Rachel Reeves, Britain’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer, is a former junior chess champion and Bank of England economist who is committed to growing the country’s economy by demonstrating strong fiscal discipline.
Reeves, 45, becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer after her centre-left Labor party won Thursday’s UK general election with a landslide, ending 14 years of right-wing Conservative rule.
“It is the honor of my life to be appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer,” Reeves wrote on social media platform X after being appointed by new Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“To every young lady and woman reading this, let today show that there should be no limits to your ambitions.”
Labor had put the economy at the center of its election manifesto, targeting growth and wealth creation as key priorities in government, an emphasis on the latter not usually associated with the party’s traditionally left-wing policies.
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“Economic growth has been the mission of the Labor Party,” Reeves added on Friday.
“It’s now a national mission. Let’s get to work,” said the married mother of two.
“Iron Chancellor”
Reeves recently told company bosses that Labor had become “the natural party of British business”, adding that the party would show “iron discipline” on the public finances.
The comments have drawn comparisons to “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister.
Unlike Conservative leader Thatcher, who privatized key sectors after becoming prime minister in 1979, Reeves wants a form of renationalisation, particularly for energy, taking inspiration from the policies put in place by US President Joe Biden.
Labor has pledged to create Great British Energy, a public company that will lead the way in funding, alongside the private sector, the ‘green’ transition away from fossil fuels.
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James Wood, senior lecturer in political economy at Cambridge University, said Labor and Reeves were seeking a “responsible” approach to the public purse.
“When he talks about an iron chancellor, I think what he means is: we will balance the books and be responsible — and try to get Britain’s economy going … in a responsible way,” he told AFP.
London-born Reeves capitalized on public anger at Mr Sunack’s predecessor, Liz Truss, whose unfunded 2022 mini-budget crashed the pound and sent mortgage rates skyrocketing, exacerbating the cost of living crisis.
“They want to distance themselves from fiscal irresponsibility by not making big promises about spending that they can’t keep,” Wood added.
Banking career
Reeves, whose parents were teachers, is no stranger to outplaying his opponents.
She became the British girls’ chess champion at the age of 14 before studying philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University, followed by a master’s degree at the London School of Economics.
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After graduating, she worked as an economist for a decade, first at the Bank of England before moving into the private sector.
While working for UK retail bank HBOS, the global financial crisis hit in 2008, resulting in her employer receiving a massive bailout, along with other lenders, from Gordon Brown’s Labor government.
In 2010, when the Conservatives took power in coalition with the Lib Dems, Reeves was elected as the Labor MP for Leeds West in the north of England.
Eleven years later, Starmer appointed her as Labour’s finance spokesman. Her sister Ellie Reeves is also a Labor MP.
Source: AFP