Brett Gosper, Bill Beaumont and Debbie Jevans at the unveiling of the RWC 2015 ticket prices © Getty Images

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MP Clive Efford, the shadow sports minister, has called for the Government to implement legislation which would outlaw the unauthorised resale of tickets for the 2015 World Cup.

The ticket prices for the global gathering were unveiled on Tuesday but as yet, as highlighted in the Crooked Feed, there has been no mention of how tickets for the knockout stages can be exchanged as supporters will inevitably buy tickets for one quarter-final, only to see their team qualify for another.

The previous World Cups have seen tickets exchanged between supporters but ticket touts have also made a roaring trade selling on match tickets for prices far above their original value.

Attempts by World Cup organisers to introduce similar protection that was successfully implemented for London 2012 have so far been rejected. Efford views objections to the legislation as inexplicable and has tabled an early day motion in Parliament that to date has been signed by 28 MPs.

"If we don't have this protection, organised gangs of touts with all the technology at their disposal will hoover up as many tickets as they can," Efford said. "By doing that they'll generate a shortage, create higher demand and sell them at higher prices. Genuine fans will be exploited.

"England 2015 is dismayed that the Government has refused to pass the legislation. It makes no sense. We're told by police intelligence that some of these touts are part of organised criminal gangs that are part of firearms issues and drug dealing.

"Why would we set up a system that's tailor made to fuel that organised criminal activity? Surely there's a moral obligation here? England 2015 were in negotiations with the Government, but when I spoke to them last Friday they were at the end of their tether.

"All diplomatic avenues appear to have closed, so what they're hoping for is the Government will be humiliated into working on this."

England 2015 indicated on Wednesday that they remained hopeful that legislation would be introduced.