Vacuum cleaners are at the centre of an unlikely political dust-up after complaints about European Union rules that will force manufacturers to make less powerful motors.

The move has been condemned by Kent MEP and UKIP party leader Nigel Farage, who has been swift to attack Brussels bureaucrats for "meddling" in the issue.

The so-called "eco-regulations" will mean from next September new machines will be banned from having motors exceeding 1,600W and from 2017, the limit will be 900W.

Currently, most vacuum cleaners have motors of between 1,800W 2,200W

Mr Farage, who lives in Sevenoaks, said: "This latest EU wheeze will make it more difficult for ordinary people to clean their carpets and for those with allergies and pets it will create an additional problem.

"With 26 million people unemployed in the EU, many because of the financial crisis encouraged by a one-size-fits-all Euro currency, it really is time to tell these meddling people to go away."

But the EU Commission has hit back and sought to dispel fears that less power did not equate to less efficiency.

"The regulation is not so much about banning high powered vacuum cleaners as encouraging high performance, energy efficient, dust-busting technology," a spokesman said.

And it claimed the energy saved by limiting the powers of vacuum cleaners would be enough to keep London Underground running for 20 years.

That has failed to impress the man who re-invented the vacuum cleaner, Sir James Dyson.

He has gone to court to challenge the rules, arguing they discriminate against his company's bagless vacuum cleaners.

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