A senior government adviser is facing calls for his sacking after comparing hard Brexit to appeasing the Nazis in the 1930s.

Lord Andrew Adonis, the Labour peer and ex-minister who now chairs the Government's National Infrastructure Commission, said Britain is in "serious danger" of getting Brexit wrong and his party should push to stay in the EU single market.

“My language is usually pretty subdued in politics," he told The House magazine. "But for anyone with a historical sense – and I’m a historian – recognises that leaving the economic institutions of the European Union, which have guided our destiny as a trading nation for half a century, is a very big step and the importance can’t be overemphasised.

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"To my mind, it’s as big a step that we’re taking as a country as decolonisation in the 1950s and 60s and appeasement in the 1930s. We got it right on decolonisation; we got it wrong on appeasement and I think we’re in serious danger of getting it wrong in the way that we leave the EU."

He added: “If we can’t have our cake and eat it then we face a serious relative decline in our living standards compared with France and Germany and I don’t believe the British people will put up with that. So we would, in that event, I believe face a crisis. It may be a crisis played out over quite a number of years – which, after all, is what happened with appeasement – but there will be a crisis.”

Standing by his remarks in a separate interview with the BBC, he said if the country was to do a hard Brexit, "then I do believe this will be the worst mistake this country has made since the 1930s."

Conservative MPs responded by calling for the former Labour transport secretary's dismissal. Former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith said he was “astonished and appalled”, and found the comments “deeply offensive.”

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A man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after a person died and 15 others were injured PA 18/50 31 October 2019 Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gestures as launches the party's election campaign in south London. Britain will go to the polls on December 12 AFP via Getty 19/50 30 October 2019 SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon joins Alyn Smith, the SNP's candidate for Stirling, at the Made in Stirling Store and Creative Hub, during the general election campaign trail PA 20/50 29 October 2019 A 1264 locomotive travels through an autumn scene along the North York Moors National Park PA 21/50 28 October 2019 Paul Hayes of Lower Lydbrook ferries children to dry land after the River Wye burst its banks flooding the Gloucestershire village PA 22/50 27 October 2019 Cosplayers during the third day of London's Comic Con PA 23/50 26 October 2019 England fans celebrate after their side beat New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup semi-final match in Japan. Eddie Jones’s side won 19-7 PA 24/50 25 October 2019 Meerkats at Blair Drummond Safari Park, Stirling, investigate a carved pumpkin as the park celebrates national pumpkin day on Saturday October 26. PA 25/50 24 October 2019 A giant inflatable monster, created by artists Filthy Luker and Pedro Estrellas, is unveiled in Manchester ahead of the city's annual halloween celebrations PA 26/50 23 October 2019 Thirty-nine bodies have been found in a lorry container in Essex, police have said. The discovery of 38 adults and one teenager was made at an industrial estate in Thurrock. Police said they believed the lorry had come from Bulgaria and entered the UK at Holyhead, in Wales, on Saturday. Essex Police said it had launched a murder investigation after its officers were called to Waterglade Industrial Park, in Grays, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A 25-year-old-man from Northern Ireland has been arrested on suspicion of murder PA 27/50 22 October 2019 Ships out at sea before the sun rises off the coast of Whitley Bay, Northumberland PA 28/50 21 October 2019 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife. The messy display is the culmination of a weekend of festivities where first years say thank you to their more senior student "parents" for mentoring them PA 29/50 20 October 2019 Wales players celebrate after beating France in their Rugby World Cup quarter-final in Japan. Warren Gatland’s side had to battle after France’s fast start but capitalised on their rivals’ ill discipline to squeeze into the semi-finals, 20-19 Reuters 30/50 19 October 2019 People gather in London to join the Final Say march for a people's vote Angela Christofilou/The Independent 31/50 18 October 2019 Protesters on Whitehall in London during an Extinction Rebellion climate change protest PA 32/50 17 October 2019 European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson shake hands during a news conference after agreeing on a Brexit deal, in Brussels Reuters 33/50 16 October 2019 A man walks his dog through the fallen leaves in Clarkes Gardens, Allerton in Liverpool PA 34/50 15 October 2019 Police officers carry away an activist as Extinction Rebellion protesters block a road with a caravan in central London Reuters 35/50 14 October 2019 Queen Elizabeth II sits with Prince Charles on the Sovereign's throne ahead of delivering the Queen's Speech at the State Opening of Parliament AFP 36/50 13 October 2019 Great Britain's Joe Fraser competes on Parallel Bars during the World Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. He claimed GB's second gold with his victory. The 20-year-old from Birmingham nailed his routine to score 15.0 then watched as a series of rivals failed to live up to his total Getty 37/50 12 October 2019 St Helens players celebrate with the trophy after they won the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford in Manchester. They beat Salford Red Devils 23-6 PA 38/50 11 October 2019 Richard Ratcliffe, husband of British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe jailed in Tehran since 2016, holds his daughter Gabriella during a news conference in London. Their five-year-old daughter has arrived back in Britain, after making the "bittersweet" decision to bring her home AFP/Getty 39/50 10 October 2019 Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Thornton Manor. Their meeting focused on further Brexit proposals EPA/Noel Mullen 40/50 9 October 2019 Wales survived an almighty scare against Fiji to secure quarter-final spot at the rugby world cup. Warren Gatland’s side recovered from a 10-0 deficit thanks to a hat-trick from Josh Adams AFP/Getty 41/50 8 October 2019 Protesters dubbed the Red Rebels at Millbank at the junction with Great College Street, during an Extinction Rebellion protest in Westminster PA 42/50 7 October 2019 Final preparations are made in front of a reproduction of Michelangelo's 'The Last Judgement', ahead of the opening of for the 'Michelangelo: A Different View' exhibition at Hull Minister PA 43/50 6 October 2019 A car drives through a flooded street in Whitley Bay in Northumberland PA 44/50 5 October 2019 Thousands took to the streets of Edinburgh today to march in support of a second Scottish independence referendum EPA 45/50 4 October 2019 A 12ft sculpture of a gorilla, entitled 'Gorilla Apocalypse', created by Luke Kite entirely from scrap car bumpers and panels discarded in the last decade is on display at the British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry, Shropshire PA 46/50 3 October 2019 Police stands in front of the Treasury building during an Extinction Rebellion protest in London Reuters 47/50 2 October 2019 Ex-Thomas Cook employees demonstrate in London after delivering a petition calling for a full inquiry into Thomas Cook's collapse and for the company's directors to pay back their bonuses AFP/Getty 48/50 1 October 2019 A road in Alum Rock, Birmingham is flooded after persistent heavy rain PA 49/50 30 September 2019 Two tourists pose for pictures in front of Union and EU flags outside the Houses of Parliament in London PA 50/50 29 September 2019 A sheep on London Bridge as Freemen of the City of London took up their historic entitlement to drive sheep over the bridge, which was once London's only river crossing PA

Peter Bone, the Conservative MP for Wellingborough told The Sun Lord Adonis should be “fired” and Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire said he should be removed “from any advisory role to government.”

His view appears to be in line with the majority of those in the UK. Research by King’s College London, Rand Europe and Cambridge University found that people were more concerned with trade deals with EU and foreign countries than they were on limiting free movement of labour.

Opinion on the single market is divided in the Commons. Labour MP Stephen Kinnock told The Daily Telegraph that at least 15 Conservative MPs are in talks with to prevent a hard Brexit, meaning the Prime Minister’s working parliamentary majority of 12 could be defeated.

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Lord Adonis said it was “only a matter of time” before Jeremy Corbyn backs the single market.

However, the Labour leader recently sacked three shadow ministers who wanted to amend the Queen’s Speech to reflect support for keeping Britain in it.

But in a briefing to journalists, the Prime Minister’s spokeswoman refused calls from her colleagues to sack Lord Adonis despite “completely disagreeing” with his comments on Brexit. The spokeswoman added: “Andrew Adonis is not a member of the Government, it’s for him to explain his remarks but the PM as you can imagine disagrees with them.

“He’s not a Conservative peer, his job is to provide independent advice to the Government on infrastructure. It doesn’t have anything to do with the views he expressed on Brexit today. She completely disagrees with those views.”

Asked why the PM sacked Lord Heseltine, the former Deputy Prime Minister, for his outspoken intervention on Brexit, the spokeswoman added: “It’s not comparable. Lord Heseltine is a Conservative peer. Lord Adonis is not a Conservative peer, he is not a member of the Government. He provides advice to the Government on infrastructure.

In March, Lord Heseltine was sacked from five roles as a Government adviser after rebelling on a parliamentary vote in the Lords on Brexit. At the time, he said “sometimes in politics there are issues which transcend party politics”.