Ken Clarke has attacked the myth that "heroic British ministers" are restraining a flow of European Union regulations that tie up businesses in red tape.

As the prime minister launched a new deregulation bill, Clarke seemed to go off message to debunk the idea that there are too many EU rules affecting business.

His remarks appear to be at odds with the tone of David Cameron, who only last week accused Europe of responsibility for "burdensome, unjustified and premature regulatory burdens". Clarke later said he had been selectively quoted, insisting he is "of one mind" with the prime minister when it comes to restricting EU regulations and that he was talking about previous government's ministers.

In his comments, Clarke said: "It is very hard to find an EU regulation of significance that has been forced on an unwilling British minister who voted against it. Quite a lot of EU legislation has been advocated by the British minister, or at least by his officials. I'm not aware that we've had any regulation relevant to business imposed on us in the last three years of this government against the resistance of a British minister. I can't think of one.... The idea that heroic British ministers try restrain the flow here, while things over which they have no control wing their way towards them has always been a myth.Next time you are interviewing a strong Eurosceptic, ask him to name a regulation forced on a British government. Most Eurosceptics can't think of one. They name the working time directive on which we have a derogation. It makes no practical difference to anybody."

He later insisted he had been referring to ministers in previous governments. "I made clear that I am of one mind with the Prime Minister on the need to scale back, in Europe as in Britain, unnecessary, expensive and obsolete regulations that hold business back. He and I both agree that in the past there has been too much gold plating of regulations. No matter where it emanates from, I am working to take forward the policy of this Government which is going further than any previous British government to reduce this burden. The Deregulation Bill, which I will help to take through Parliament, will make an important contribution at the UK level to this vital task."

Clarke, a committed pro-European, is one of the few voices in the cabinet who regularly stands up for Brussels, as the prime minister's rhetoric has got increasingly critical under pressure from Tory rightwingers and the UK Independence party.

Cameron's deregulation bill, currently in draft form, is in fact directed not at European legislation but at domestic rules.

Speaking to the Federation of Small Businesses, the prime minister claimed on Monday that the government would be the first to get rid of more regulations than it imposed.

However, it soon emerged that at least half of the 3,000 regulations being scrapped under the coalition's "red tape challenge" are already obsolete or extremely obscure, including 100 related to trading with the enemy in the second world war, 20 relating to the formerly nationalised company British Steel, which no longer exists, and others on redundant trade sanctions on Uzbekhistan and guidelines on the keeping of mink.

Asked whether the claim was "smoke and mirrors" to appease businesses, Michael Fallon, a business minister, said many were simply tidying up the statute book but insisted a large number would have a significant impact on business totalling more than £850m of savings.

Companies reacted positively to the plans but the Federation of Small Businesses urged the coalition to go further, saying: "There is more to be done."

At the same conference, Labour, under pressure from wealthy business people over its plans to bring in a 50p top rate of tax for high earners, launched an attempt to woo small firms with plans for a US-style Small Business Administration, which would act as their voice across government.

The government also came under attack from green groups and industry over plans to reduce environmental obligations on businesses to the tune of £100m and relaxing house-building standards to create savings of £64m.

Paul King, chief executive of the UK Green Building Council, said the plans were "utterly reprehensible".

"It is the same poisonous political rhetoric from No 10, devaluing environmental regulation in a slash-and-burn manner," he said. "These words are not only damaging and irresponsible, but misrepresent the wishes of so many modern businesses, both large and small."

Craig Bennett, director of policy and campaigns at Friends of the Earth, said the government must "stop making the environment a scapegoat for the economic challenges we face".

"Important rules that safeguard our health and environment are being lost in this ideologically driven war on red tape," he said.

"Ministers are allowing firms to frack under peoples' homes without telling them, and planning to scrap rules to make developers build homes with a low environmental impact."