Hands off our vacuum cleaners, says MEP

MEP Paul Nuttall

"Busybody Eurocrats, whose latest interference over vacuum cleaners will make life harder for housewives", have been criticised by local MEP Paul Nuttall.

EU rules designed to cut energy use will mean new vacuum cleaners will be banned from having motors that exceed 1,600W from September next year.

And from 2017 they will be limited even further, down to 900W. The average vacuum cleaner currently on the market in this country has a 1,800W motor.

"I don't profess to be a dab hand in the vacuuming department personally but I so understand that the more powerful the hoover is, the greater the suction," said Mr Nuttall, UKIP deputy leader.

"This totally unnecessary interference by faceless bureaucrats in Brussels, who probably don't know one end of a vacuum cleaner from the other, will make it harder for people to keep their homes as clean as the current powerful machines can.

"How dare the European Commission dictate which machines we can or can't use.

The 'ecodesign' regulations mean the cleaners will be given a rating from A to G based on their energy efficiency and performance, similar to labels already found on fridges and washing machines.

"Let us not forget that this obsession with so-called efficiency as far as washing machine temperatures are concerned has already led to concerns about bacteria not being killed off. Less is not necessarily best.

"Meanwhile I am pleased that Sir James Dyson's firm has launched a judicial review with the European Court of Justice to challenge the new system for vacuum cleaners" said Mr Nuttall.

"The EU would doubtless it was all just swept under the carpet but UKIP, for one, will not let them keep trampling roughshod over us and telling us what we can and cannot do," he added.