My Lords, I declare a total lack of interest in the sense that I neither buy through the internet for sporting occasions nor for the sort of musical occasions of which we have heard involving various persons with attractive names. However, somebody ought to speak in this debate on behalf of normal customers, who do not happen to have a big enthusiasm for it. However, I do have an enthusiasm for honesty and straightforwardness and I start by saying that if it were good enough for the Olympics, why the blazes is it not good enough now? The Government do not have a case because if they needed to do that to protect Britain’s reputation for the Olympics, they need to do it to protect Britain’s reputation for every other sporting activity and the like. That is the first thing and it seems perfectly obvious.
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The second thing is that what is recommended here is something I have long wanted—this I do have an interest in—as far as internet control is concerned. I am entirely in favour of the freedom of the internet, but I remember that when we got rid of censorship of newspapers in Britain, the one rule we kept was that every newspaper should carry on its front the name and address of the publisher so that there was a mechanism whereby people could properly discover the truth, the connections and the like. That is what I would like to see throughout the internet so that people could no longer publish, without any kind of reference, material which might otherwise cause them to be found to be fraudulent or incorrect. In this circumstance, there is such an open-and-shut case to do this that we ought to do it.
The third reason is this: the digital world moves very fast; the Government move very slowly and Parliament moves at a snail’s pace, so if we do not take this measure now, we will have to wait not just for weeks or months, during which time the digital world may have entirely changed, but, as always, until it is too late. If ever there was a case of stable doors—although that is a bit out of date as far digital affairs are concerned—this is it. We have to move fast, and we have to be able to move fast.
My fourth issue is the argument that says that we do not want any more regulation. I always find this a very difficult argument because I am in favour of good regulation and deeply opposed to bad regulation. So I have a suggestion for the Government: if they do not want this, I suggest that they put down an amendment to get rid of the 2013 Act because if it does not work, why is it on the statute book? It seems to me to be otiose regulation. If we are in the business of reducing regulation, this is a perfectly good thing to do. Let us repeal the 2013 Act. Then we will get another tick in those boxes and everybody will be happy.
However, if the Government think that that piece of regulation is important and good, all we need to do is improve it. I suggest that the improvement before us today is ideal because it is very light touch. I thought that the Government were in favour of light-touch regulation, and this is light-touch regulation. What it says is that if you wish to sell a ticket, you have to provide the information that, first, the customer needs, and secondly, if you are genuine, you have. If you are
not genuine, you do not have it, so it is jolly difficult to provide it. Yes, it is heavy legislation for the crook, but it is easy legislation for he who is not a crook, so therefore this is light-touch regulation.
I come on to the argument that we need a secondary market. Yes, we need a secondary market, but we do not need a fraudulent secondary market. The whole purpose of this is to make sure that we have a secondary market which is not fraudulent and therefore people are more able to use it. I want them to do so. I have admitted to not being a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac—although I am more a fan of them than some other groups—but I go to a lot of concerts and to the theatre, the ballet and the opera a good deal. When we have got an extra ticket because we thought that one of our young or somebody else was going to come there have been occasions when we have wanted to return it, and a mechanism for doing so is a very good thing. I do not want anything to stop that, but this is not stopping that. Indeed, it is making the system work.
If I may dare say this to the Government, regulation often makes the system work, where not having regulation makes it not work. That is one of the things about good regulation, and there is a distinction between good regulation and the sort of nonsensical regulation we heard about earlier today. Liqueur chocolates! The idea that we should have a rule that says young people cannot buy a liqueur chocolate—I realised then why I was not a socialist. There are moments when I wonder, but on that occasion I saw why it was.
People who actually think that you should regulate liqueur chocolates ought to stop and realise just how stupid they look. The result is, of course, that when you want to do something sensible, people who do not like the regulation of liqueur chocolates say, “There you are, there you go again”. I am trying to suggest that sane and sensible people do not regulate liqueur chocolates but do regulate the online purchase of tickets. That seems to me to be a moderate, reasonable, sensible, right-of-centre way of proceeding, which those on the other side might join in, just for the ride, if I may put it like that.