Conservative MP Esther McVey has been branded “repugnant” for using a poem about the Holocaust to criticise the government’s proposals for tougher rules on outdoor smoking.

The MP for Tatton shared a section of Martin Niemoller’s 1946 poem, “First They Came”, on social media, adding: “Pertinent words re Starmer’s smoking ban.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews called on the former cabinet minister to apologise for the “breathtakingly thoughtless comparison”.

Ms McVey later insisted she was not equating banning smoking outside pubs with the Nazi persecution of the Jews and “no offence was ever intended”.

She added that she would “not be bullied” into removing the post on X.

The poem, which is about the silence of some Germans in the face of Nazi crimes, includes the lines: “Then they came for the Jews. And I did not speak out. Because I was not a Jew.”

In response to Ms McVey’s post, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “The use of Martin Niemoller’s poem about the horrors of the Nazis to describe a potential smoking ban is an ill-considered and repugnant action.

“We would strongly encourage the MP for Tatton to delete her tweet and apologise for this breathtakingly thoughtless comparison.”

Rabbi David Mason, executive director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality, said the post was “utterly tasteless”.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting responded to her post: “No, I do not think the post-war confessional of Martin Niemöller about the silent complicity of the German intelligentsia and clergy in the Nazi rise to power is pertinent to a Smoking Bill that was in your manifesto and ours to tackle one of the biggest killers.

“Get a grip.”

Ms McVey later posted a statement on X defending her original post.

“Nobody is suggesting that banning smoking outside pubs can be equated with what happened to the Jews at the hands of the Nazis. It is ridiculous for anyone to even suggest that was what I was doing,” she wrote.

“It is called an analogy – those who restrict freedoms start with easy targets and expand their reach.

“I am pretty sure everyone understands the point I was making and knows that no offence was ever intended and that no equivalence was being suggested.”

She added: “I will not be bullied into removing a tweet by people who are deliberately twisting the meaning of my words and finding offence when they know none was intended.”

On Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed the government was considering banning smoking in some outdoor spaces in England.

It followed a report in the Sun newspaper that ministers could extend the indoor smoking ban to pub gardens, university and hospital campuses, sports grounds, and children’s play areas.

Health experts welcomed the proposals but the BBC has been told some ministers have raised concerns about the potential impact on the hospitality sector.

Conservative shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage were also among those to speak out against the idea.

Asked about the report in the Sun, Sir Keir said deaths caused by smoking were “preventable” and “we’ve got to take action to reduce the burden on the NHS and the taxpayer”.

Earlier, this year the previous Conservative government proposed legislation to ban the sale of cigarettes to people born in or after 2009.

The plans for a gradual ban on smoking have been taken forward by the new Labour government, which has also promised to introduce the legislation.