Rishi Sunak accused of ‘gaslighting’ UK on economy, MoD ‘hacked’ by China – UK politics update

Labour’s Rachel Reeves has accused the government of gaslighting the public about the economy, as she warns that the Tories’ disastrous local election results show the country has voted for change.

Accusing ministers of making deluded, over-optimistic statements which are out of touch with Britons struggling with the cost of living, the shadow chancellor warned that voters at the general election have a choice between five more years of chaos with the Tories or stability with Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

It came as reports revealed that the Ministry of Defence was targeted in a cyberattack on a third party payroll system including the details of tens of thousands of British armed forces and veterans.

The MoD has been working over the last three days to understand the scale of the recently-discovered hack, and MPs will be informed officially in parliament on Tuesday afternoon, Sky News reported.

Senior Tory Tobias Ellwood alleged that the targeting of a payroll system “points to China” and could be part of “strategy to see who might be coerced”. China’s foreign ministry said it “firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyberattacks”.