gains in the gold price lifted blue-chips Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining 5.4% and 4.5% respectively, while on the FTSE 250 Hochschild Mining jumped 8.0%.
Gold traded higher at 4,091.42 dollars an ounce on Monday against 4,012.24 dollars on Friday.
Entain rose 3.0% as Investec upgraded to “buy” from “hold”, while British Airways owner IAG rallied 3.7% after Friday’s heavy falls after third-quarter news.
On the FTSE 250, RHI Magnesita jumped 17% as it said performance has improved in the second half of 2025 despite subdued demand conditions.
The Vienna-based refractory products maker said adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation were 136 million euros in the four months to October, significantly ahead of the run-rate in the first half of 2025 and in line with guidance.
In the first six months of 2025, RHI Magnesita reported Ebita of 141 million euros.
JTC fell 4.3% after agreeing a £2.7 billion all-cash takeover by Permira Advisers worth 1,340 pence per share.
RBC Capital Markets said conversations with shareholders suggested that price expectations were higher at 1,450p, “so we think there will be a degree of disappointment”.
“We are not convinced that this is yet a done deal however,” the broker added.
Brent oil was quoted slightly lower at 63.45 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Monday, from 63.51 dollars late on Friday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Fresnillo, up 118 pence at 2,310p, Diageo, up 90p at 1,816.5p, Endeavour Mining, up 134p at 3,142p, Polar Capital Technology Trust, up 20p at 472p and SSE, up 74.5p at 1,943p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were London Stock Exchange, down 198p at 9,072p, Rightmove, down 10.2p at 563.4p, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, down 27p at 1,555p, BT, down 2.25p at 177.1p and Compass, down 26p at 2,479p.
Tuesday’s global economic calendar has UK jobs and average earnings data plus the British Retail Consortium’s retail sales monitor.
Tuesday’s UK corporate calendar has half-year results from telecommunications group Vodafone and sales, marketing and support services provider DCC.
Contributed by Alliance News
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