Britons are once again being asked to pay more, accept less choice, and quietly surrender more control to Brussels style regulation, this time in the name of “Net Zero”.
Under new regulations laid before Parliament, the Government is moving to ban the sale of new vented and condenser tumble dryers across Great Britain, forcing consumers to buy heat pump tumble dryers instead. According to Which?, these machines can cost families £200 more upfront.
This is not a trivial issue about household appliances. It is a warning shot about the direction of travel under Keir Starmer’s EU “reset”.
The regulations, officially titled the Energy-Related Products and Energy Information (Household Tumble Dryers) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026 No. 318), are already in force in Northern Ireland under EU law. Now Westminster is seeking to impose the same rules on England, Scotland and Wales.
And crucially, one of the Government’s own justifications for doing so is the need to “align” Great Britain with Northern Ireland.
The EU and Government have long realised that the best way to unravel Brexit is by keeping part of the UK in the EU (Northern Ireland) and then using the need to keep the UK together to justify subjecting the rest of the country to EU law as well. This is right out of Starmer’s EU Partnership Bill playbook and it needs calling out.
That should alarm every Brexiteer in the country.
Because this is exactly how sovereignty is eroded, not in one dramatic constitutional moment, but through a slow drip of “technical alignment”, “regulatory consistency”, and “harmonisation” with rules originating in Brussels.
Today it is tumble dryers. Tomorrow it will be wider alignment on food standards, emissions trading, electricity markets, and countless other areas tied to Starmer’s proposed European Partnership arrangements.
This is why Jim Allister MP has tabled a parliamentary motion to annul the regulations before they take full effect.
Having already witnessed the impact of the EU imposed ban in Northern Ireland, Allister is warning that Great Britain is now being dragged down the same path, more expensive products, less consumer choice, and increasing subordination to EU regulatory frameworks.
He is right.
For years, voters were told Brexit meant taking back control of our laws, markets, and standards. Yet now, under the guise of climate policy and “alignment”, Westminster is quietly reimporting EU style restrictions into British life.
At a time when millions of households are already under severe financial pressure, forcing families to spend hundreds more on basic household appliances is economically tone deaf and politically indefensible. Many consumers also complain that heat pump dryers, heavily favoured under EU style regulations, often leave clothes slightly damp and take far longer to dry loads fully, something particularly ill suited to Britain’s cold and wet climate.
The public did not vote for higher costs dictated by Net Zero ideology. Nor did they vote for Northern Ireland to become the mechanism through which EU rules are reintroduced into Great Britain.
There is still time to stop this.
The motion to annul the legislation, known as EDM 4, remains open for signatures from MPs until 5 June 2026.
If enough MPs sign, pressure can be brought to bear against yet another example of unnecessary regulatory overreach. That means readers must act now.
What You Need To Do
Please ask your MP to sign the Motion to Annul the Tumble Dryer legislation, which can be accessed here and is known as EDM 4: https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/65795/energy-conservation
MPs can add their names themselves via Members’ Hub or by emailing the Table Office directly at:
This takes only minutes, but public pressure matters.
Email your MP today. Tell them British consumers should not be forced into higher costs because of creeping EU alignment and Net Zero diktats. If MPs do nothing now, this will only be the beginning.
These regulations provide a great opportunity ahead of the publication of the European Partnership Bill for the British people to demonstrate that they will not tolerate the Government weapon using Northern Ireland, using it as a justification for unraveling Brexit across the country. What we need is for the whole UK to leave so Brexit can be placed on a secure and sustainable foundation.
