One of the most transparently fraudulent tactics of the Leave campaign was its use of rabble rousing “examples” of EU interference in people’s everyday lives.

Yes, we’re talking about a world filled with bent bananas, barmaids’ cleavages and one size fits all condoms.

One of the most persistent myths, often used by the Daily Mail and the like to stir its readers up into a gibbering froth, is that surrounding light bulbs.

This handy series of charts compares incandescent, halogen and LED light bulbs in a variety of ways – cost to run (in dollars but it serves for comparison), efficiency, CO2 production and durability, amongst many others.

LED bulbs come out on top as clear winners, with halogens second and incandescents last.

With the caveat that they cost more to buy, LED bulbs are a clear winner. They’re now actually very much cheaper than when they were first available, and the cost will probably continue to go down.

What’s not to like?

They’re cheap to use, they won’t break or fail easily, they’re good for the planet and they give an excellent light that is available in different qualities.

However, like a dog with a bone, there’s a certain sort of Daily Mail reader who just wants to cling on to them.

“It’s my right to use a bulb that costs ten times as much to run as those foreign LED things and I’m not having some unelected bureaucrat in Brussels telling me what to do! They will have to pry this 100 watt bulb from my cold dead hand!”

So, this person enjoys paying higher electricity bills than they need to? Is this individual so replete with cash to throw around on energy that they don’t mind driving a car that does 10 mpg, and then cheerfully pays higher prices at the pump? Wasting energy? It’s their right!

In fact, this idiocy isn’t just self defeating, it’s also based on a great big fat lie.

The EU hasn’t banned incandescent bulbs; it’s phasing them out. Ditto the halogen variety. In fact, you can still buy any type of bulb you want.

So, the light bulb myth boils down to a matter of principle based on a lie.

Just like the rest of the Brexit campaign then…