Early indications that chancellor will slash disability benefits and delay increases to the defence budget to the 2030s to avoid breaking borrowing rules

Rachel Reeves's trip to China – the first by a British chancellor since 2019 - was always going to be controversial. In recent years Conservative governments have been keeping Beijing at arm's length - amid concern about espionage, the situation in Hong Kong, and the treatment of the Uyghurs.

Rachel Reeves has refused to comment on the state of Britain's economic turmoil during her visit to China, as the Tories hit out at Starmer's Chancellor going "missing". During her visit to bicycle-maker Brompton’s flagship Beijing store earlier today,