The Government is unlikely to press ahead with three referendums in November as Ministers are not prepared to answer fundamental questions about what is a family and what is a woman.

Difficulties in agreeing a wording to replace the protection for mothers working in the home and fears a campaign could lead to divisive debates about the definition of family and related gender issues have led to a growing expectation the vote will be postponed.

“We will have to be able to answer the question ‘What is a family?’” one politician said. It was not yet clear, he added, that the Government had an answer.

Senior sources, however, are wary that the referendum campaign could become a debate about gender, prompting questions about transgender issues that have proved highly contentious elsewhere.

“This is one of those things that you wade into at your peril,” one minister said.