09.07.2026: Lord Brennan led a debate on the contribution of live music to the UK’s culture and economy. Peers expressed the importance of live music in our lives, but also the wide range of challenges facing the industry in the House of Lords’ debate on July 2.

Lord Brennan, Chair of the Fan-led Review of Live and Electronic Music said: “A number of us were slightly disappointed that the Government published a draft Bill rather than an actual Bill in relation to the King’s Speech proposals to tackle the issues around secondary ticketing.

“I hope that that will be given greater priority as we go forward. Fans are crying out for action to be taken around secondary ticketing and on ensuring that anti-competitive forces in the primary ticketing market are not taking hold and driving up prices unnecessarily for fans—or adopting practices such as surge pricing in the music industry world.”

About the state of music education and securing the talent pipeline, Baroness Keeley said: “UK Music has warned that fewer trained teachers and a shrinking A-level cohort are damaging the industry’s talent pipeline. Without music in schools, music in the economy, culture and society will be seriously impacted.”

Baroness McIntosh said: “The agent of change principle is basic and easy to understand, but it is not followed in practice. We need to have it comprehensively implemented in England and put on a similar statutory basis as exists in Scotland.”

On the role of the BBC, Baroness Bonham-Carter said: “I want to mention the BBC: it champions live music, providing a wide range to suit everyone’s taste, including that which is not played anywhere else. It nurtures and launches British musicians’ careers. The BBC Proms, the five British BBC orchestras and the BBC Singers support an amazing education programme across the UK. We need to get the next charter review right and secure sustainable funding for the BBC; otherwise, there will be disruption not just to our media ecosystem but to that of the UK’s creative industries, including music.”

Baroness Hyde managed to fit an impressive nine Queen references into her two-minute speech: “While the UK sent this message to the EU, “I Want to Break Free”, live music in the UK has clearly been put “Under Pressure” by our exit from the EU, with 82% of musicians saying that their earnings have decreased because of Brexit, as other noble Lords have mentioned. I implore my noble friend the Minister: “The Show Must Go On”, because live music changes lives, brings all kinds of people closer together and is essential in enabling each part of the UK to thrive culturally and economically.”

You can read the full debate here or watch some clips of the debate here.