Rachel Reeves: Britain’s Likely First Woman Finance Chief

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Rachel Reeves, a former child chess champion and Bank of England economist, is on Friday expected to become Britain’s first female finance minister.

With Labour predicted to win by a landslide, Reeves will step up to the role of chancellor of the exchequer, having been the party’s finance spokesperson in opposition.

Her party has put the economy at the heart of its election manifesto, targeting growth and wealth creation as key priorities in government.

Its emphasis on the latter is not normally associated with the party’s traditionally leftist policies.

But Reeves, 45, recently told company bosses: “This changed Labour Party is today the natural party of British business.”

“Change will be achieved only on the basis of iron discipline” over public finances, she added in comments that drew comparisons with ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister.

Unlike Conservative leader Thatcher, who privatised key sectors after becoming prime minister in 1979, Reeves wants a form of renationalisation, notably for energy, as she takes inspiration from policy enacted by US President Joe Biden.

Labour has pledged to create Great British Energy, a publicly owned company that would spearhead funding, alongside the private sector, for the “green” transition away from fossil fuels.

James Wood, senior teaching associate in political economy at the University of Cambridge, said Labour and Reeves were seeking a “responsible” approach to the public purse.

“When she talks about being an iron chancellor, I think what she means is: we’re going to balance the books and we’re going to be responsible — and we’re going to try and get Britain’s economy running… in a responsible way,” he told AFP.

London-born Reeves tapped into public anger over Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss, whose unfunded 2022 mini-budget crashed the pound and sent mortgage rates soaring, worsening a cost-of-living crisis.

“They want to distance themselves from fiscal irresponsibility, not making big promises about spending that they can’t possibly keep,” Wood added.

Reeves, whose parents were teachers, is no stranger to outmanoeuvring opponents.

She became British girls’ chess champion aged 14 before studying philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford, which was followed by a Master’s degree at the London School of Economics.

After graduating, she worked as an economist for a decade, first at the Bank of England before switching to the private sector.

While working for British retail bank HBOS, the global financial crisis struck in 2008, resulting in her employer receiving a huge bailout, along with other lenders, from Gordon Brown’s Labour government.

In 2010, when the Conservatives entered power in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, Reeves was elected Labour MP for Leeds West in northern England.

Eleven years later, Starmer appointed her as Labour’s finance spokesperson.

After winning re-election early Friday, she acknowledged the scale of the task ahead, with pressing concerns to fix crumbling public services and a cost-of-living crisis.

“I know that the road ahead will not be easy. There are no quick fixes and hard choices lie ahead,” she said.

“We are under no illusions about the scale of the challenge that we face or about the severity of the challenges that we will inherit from the Conservatives.

“It will come with a great weight of responsibility. I embrace it. It will demand hard work and harder choices. I am ready for them.”

Reeves, who is married with two children, has said becoming the first woman chancellor in the role’s centuries-old history “would be the privilege of my lifetime”.

Her sister Ellie is also a Labour MP.