Last week, Harriet Harman, the minister for women and equal­ity, presented to parliament her Framework for a Fairer Future – The Equality Bill. The legislation was welcomed not only on her own benches but by the opposition. Theresa May, the shadow Commons leader, said that the Conservatives also want to make Britain “fair and equal”.

In spite of this consensus, it is foolish legislation. It displays a failure to understand the connection between fairness and prices in a free market. Start with the bill’s aim of outlawing age discrimination in the financial services.