Good Morning Britain has attracted Ofcom complaints following host Ben Shephard’s on-air clash with chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Over 1,000 viewers contacted the TV watchdog after the chancellor of the exchequer appeared on the ITV breakfast show last Thursday to discuss his new budget plans. 

Ofcom confirmed to The Sun that the complaints related to the interview with Sunak, but did not detail specifically what viewers had objected to. 

As is standard procedure, the regulator will now assess all the complaints before deciding whether or not to investigate. 

During the interview, the presenter pressed Sunak on people who had been unable to receive financial support from the government during the pandemic. 

He said that some self-employed people had received “not a penny from the government”, and quoted a tweet from Sunak that read: “You have not been forgotten. We will not leave you behind. We are all in this together.”

Posing this to the chancellor, Ben said: “Unfortunately that’s not true, is it? There are 2.9million people, nearly nine per cent of the workforce, that are currently excluded or forgotten about from all of these schemes.

“For one reason or another they cannot get access to some of those schemes that you have put into place.”

The MP replied: “I don’t think that three million number is right and you’ve used it.

“It includes 1.5million people who do not qualify for the support scheme because they are not majority self-employed.”

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.