Voluntary economic transactions between consenting adults to be made illegal

Not that it's actually that unusual for people to try to usurp the law to ban voluntary economic transactions. There're all too many people out there who believe that others should not be allowed to do as they wish and who will use the might of the State to prevent them doing so. This does not make prison time for being an efficient ticket distributor the correct answer:

Touts who use computer software to buy concert tickets for resale at inflated prices could face a prison term, under proposals to be considered by the government.

The proposal was made as Theresa May, the prime minister, said she was looking at ways to address the use of ticket-resale websites by professional touts at the expense of fans.

This simply is not the correct answer.

The market clearing price is the market clearing price and it always will be. Those supply and demand curves really do intersect. And trying to put a price cap on the supply only makes whatever it is more expensive for the consumer. Either there is the intervention of resellers, in a relatively inefficient market, or the cost of gaining access to the tickets becomes something else, time spent in queues for example, also less efficient. As we know, the best method of rationing anything is by price.

If it is true that the current supply leads to a price being "too high" according to whatever metric you want to use then there are only two potential answers. One is to reduce demand - by, perhaps, doing worse gigs. This might not be an entirely desirable answer of course. The other is to increase supply so that prices do come down - because again those supply and demand curves do intersect. Play larger gigs, play gigs more often.

That prices will vary according to those two, supply and demand, is not some optional extra it's one of the laws of our universe, at least a universe which has humans like us in it. Up to 51 weeks in prison doesn't change that fundamental fact of our existence.

This is a terrible idea, a bad suggestion for the law.