Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will accuse the Government of “gaslighting” the public about the economy, saying ministers’ over-optimistic statements are “out of touch” with Britons still struggling with the cost of living. The Labour frontbencher will seek to get ahead of the Tories’ response to a raft of economic data this week, arguing that Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak’s likely message of an improving economy is “deluded”. In a speech in the City of London on Tuesday, she will say 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. As Labour celebrates a string of victories in regional mayoral contests, local elections and a by-election in Blackpool South, Ms Reeves will say the results showed that people “voted for change”. Her intervention comes ahead of the Bank of England’s latest interest rates decision on Thursday and figures covering the economy’s performance over the first three months of this year on Friday. Economists are widely expecting the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to keep rates at the current level of 5.25%, despite political pressure from the Government to start lowering rates before the election. Ministers may be...