Capping energy prices will leave us all worse off

We have a couple of hundred years of economic history to tell us that some things are just a really, really bad idea. Printing loads of money, for example. State control of industries. Punitive taxes. Subsidies. But of all the really terrible polices a government can put in place, the very worst of all is price controls. The trouble is, that also seems to be the most popular idea in British politics right now.

Last week, Labour announced what amounts to price controls on credit cards, with a cap on the interest rate that can be charged. It is already in favour of controls on rents. Today, Theresa May stepped in with her own contribution, unveiling a plan for controlling the price of energy. And it is still only Wednesday, so who knows where we will end up by the end of the week. All the main parties may be chipping in pledges to control the prices of everything from train fares, to petrol, to food, or clothes, or whatever else happens to trend on Twitter for a few hours.