Today, 17 July, the King’s Speech outlined the new Labour government’s legislative priorities, with the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill among 40 included.

The inclusion of the Bill, otherwise known as Martyn’s Law or Protect Duty, has led LIVE (Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment), which represents the UK’s £4.5 billion live music business, to call for an urgent review of the government’s approach to the potential legislation.

The Bill has been championed by victims’ groups, including the Martyn’s Law campaign, which was established by Figen Murray following the loss of her son Martyn in the Manchester Arena attack in 2017.

The Bill includes a range of measures with the aim of protecting the public from terrorist attacks at live events and venues. The set up and ongoing cost of Martyn’s Law is expected to be around £3 billion.

Two tiers of venues are laid out in the draft Bill; standard and enhanced.

  • The standard tier – Premises with a maximum capacity of 100 or more people are required to undertake “low-cost” activities such as terrorism protection training.
  • The enhanced tier – Premises with a maximum capacity of 800 or more people are required to invest more time into counter-terrorism measures, such as appointing a designated senior officer for the review of venue security.

The Bill also introduces a regulator, with the power to inspect and enforce the requirements for each tier. The regulator has the power to hand out sanctions and penalties for non-compliance. Fines for non-compliance are up to £10,000 for those in the standard tier and up to £18m, or 5% of the person’s qualifying worldwide revenue, for those in the enhanced tier

Access All Areas has heard from industry sources that many in the live music sector believe the proposals as they stand are not ready for parliamentary scrutiny, and there is real concern about the potential cost. There is also a belief that a more cost effective and efficient solution would be to use the existing licensing framework to include anti-terrorism measures.

The Home Affairs Select Committee published a report last year, which criticised the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, following a period of pre-legislative scrutiny.

LIVE represents 15 live music industry bodies including the National Arenas Association, Concert Promoters Association and Association of Independent Festivals. Its CEO Jon Collins said, “We recognise government endeavours to improve the safety and security of public venues and keep the British public safe through the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill. We fully support the objectives of this Bill, but the previous draft would have failed to deliver these objectives while placing disproportionate burdens on venues and festivals, so an urgent review of the government’s approach is needed. We remain committed to working with government to ensure any new requirements are workable and, crucially, build on existing steps taken by industry to deliver greater reassurance and safety for concertgoers.”

Murray said, “As the new Prime Minister says, ‘the time for talking is over’. After five long year’s of campaigning and seven year’s after Martyn’s death, I am convinced that Martyn’s Law will very soon become a reality.”

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