Clarke tells of ‘myths’ over EU legislation

Lots of British people are looking forward to having “bent bananas” after Brexit, a senior Tory Remainer said.

Former cabinet minister Ken Clarke praised former Ukip leader Nigel Farage as the “most successful politician of my generation” for persuading people that legislation which gave EU law supremacy had led Eurocrats to produce “vast quantities of awful legislation”.

He said people were looking forward to having bent bananas once the European Communities Act 1972 was repealed.

Mr Clarke said the legislation – which will be repealed by the new legislation – had not been harmful.

He told the Commons: “The idea – which is very popularly put forward by Ukip and others – that it led faceless, grey Eurocrats to produce vast quantities of awful legislation and red tape is one of the biggest myths of our time.

“And I pay tribute to Nigel Farage’s campaigning abilities. There’s absolutely no doubt he’s the most successful politician of my generation, because he has persuaded a high proportion of the population that that is exactly how it runs.”

Mr Clarke added: “I fought an election once where several of my constituents – quite a lot of them – had been persuaded that the Eurocrats were about to abolish double decker buses, and it took some considerable time to try to refute that rather worrying belief.”

Ken Clarke hit out at “myths”.