David Lammy reportedly told cabinet members that someone in his family was on benefits when they probably shouldn’t be amid growing tension over the government’s £5 billion welfare cuts, it has been reported. The Foreign Secretary made the revelation during a “fracticious” cabinet meeting last week as a rebellion continues to simmer on Labour’s backbenches over planned reforms to the benefits system. Mr Lammy told MPs that a member of his extended family should probably not be getting the benefits payments that they currently do, according to the Financial Times.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced the package of changes to welfare in Parliament this week, suggesting that they were necessary to fix a system that was “failing the very people it is supposed to help”. The package included tightening eligibility for personal independence payments (PIP) and scrapping the work capability assessment for universal credit. The government has insisted that the measures will help to bring more working age people back to work and save taxpayers over £5 billion by 2029/30.

The changes could strip around a million people of their disability benefits, the Resolution Foundation think tank has estimated, with PIP eligibility reform potentially causing up to 1.2 million people to lose thousands of pounds in support by the end of the decade.

But Prime Minister Keir Starmer has claimed that it would be “morally bankrupt” not to reform the “fundamentally broken” system and suggested that “millions of people, especially young people” who could be in employment have “instead become trapped out of work and abandoned by the system”.

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The plans have caused unrest, and in some cases outright anger, from the Labour camp, however, with MPs breaking ranks to criticise the clampdown, joining a chorus of dissenters that include a number of charities, organisations and political opponents.

Veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott told the Prime Minister that there was “nothing moral about cutting benefits for what may be up to a million people” following the announcement this week. “This is not about morality, this is about the Treasury’s wish to balance the country’s books on the back of the most vulnerable and poor people in this society,” she added.

Around 100 MPs are also thought to have aired their concerns during a meeting with Ms Kendall and disability minister Stephen Timms, with discussions focused on “the huge hit to incomes” of disabled and vulnerable people signalled by the reforms, The Guardian reported.

The apparent show of disunity comes ahead of next week’s Spring Statement, set to be delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Wednesday. While Ms Reeves is not expected to unveil new tax changes, she will likely respond to new growth forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), against the backdrop of a sluggish economy that shrunk by 0.1% in January.

David Lammy has been contacted for comment.