Rachel Jane Reeves
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Rachel Jane Reeves (born 13 February 1979) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds West and Pudsey, formerly Leeds West, since 2010. She previously held various shadow ministerial and shadow cabinet portfolios between 2010 and 2024.
Born in Lewisham, Reeves attended Cator Park School for Girls. She studied PPE at the University of Oxford before obtaining a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics. She joined the Labour Party at the age of sixteen, and later worked in the Bank of England. After two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons, she was elected as the MP for the seat of Leeds West at the 2010 general election. She endorsed Ed Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election and joined his frontbench in October 2010 as Shadow Pensions Minister. She was promoted to the shadow cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2011, and later became Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2013. She was reelected to Parliament at the 2015 general election, and after Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader the same year, she left the shadow cabinet and returned to the backbenches.
On the backbenches, she served as chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee from 2017 to 2020. She was reelected in both the 2017 and 2019 general election. She returned to the shadow cabinet as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under new leader Keir Starmer in 2020. In the May 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was promoted to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Shadow Chancellor, Reeves campaigned on a platform that advocated modern supply-side economics, an economic policy that focuses on improving economic growth by boosting labour supply and raising productivity, while reducing inequality and environmental damage. She proposed no re-introduction in a cap on bankers' bonuses and a plan to nationalise the railways.
Following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election and the subsequent formation of the Starmer ministry, Reeves was appointed to the government as Chancellor of the Exchequer, becoming the first woman to hold the office in its over 800-year history. Early into her tenure, she scrapped certain winter fuel payments, cancelled several infrastructure projects, and announced numerous public sector pay rises.
On 18 September 2024 Reeves announced that she would be replacing all paintings in the No. 11 Downing Street State Room, and in her office with painting by women or of women. She further noted that the state room would have a statue of Millicent Fawcett.[1][2]
Reeves has repeatedly publicly stated her intention to close the pay gap.