In an op-ed in the Mail on Sunday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised that the benefits overhaul would crack down on “criminals” who “game the system”.

Kendall told the BBC that she believed there were people who can work but refused to do so, but said she thought these people were “in the minority” of benefit claimants.

Economic inactivity has grown rapidly since the pandemic. There are now 9.3 million people who are neither in work nor looking for a job – a rise of 713,000 since Covid.

Nearly three million people are out of work due to ill health, a 500,000 increase since 2019.

Asked about the rise in benefit claimants in recent years, Kendall said some people have “self-diagnosed” mental health problems, as well as those “diagnosed by doctors” – but added that there was a “genuine problem” with mental health in the UK.