Cabinet split over restricting migrant benefits "Potentially it might put us on the wrong side of the rest of the European Union and as a member state I don't particularly want to find myself in that territory," he said. The plans have been discussed within Government, he confirmed. He told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pinaar's Politics show: "It's something that ultimately would need to be discussed with the Commission in the EU. I can understand the concern, I can see the need for robust transitional arrangements. I would need to be persuaded of that but I am prepared to look at the whole situation in the round. Michael Gove, the education secretary, said the proposals to restrict benefits "struck exactly the right note." When it comes to new migrants from accession countries in the EU, we need to look properly at the benefits system here to make sure people are coming here to work and contribute, not to take advantage of what is rightly a generous welfare system. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, indicated Labour would support new restrictions on migrant benefits and said the Government should have acted earlier. "I do think when people are coming to this country they should be contributing and so we have already said there are changes you could make to Jobseekers' Allowance so people can't come and claim Jobseekers' Allowance straight away," she said.