Rachel Jane Reeves (born 13 February 1979) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2024 to 2026. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds West and Pudsey, formerly Leeds West, since 2010. She held various shadow ministerial and shadow cabinet portfolios between 2010 and 2015 and from 2020 until Labour entered government following its victory in the 2024 election. Reeves received poor satisfaction ratings in polls while Chancellor.
Born in Lewisham, Reeves attended Cator Park School for Girls. She studied PPE at the University of Oxford before obtaining a master's degree in economics 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 following 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 elections. In 2020 she returned to the shadow cabinet as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under new leader Keir Starmer. 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 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 established the National Wealth Fund, scrapped certain winter fuel payments, cancelled several infrastructure projects, and announced numerous public sector pay rises. She presented her first budget in October 2024, where she introduced the largest tax rises at a budget since March 1993. She presented her second budget in November 2025, where she introduced further tax rises and saw her popularity ratings fall to the lowest recorded for a Chancellor. After the resignation of Starmer, Reeves was dismissed by Andy Burnham and returned to the backbenches in July 2026 and was succeeded by John Healey as Chancellor.
Early life and education Rachel Jane Reeves was born on 13 February 1979 in Lewisham, London, England. Her parents worked as primary school teachers, were very focused on education, and divorced when Reeves was seven. Reeves cites the influence of her father on her social-democratic politics and those of her sister Ellie Reeves, also a Labour politician. She recalls how, when she was eight years old, her father, Graham, pointed out the then Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock on the television and "told us that was who we voted for". Reeves says she and her sister have "both known we were Labour since then". She joined the Labour Party at the age of sixteen.
She was educated at a comprehensive school, the Cator Park School for Girls in Beckenham. Reeves attained four grade As at A-level, in mathematics, further mathematics, economics and politics, she campaigned for Labour in the 1997 general election. Reeves studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford, where she was an undergraduate student at New College, achieving a 2:1 Bachelor of Arts degree in June 2000. From 2003 to 2004, she studied for a master's degree in economics at the London School of Economics (LSE), graduating with a merit.
Early career Bank of England Reeves joined the Bank of England in September 2000 as part of their two-year graduate scheme. From 2003 to 2004 she studied at the London School of Economics and from 2004 to 2006 she was on a secondment in Washington. It is unclear how long she was a dedicated full time Economist given the two secondments. In a 2021 interview with Stylist magazine, Reeves said she had spent a decade working as an economist at the Bank of England, however her LinkedIn CV listed six years at the Bank, from September 2000 to December 2006,years she was pursuing a master's degree at the LSE whilst 200. In February 2025, BBC News reported that Reeves' LinkedIn CV had also been incorrect, and that she had left the Bank of England by March 2006.
HBOS In 2006, Reeves moved to Leeds to work for the retail arm of HBOS. In 2024, due to criticism of Reeves saying she had worked as an economist at HBOS, her LinkedIn CV was changed, and her role at the bank was updated to "Retail Banking". The Times reported her actual role was "running a customer relations department dealing with complaints and mortgage retention". In February 2025, the BBC reported allegations that while at HBOS, there was an expenses investigation into Reeves and two other senior managers over whistleblower concerns in early 2009 that three managers were using the bank's money to "fund a lifestyle", with alleged inappropriate spending on dinners, events, taxis and gifts, including for each other. The BBC found that the initial part of this investigation, undertaken by Internal Audit, found that the three managers appeared to have broken the rules, and that the whistleblower's allegations were substantiated, although the BBC was unable to determine the outcome of the investigation, or whether it was concluded. The BBC also reported that Reeves' LinkedIn CV contained an incorrect date of departure from HBOS, and that she had left the bank via voluntary redundancy in May 2009, rather than in December 2009 as previously said.
Parliamentary career Initial candidatures Reeves stood as the Labour Party parliamentary candidate in the Conservative safe seat of Bromley and Chislehurst at the 2005 general election, finishing second behind the sitting Conservative MP Eric Forth. Following Forth's death in 2006, she also contested the 2006 by-election, and finished in fourth place. Labour support fell from 10,241 votes to 1,925, in what was described as a "humiliation" for Labour.
Reeves sought nomination for the Leeds West seat at the 2010 general election, seeking to replace John Battle, who had chosen to retire. Reeves was selected to contest the seat from an all-women shortlist of Labour Party prospective parliamentary candidates. She was elected on 6 May 2010 with a majority of 7,016.
Backbench In her maiden speech, delivered on 8 June 2010, Reeves praised the work of Battle and committed to continue fighting for justice for the victims of the Armley asbestos disaster and their families.
In a series of questions in Parliament, she enquired whether the government would honour promises by the previous government to compensate victims of asbestos diagnosed with pleural plaques, and bring legislation into force making it easier to pursue claims against insurers. A mentor for Reeves was Alistair Darling, who gave her advice on economic policy.
Frontbench and initial shadow cabinet positions
Following the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government after the 2010 election, Reeves supported Ed Miliband for the Labour leadership because she felt he was the candidate most willing to listen to what the voters were saying about where the party went wrong. After becoming an MP, Reeves was appointed to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee then as Shadow Pensions Minister in October 2010. In her role as Shadow Pensions Minister in Miliband's shadow cabinet, she campaigned against the Government's proposed acceleration of equalising state pension ages for men and women. She was promoted to the post of Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in October 2011.
Appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2013, Reeves proposed that anyone unemployed for two years, or one year if under 25 years old, would be required to take a guaranteed job or lose access to benefits. This caused controversy within the Labour Party, and Reeves also stated that Labour would be "tougher" than the Conservative Party in cutting the benefits bill. She caused further controversy in early 2015 by stating "We [Labour] don't want to be seen as, and we're not, the party to represent those who are out of work". Reeves was re-elected at the 2015 general election with an increased vote share of 48.0% and an increased majority of 10,727.
Return to the backbenches Following Jeremy Corbyn's election as leader in 2015, Reeves did not serve in his shadow cabinet and returned to the backbenches. She supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election following mass resignations in protest of Corbyn's leadership amid the 2016 European Union membership referendum, but Corbyn was re-elected as leader and Reeves remained on the backbenches for the remainder of his leadership. Reeves was a close friend of Jo Cox. Following her murder in 2016, Reeves paid tribute to her in the house of Commons, ending the tribute by saying "Batley and Spen will go on to elect a new MP, but no-one can replace a mother". The moment Reeves finished, she broke down in tears.
In September 2016, Reeves described her constituency as being "like a tinderbox" that could explode if immigration was not curbed. At the snap 2017 general election, Reeves was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 63.9% and an increased majority of 15,965. She was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, this time with a decreased vote share of 55.1% and a decreased majority of 10,564. On 12 July 2017, Reeves was elected chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, and was reelected in January 2020, serving until her return to the frontbench in April 2020.
Starmer shadow cabinet When Keir Starmer succeeded Corbyn as Labour leader in 2020 after winning the party leadership election, Reeves was appointed as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with responsibility for Labour's response to Brexit and shadowing Michael Gove.
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Reeves moved into the role of Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in a shadow cabinet reshuffle on 9 May 2021, replacing Anneliese Dodds. As Shadow Chancellor, Reeves opposed aspects of the budgets presented by Rishi Sunak, Kwasi Kwarteng and Jeremy Hunt. Reeves strongly criticised Kwasi Kwarteng's September 2022 mini-budget, describing it as "casino economics". In December 2021, Reeves said she would support a 2p cut to the Income Tax basic rate, if the Conservatives proposed that. She opposed the planned 1.2% rise in National Insurance rates. Reeves said Labour planned to replace business rates with a new system that charged shops fairly compared to larger online businesses.