Is there nobody in Government with the wit of man to unpick this ?
Tis a free market mate, there's nothing stopping anyone having a go at what you suggest. Connections are an uber complex affair with many people flying to places like DUB/CDG/AMS from the UK to save hundreds on flying xyz-LHR-USA as if LHR-USA wasn't already cheap enough (not always!). Converesly one of the more expensive ways I found to get to DXB was to
fly Emirates who for less money could fly me a whole lot further than the sandpit. It's the way the global business works where you pay a premium to fly from A to B on a point to point basis. The US based airlines serving MAN are more expensive because they can be, likewise Virgin's prices on GLA-MCO are ball crunching in comparison to LGW as the lack of capacity means they can charge silly money as parents with young kids visiting the House of Mouse want the shortests possible trip.
Indeed Scottish holidaymakers used to pay a major mark up over MAN based flights to the costas as the limited capacity in comparison keeps the price nice and high, It was claimed at the time it was because more fuel was needed to fly that little bit further! Yeah....