WHO IS RACHEL REEVES? EYNTK ABOUT THE UK'S FIRST-EVER FEMALE CHANCELLOR
It only took more than seven hundred years, but finally a woman has been appointed as the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Rachel Reeves, the MP for Leeds West and Pudsey, has been appointed to the position by Prime Minister Keir Starmer after the Labour party secured a landslide majority in the general election today.
FIND OUT MORE ON ELLE COLLECTIVE
You'd be forgiven for not being familiar with Reeves' track record, but in case you're curious about who is being entrusted with our country's financial future, this is everything you need to know about the former Bank of England economist.
As the government's chief financial officer, the chancellor is responsible for organising taxes, allocating public spending, and keeping the economy running smoothly, which Reeves cut her teeth at the Bank of England after graduating from the University of Oxford and then graduated to a position in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Reeves first entered the pantheon of parliamentary politics in 2005 when she stood in the Conservative safe seat of Bromley and Chislehurst, finishing second. After a humiliating defeat during the 2006 by-elections, Reeves next stood for parliament in the Leeds West and Pudsey seat at the 2010 general election, which she won and has retained in the years since.
When Starmer was elected as leader of the Labour Party in 2020, he appointed Reeves as his Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, coordinating Labour's response to Brexit. So impressed was he with her work that she was later moved into the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer role in 2021.
Her connection to the Labour party runs deeper than that too. Reeves is married to Nicholas Joicey, a civil servant and former speech writer to former prime minister Gordon Brown, and is the sister of Ellie Reeves, the Labour MP for Lewisham and Penge West.
In regards to the 'tough' economic inheritance they are faced with, Reeves has been clear that Labour's focus is, as she confirmed to The Spectator in July 2024, 'bringing stability back.' 'What the financial markets and investors have had to go through these past few years – instability, unfunded commitments – it’s just not going to be what you get with me,' she told the outlet.
Wary of repeating the mistakes of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng two years ago, she has also been careful not to criticise economic orthodoxy. 'They’re right to point out that the scale of challenges facing an incoming a Labour government will be immense,' she told The Guardian in June 2024. 'If I didn’t admit that, people would just go, "she doesn’t have clue", wouldn’t they?'
ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.
2024-07-05T15:09:54Z dg43tfdfdgfd