EU bans children blowing up balloons, claims Boris

Boris Johnson was today at the centre of a new row after claiming the EU bans children below the age of eight from blowing up balloons.

The London mayor made his remarks during his final question and answer session before members of the London Assembly.

Johnson was asked to list EU directives he would scrap.

Johnson's comment appeared to echo newspaper reports from 2011 referring to EU warning labels on some latex balloons.> The 'balloon ban' was later rubbished by EU officials who said the warnings called for children under eight to be 'supervised'.