JEREMY CORBYN faced dissent from within the shadow cabinet yesterday over Labour’s position on the Tory benefit cap.

Shadow ministers have challenged Mr Corbyn’s announcement that the party will oppose the £26,000-a-year limit on benefits for any family.

In his speech at the TUC Congress on Tuesday, the new party leader said Labour would table amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill which will “remove the whole idea of the benefit cap.”

Labour would instead bring down the benefits bill by “controlling rents and boosting wages,” he said.

That would represent a change in policy, but two shadow ministers have insisted that Labour still supports the principle of the cap.

Shadow women and equalities minister Kate Green said yesterday that the party opposed government plans to reduce the cap to £23,000, rather than the policy itself.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, she acknowledged that lowering the cap would “cause very significant hardship.”

But justifying her support for limiting benefits, she said: “The evidence is showing us is that the cap has been a little bit successful at moving people who could work but weren’t working into work.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith told Newsnight on Tuesday that opposition to the benefit cap was Mr Corbyn’s “personal” view, rather than party policy.

Asked to clear up the confusion, a Labour spokeswoman said the policy was under review.

“We’ve just had an election defeat, we’ve got a new leader and we’re going to review lots of policy,” she said.

Green Party welfare spokesman Jonathan Bartley said: “Labour should end its fence-sitting and join the Green Party in opposing the arbitrary benefit cap on principle.”