The BBC host said he received a series of complaints following an interview with the prominent Brexiteer MP, who hit back at the arch-Remainers “wanting to turn around the vote of the people”. Sir John Major claimed on Sunday that a no deal Brexit would be “morally reprehensible” and revoking Article 50 is the “only sensible course”. The BBC Breakfast host read out no deal Brexit warnings from the likes of Health Secretary Matt Hancock, business leaders including Amazon’s Doug Gurr, and former Prime Minister John Major.
In response, Ms McVey shut down the no deal “scare stories” and said: “Some of those stories that you talked about there we have overcome them. So we have got the licenses in place so that medicines can come to and fro.
“We also know that because we will be in charge of our borders, things will be imported into the country because we are in charge of that.
“And those stories that you are talking about there, whether it is John Major, whether it is Matt Hancock, whether it is the Chancellor, they are arch-Remainers.
“They voted Remain and they are wanting to turn around the vote of the people.
“What happened was Parliament and the House of Lords said the people have a say. People had a say and said ‘we want to leave the EU’.
“And then it is up to politicians and civil servants and all of us work together to get that sorted.
“As I said, some of those things that you have spoken about there, we have already got sorted.”
Following the comments, the BBC Breakfast host said he was bombarded with complaints about the interview.
Mr Walker wrote on Twitter: “Stop shouting at me about Esther McVey. We challenged her on trading on WTO rules.
“We read her 5 quotes from prominent individuals who think no deal is bad news. It’s called an INTERVIEW.
“She has to be allowed to speak even if some don’t agree with what she says. Thanks 4 watching.”
Prime Minister Theresa May is set to face a vote against her withdrawal deal in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
EU institutions are scrambling to prepare for the worst if the Article 50 negotiating period is extended to allow time for a UK general election or second referendum.
A Brexit extension could cause a major headache for EU chiefs ahead of the European Parliament election in May and the next Parliament, which will be seated in July.
An EU spokesman admitted a Brexit extension could see British MEPs voting for the next European Commission president, to replace Jean-Claude Juncker, before “leaving some weeks later”.
A European Parliament spokesman described the situation as a “conundrum”.
He told politics news site Politico.co.uk: “An extension after the date of the European elections is going to be a conundrum for everybody because there are no rules which can anticipate any of that.
“If the extension includes the beginning of the next legislature, we might end up having British MEPs voting for the next president of the European Commission and leaving some weeks later.
“That would certainly complicate things.”