A UKIP candidate is being told his mother can re-use jam jars after all.

When Paul McMullan, who runs the Castle public house in Dover, announced he was standing for the UK Independence Party at the next county council elections in May, he said one of the reasons he had decided to stand was an EU law over jam jars.

Mr McMullan, who is also the press officer for the Dover and Deal branch of UKIP, said his 80-year-old mother liked making jam, but she was now unable to re-use jam jars because of a new EU law.

But after the story appeared on the East Kent Mercury website, Anthony Zacharzewski contacted the Mercury to say there was no such law.

The ban only applies to businesses, and not to people who make jam for their own domestic consumption or for sale at fetes or other charity events.