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Labour Live festival ticket prices slashed by 70% as Clean Bandit announced as headline act

Party insiders said the announcement of the headline act had generated a 'boost' in ticket sales

Ashley Cowburn
Political Correspondent
Friday 15 June 2018 12:30 BST
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Jeremy Corbyn speaks on stage at Glastonbury Festival
Jeremy Corbyn speaks on stage at Glastonbury Festival (Getty Image)

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Ticket prices for Labour Live – a political music festival dubbed “Jezfest” - have been slashed by 70 per cent in a eleventh-hour effort to ramp up sales.

It comes as the party announced the Grammy award-winning electropop band, Clean Bandit, as the headline act to perform at White Hall Recreation Ground on Saturday.

They will perform alongside Singer Rae Morris, indie band Reverend And The Makers and Sex Pistol Glen Matlock.

Festivalgoers will also get the chance to hear from Jeremy Corbyn, the shadow chancellor John McDonnell, and the shadow international development secretary Kate Osamor.

Tickets for the event were originally priced at £35 for adults, £30 for concessions and £10 for children.

But amid reports of mediocre sales for the event with a capacity for 20,000 people, the party has now cut all ticket prices to £10 and children can now go for free.

Unite – one of Labour’s biggest union backers – has also been giving out free tickets to its members alongside free travel to London if needed.

Party sources told The Independent, however, that the announcement of Clean Bandit as the headline act had generated a “boost in ticket sales”.

The party did not say whether it would be offering a part-refund to those who paid the full price of £35 when the tickets first went on sale.

On Wednesday, Ms May also used the festival to mock Labour, telling MPs the shadow chancellor John McDonnell and the Magic Numbers are among those appearing at the event.

“Just about sums them up,” she said.

A Labour party spokesperson added: “Labour Live is a festival of music, art and politics, bringing people together from all walks of life.

“This is one of the ways we’re continuing to open up politics to a wider audience and spread Labour’s message about how we can build a society that works for the many, not the few.”

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