Speeches by Maynard.

“Good afternoon, and thank you for being here. Focusing on productivity and growth, which is why the council has been set up, and on the economics rather than the politics if possible, what would it do for UK economic growth if we were inside the customs union and single market?”

“You do not have to answer the question if you do not want to, and I take your point completely that there is politics—I get that—but if we were inside the single market and the customs union, would our economy grow faster or not?”

“That was not my question, Ms Bell; the question I asked Mr Cummins was, do you think our economy will grow faster if we are inside the single market and customs union, and moving much faster towards Europe even before that, or not?”

“I am actually going to go back to my earlier question, if that is all right. You mentioned that sectors are really struggling, and a couple of weeks ago goods exports and manufacturing were down by, I think, 11% in the last eight years, or something like that, which is resulting in a lot of people losing their jobs. Ta…”

“Constituents in Witney were extremely distressed to receive letters this week from Thames Water saying that their bills are going up by £19 a month from April, putting more pressure on household bills. Does the Minister think that is acceptable, given that the restructuring plan in the High Court is putting £800 millio…”

“Okay, that is helpful. Thank you for that. So there is nothing in the secondary market; what about the primary market?”

“Minister, thanks very much for sitting in on the other sessions; that was kind of you. For the benefit of the other gentlemen, as per public information, Live Nation Ticketmaster has 25% of the festival market, 46% of the top 60 venue box offices, 60% of event promotion market, and 40% to 50% of the primary ticketing m…”

“Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that means no investigation soon into this company specifically and its market shares.”

“I was very impressed to see the CMA’s announcement on 22 February of the investigation into Google and Apple. I was concerned to see the chair depart very quickly two days later. I was surprised to see the choice of an ex-Amazon UK boss as the new chair of the CMA. I have a whole load of examples of what the public and…”

“The CMA is about promoting and ensuring the proper working of open, fair competition. If you appoint somebody who was in charge of a company that has very strong, maybe dominant, market shares in the UK, yes, you might say the messaging is pro-growth, but if we are going to grow our country, it is about innovation, and…”

“It would show it more if you did not lose your chair two days later. Anyway, thank you.”

“Let me turn to the new subscription contracts regime, in respect of trying to cancel a contract and the near impossibility of doing that as a human being. Royal Assent was received last May, your consultation ends next Monday, and there is no date set for implementation, but it is next spring. What is going on for a ye…”

“Which finishes next Monday, yes.”

“Do you have a clear date?”

“What about getting radical and saying 1 February?”

“Spring means 1 April, in that case?”

“October is not spring, is it?”

“On ticketing, our data says it is 40% to 50% of the primary ticketing market and that you own two of the top four secondary ticketing companies in the UK. Does that sound accurate?”

“I am going to read you the market shares that I understand—just Google stuff. On festivals, back in 2018 you had more than a quarter of the market share in the UK; for venues, it was 46% of the top 61 venue box offices in the UK. Does that sound unlikely, likely, or roughly on target?”

“Good afternoon. I want to ask about market share. What do you estimate your market share in the UK to be in festivals and top box offices?”