West Midlands MEP Anthea McIntyre is celebrating today after Conservative MEPs deflected EU plans to regulate household items such as umbrellas and washing up gloves in the same way as industrial safety equipment.
The EU has had rules governing the manufacturing and import of equipment such as hard hats, life jackets and safety harnesses for more than 25 years and the recent proposals were intended to modernise and simplify the legislation.
However the Commission included over-zealous plans to extend the proposal to everyday household items such as washing up gloves and umbrellas, which could have resulted in a significant increase of costs without any clear benefit for consumers.
Miss McIntyre said: "We negotiated no fewer than 117 changes to the legislation, which turned it into something practical and useful instead of plain bonkers.
"Off course we need to be sure products are safe - but we also need a sense of proportion.
"If we had not intervened consumers could have seen the cost of some everyday items rocketing - but they would not have been one bit safer.
"I thinks it's fair to say our gloves-off approach was a success."