Labour Party MP Rachel Reeves has become the UK’s first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer – despite the role existing for 800 years (yes, you read that right).
The chancellor is the UK government’s chief financial minister, and is responsible for raising revenue through taxation and borrowing, and controlling public spending. The chancellor oversees the work of the Treasury.
In an interview with The Independent last year, Reeves said: “Britain should be embarrassed that we have never had a woman in that top finance job here.” She also said that she wanted to “smash” glass ceilings, and end the gender pay gap in the UK.
Reeves is a former Bank of England economist. She has previously served as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2011 to 2013, and Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2013 to 2015.
Fun fact: She published a book The Women Who Made Modern Economics in 2023, where she shared stories of female economists who had been ‘overlooked for too long,’ and had been sidelined in the history of economics.
Another fun fact? She was a one-time junior chess champion. She’s said her success in chess has helped her career in politics. “It’s about getting you to look ahead; to think strategically and not just tactically, and to think about what your opponent’s next move is going to be as well as your own” Reeves told the BBC in 2021.
So what will be Reeves’ first calls as chancellor? According to the Financial Times, Reeves has stated that she will set out “far-reaching planning reforms” this week to “fix the foundations of Britain’s economy” – and that boosting economic growth is a “national mission.” “Where governments have been unwilling to take the difficult decisions to deliver growth — or have waited too long to act — I will deliver,” she said.
She has spoken publicly about how she feels like it’s her responsibility to drive progress for women in the UK. In a speech delivered to Treasury after her appointment to the Chancellor position last week, Reeves said:
“It is also a huge privilege to be the first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer. To every young woman and girl… to every young woman and girl watching this: let today show that there should be no ceilings on your ambitions, your hopes or your dreams.
But there is a deeper responsibility too to women whose work is too often undermined, who have borne the brunt of inequality and whose lives and interests are too often excluded from economic policy making. Together, we are going to change that.”