Rachel Reeves REFUSES to comment on Britain's economic turmoil as Chancellor seeks to defend China trip amid fury at going 'missing'

She said: “The fiscal rules laid out in the Budget are non-negotiable.

“Economic stability is the bedrock for economic growth and prosperity.”

The Chancellor said she would not give a running commentary on the state of the UK markets.

Gilt yields have now reached their highest points since 2008 - hiking up the cost of government borrowing - which fuelled concern that Reeves would fail to abide by her self-prescribed rules on debt and spending without imposing further cuts on working people.

The Conservatives have blasted her trip abroad, saying that she had “fled to China” over explaining the state of the nation’s economy.

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: “We are witnessing an economic mess of Rachel Reeves' own making, with the impacts of her disastrous Budget continuing to bite. Yet astonishingly she made the choice to get on a jet rather than stay and try to get a grip.

“The Chancellor should turn right back around, and return to the UK urgently.”

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The spending review is already expected to set department cuts - amounting to approximately five per cent of their budgets - but this number is now believed to rise even further as Reeves has previously ruled out further tax hikes as speculation starts to stir around welfare cuts.

The only other option would be to break her own rules, which Institute for Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson has described as "pretty scary for the markets" - many of whom were already "concerned about the UK position".

Accompanied by Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and Financial Conduct Authority chief executive Nikhil Rathi, Reeves' trip to meet Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng aims to kickstart increased engagement with Beijing after previous Conservative PMs cut such relations during their administrations.

She considered the diplomatic engagement as a "significant milestone" in the two countries' relationship, while calling for further trade and investment against a “more complex and more challenging” geopolitical background.

She said: “We must seize this opportunity to set a course for a stable and mutually beneficial relationship with one another.”

As well as resetting relations with Beijing, the new Government has promised to “challenge” China where necessary, amid long-standing human rights concerns about the treatment of Uighur Muslims, constraints on freedoms in Hong Kong and its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

When asked in Beijing if tighter ties with China was a risk for Britain, Reeves responded: “We need to make sure we have a pragmatic and good relationship with countries around the world. That is in our national interest.

“It’s what our allies around the world do and it’s what I will be pursuing as Chancellor, always acting in the national interest while looking to help British businesses export overseas.”

Adding that she had discussed issues of national security, Russia's invasion of Ukraine as well as human rights in Hong Kong, she said: “Not every conversation will be easy. However, it is essential and in the UK’s national interest that as two major economies the UK and China commit to building a stable, pragmatic bilateral relationship.”

Once the Chancellor has departed from Beijing, Reeves is expected to visit Shanghai.