RISHI SUNAK tried to relaunch his floundering election campaign by offering tax breaks to pensioners, a core Tory voting bloc in past polls.

He pledged to raise the income tax allowance for pensioners, giving them a tax cut worth around £95 next year rising to £275 by the end of the decade.

His move — which would cost £2.4 billion — comes after a disastrous first week of the Tory campaign, including a missing umbrella at the launch, a visit to a centre named after a sunk ship, the defection of an MP to the Reform party and a widely ridiculed and unprepared teenage conscription plan.