The Conservative party is 25 points behind in the polls. Its backbenchers are scrambling around to find new jobs, and the opposition is already making its plans for government. Rishi Sunak’s grip on the premiership is growing more tenuous with every passing day. But, heck, never mind. It turns out the PM has a cunning plan to restore his electoral fortunes.

In the King’s speech tomorrow the government is expected to unveil plans to ban ‘hidden’ charges on air travel. Any of us who have plowed miserably through the expensive minefield of a Ryanair booking will finally have a reason to vote Conservative.

It’s hard to believe that anyone booking that WizzAir flight to Prague genuinely thinks they will pay less than a tenner

But hold on. Sure, the charges are often irritating – but banning them will do more harm than good.

Anyone who has ever made a budget airline booking will know that the ‘drip-feeding’ of charges can be very time consuming, not to mention expensive. You have to pay extra if you don’t print your boarding pass yourself, for bags, for seat selection if you want to be next to your family, and for speedy boarding. Ryanair hasn’t made you pre-book the aircraft toilet yet, but it is probably working on adding that to the app.

The government is not proposing to get rid of the charges completely, but it is clamping down on the process of getting passengers to pay for them one by one. A full-scale ban may well be next.

The trouble is, that will inevitably backfire. If the airline can’t charge you for not printing out the boarding pass at home, or downloading it to your phone, then its costs will go up, and it will have to pass that on to all passengers. The same is true of baggage. The person who takes just their shades and a pair of swimming trunks on holiday will have to pay the same as someone who brings their entire wardrobe. And the passenger who doesn’t care where they sit will have to pay extra for those who do. That hardly seems fair.

In reality, the charges are not actually ‘hidden’ anyway. It is hard to believe that anyone booking that £9.99 WizzAir flight to Prague genuinely thinks they will pay less than a tenner. They know there will be a few extras. They book anyway because it is still a good deal. And there are, of course, plenty of alternatives. If you don’t want to pay ‘hidden charges’ you can always fly with British Airways, Air France or Lufthansa instead.

In truth, clamping down on ‘hidden charges’ will simply raise the costs for everyone. It would be far better to simply leave it to the market to offer a variety of different flying options, and let people choose between them. It is called a free market, and it works pretty well. The Conservative party used to believe in it – but clearly not any more.