China calls for end to ‘anti-China political farce’, saying claims it was to blame for MoD data hack ‘malicious slanders’
The Chinese embassy in the UK has now issued a statement saying that claims Beijing was behind the Ministry of Defence data hack are “completely fabricated and malicious slanders”. An embassy spokesperson said:
The so-called cyber-attacks by China against the UK are completely fabricated and malicious slanders.
We strongly oppose such accusations. China has always firmly fought all forms of cyber-attack according to law.
China does not encourage, support or condone cyber-attacks. At the same time, we oppose the politicisation of cybersecurity issues and the baseless denigration of other countries without factual evidence.
China has always upheld the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. China has neither the interest nor the need to meddle in the internal affairs of the UK.
We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop spreading false information, stop fabricating so-called China threat narratives, and stop their anti-China political farce.
Key events
Reeves’ economy speech and Q&A – summary and analysis
Here are the main, new points from Rachel Reeves’s speech and Q&A this morning. We have already published a substantial preview based on what was briefed in advance.
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Reeves said pensioners could face a “tax bombshell” under Rishi Sunak’s long-term plan to abolish employees’ national insurance, because it could mean income tax rising by 8p in the pound to compensate. This would hit pensioners in particular because they do not pay national insurance, but they do pay income tax. Referring to the plan, Reeves said:
A £46 billion unfunded plan to abolish national insurance contributions – if Labour had put a similar proposal on the table, voters, journalists and our opponents would be demanding to know where the money was going to come from.
And yet two months on from the spring budget – and despite having countless opportunities to clarify their plans – there are still no answers from ministers on how they will pay for it.
What services will they cut?
What other taxes will they put up?
What changes will they make to pensions?
New analysis has shown that replacing national insurance contribution revenues with higher basic and higher rates of income tax would mean rates of income tax going up by eight percent.
A tax bombshell aimed squarely at Britain’s pensioners.
This is a new line from Labour, and perhaps a better one than anything tried so far. Labour has been criticising this policy for the last two months, but it has not yet settled on one line of attack that has achieved powerful cut through. At various points it has argued that, to fund this pledge, the Tories would have to borrow more, cut spending or put up taxes. All of these propositions are a bit vague, and more recently Labour has been focusing on the threat to pensioners. At PMQs last month Starmer argued that the plan would mean the value of the state pension being cut. When Sunak ruled this out last week, Starmer instead suggested the plan would mean the state pension age having to rise to 75. Sunak wriggled on this, but as an attack line it is a bit flawed because 75 is unrealistically high, and even under Labour the pension age will go up. Today Reeves is arguing that the policy will hit pensioners, not because their pensions will get less generous, but because they might be hit by higher taxes. It is all hypothetical, but it is designed to scare the living daylights out of elderly Telegraph readers who have income not is not subject to national insurance but that is subject to income tax.
The truth is that many, many businesses already go well beyond what is set out in the new deal for working people – they don’t have zero-hour contracts, they are not using practices of fire and rehire, they give better rights around sick pay. So businesses have got nothing to fear from the new deal for working people.
But [for] businesses who do use these methods there will be a level playing field to ensure that businesses can’t undercut each other by using zero-hour contracts or through fire and rehire.
She said Labour had spent a lot of time consulting with businesses already, and she went on:
And so, for example, on zero hour contracts after 12 weeks, if you’ve been working regular hours, you will be able to get that permanent contract. But if you want that flexibility as a worker, you can remain on the contract you’re one. It’s just about saying that the flexibility can’t be all one way. And there’ll be nothing in Labour legislation that would stop employers from using overtime, for example, or taking workers on on a seasonal basis.
Asked about the timing of the legislation, Reeves said a Labour government would “bring forward legislation within the first 100 days of a Labour government”. And it would consult on the plan within those 100 days, she said.
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Reeves said she did not think the results last week “point to a hung parliament”. She was responding to Tory claims that the results do point to a hung parliament, which are entirely based on a projection published by Sky News on Friday afternoon suggesting that, if people voted in a general election exactly as they had in the local elections, Labour would not win a majority. As Pippa Crerar explains here, there are many reasons why it is not realistic to assume that you can a direct local elections/general election read across like this. (To his credit, Prof Michael Thrasher, the psephologist who came up with the projection, barely mentioned it in an analysis of the election results he published in the Sunday Times. He has been pilloried on social media, but in part this may be because a projection never intended as a forecast ended up getting far more attention than it was supposed to because, for No 10, it was the only silver lining to the results available.)
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She suggested that, if figures due out of Friday show that the economy is growing, Labour would be entitled to describe this as just a technical recovery. In her speech she said:
Let me be clear – Keir Starmer and I won’t be doing a victory lap for finally meeting the inflation target for the first time in three years.
And we won’t be doing a victory lap over going from negative growth to no growth either.
If Jeremy Hunt wants to call it a ‘technical’ recession, then I assume he’s comfortable calling it a ‘technical’ recovery.
Not a recovery for working people.
After years of political chaos and short-term thinking, at this election stability is change.
The stability on which households and business alike rely if they are to plan ahead.
Stability underpinned by strong fiscal rules and robust, independent institutions – the Treasury, the Bank of England, and the Office for Budget Responsibility.
And stability of purpose enshrined in national missions to bring government and business together, to meet the challenges of the future.
China calls for end to ‘anti-China political farce’, saying claims it was to blame for MoD data hack ‘malicious slanders’
The Chinese embassy in the UK has now issued a statement saying that claims Beijing was behind the Ministry of Defence data hack are “completely fabricated and malicious slanders”. An embassy spokesperson said:
The so-called cyber-attacks by China against the UK are completely fabricated and malicious slanders.
We strongly oppose such accusations. China has always firmly fought all forms of cyber-attack according to law.
China does not encourage, support or condone cyber-attacks. At the same time, we oppose the politicisation of cybersecurity issues and the baseless denigration of other countries without factual evidence.
China has always upheld the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. China has neither the interest nor the need to meddle in the internal affairs of the UK.
We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop spreading false information, stop fabricating so-called China threat narratives, and stop their anti-China political farce.
Libby Brooks
Humza Yousaf is expected to formally offer his resignation to the king this morning after John Swinney was elected unopposed as the new leader of the SNP yesterday.
Swinney will now seek the backing of MSPs later this afternoon to become the new first minister. The Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour have said they will vote against him but the Greens won’t oppose his appointment so Swinney is expected to become the fourth SNP first minister later this afternoon.
He faces multiple challenges: uniting his party, governing from a minority position and heading off a resurgent Scottish Labour which is forecast to win a significant number of seats from the SNP at the general election.
Q: If you are opposed to getting rid of national insurance, why does Labour keep voting in favour of the government plans to reduce national insurance?
Reeves says there is a difference between the plans Labour did support, which were audited by the Office for Budget Responsibility, and the plan to abolish all employees’ national insurance contributions, which have not been assessed by the OBR.
And that’s the end of the press conference.
I will post a summary soon.
Q: Are you worried about Muslim voters turning away from Labour?
Reeves says she recognises that some people did not vote Labour last week because of their concerns about the party’s stance on Gaza. She says Labour must work to regain their trust.
Reeves confirms workers could choose to stay on zero hours contracts on Labour’s plan to ban ‘exploitative’ ones
Q: Union leaders are warning against watering down the new deal for working people. Can you commit to doing that in the first 100 days, and ending zero hours contracts.
Reeves says the government will legislate in its first 100 days, including on ending “exploitative zero hours contracts”.
Q: What is your message to business people who are concerned about these plans?
Reeves says many businesses go well beyond what is set out in Labour’s plans.
They don’t have zero hour contracts. They’re not using practices of fire and rehire. They give better rights around sick pay, for example. And so businesses have got nothing to fear from the new deal for working people.
She says, after 12 weeks, Labour would allow people with regular hours not to have a zero hours contract. But she says, if people want to stay on a zero hours contract, they could do so.
Q: Would you put more funding into the welfare system? There is an argument that more help is needed to get people back to work.
Reeves says she will not make an unfunded spending commitment. But people who can work should work. She says tackling NHS waiting lists would help. And Labour has a plan to cut waiting lists, she says.
Q: Are you considering unfreezing tax thresholds?
Reeves says she has said she would like taxes on working people to be lower. But she won’t make unfunded tax commitments, because that is the route to “economic ruin”.
Labour will not follow the Tories in making an unfunded promise to cut taxes by £46bn, she says.
Q: Should the Office for Budget Responsibility get more power or less power?
Reeves says she would respect economic instutions like the OBR. She says the Liz Truss experience showed what happened when the OBR is sidelined.
Q: What is you response to the MoD data hack?
Reeves says this is “deeply concerning”. She says the government has questions to answer, and says it should do so in a statement today.
On China, she says there are areas where the UK needs to work with China, but on national security issues the government should take a “hard line”.
Q: Do you think economic data is no longer the best way to judge economic recovery, and that how people feel matters more?
Reeves says she loves economic data. But she says politicians have to take account of how people are feeling.
In the end, what success looks like is how people feel, whether there is money in the bank balance, whether they have got enough to pay the rent and the mortgage, and have enough aside for the little luxuries that make life worth living. And, for too many people today, that is just not the reality.
Reeves says Israel should not attack Rafah
Q: In the light of what is happening in Gaza, should the UK end arms sales to Israel?
Reeves says there should be no attack on Rafah.
On arms sales, she says there are strict rules governing them, and she says they should be followed.
Q: Do your plans involve more borrowing?
Reeves says that, when she visited the US last year, one of the message she picked up from President Biden’s team is that economic recovery is not just about the money.
As an example, she cites Labour’s plans for planning reform.
Reeves is now taking questions.
Q: What is your response to Rishi Sunak’s claim that a vote for Labour would mean a chaotic minority government?
Reeves says, looking at the results from last week, Labour can be confident its message is resonating. But it needs to fight for every vote.