Rachel Reeves

Rachel Jane Reeves (born 13 February 1979) is a British politician serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer since July 2024, and the first woman to be appointed to the post. Previously, she was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2021. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the Member of Parliament for Leeds West since the 2010 general election.

Quotes

• I guess you could say that, moving from banking, I am one of the few people entering politics to be going to a more popular profession.
  • After her selection as prospective parliamentary candidate for Leeds West, as cited by Allegra Stratton in "Waiting in the wings, the new generation hoping to revitalise the Labour party", The Guardian (19 March 2009)
  • Reeves had previously worked for the Bank of England and HBOS.

• Until this government's formation just over a year ago, every generation of women has enjoyed greater opportunity. My great-grandmother was a cockle picker on the south coast of Wales, my grandmother worked in shoe factories, and my mother is a primary school teacher. But this expectation that women of the next generation will do better than the one before is now fundamentally threatened.
  • "Don't turn back the clock for women", The Guardian (8 June 2011)

• Unless you take swift action in the wake of a financial crisis the problems stick around for 10 to 20 years.
  • "Newcomer fears pain of Tory austerity", Financial Times (24 November 2011)

• The real cause of what is happening now is a terrorist attack. If Britain or any other country was attacked by terrorists, we would believe, and rightly so, that we have every right to defend ourselves, to get back hostages and to protect our citizens.
  Israel is no different. It has every right to defend itself. [...]
  Of course, it has to abide by international rules of engagement.
  • Speaking on the Today programme (9 October 2023), as cited in Sophie Wingate "Reeves rejects suggestions Hamas attack caused by Israel's 'occupation’ of Gaza", The Independent (9 October 2023).
  • On 7 October, the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel led to the deaths of around 1,200 Israelis, the largest number of Jews murdered since the 1940s.

• I want to see a Palestinian state existing alongside a safe and secure Israel and what frustrates me so much is that what Hamas has done over the last few days has set back the cause of peace that I am so desperate to see in the Middle East and that people across Labour are desperate to see in the Middle East.
  But terrorism is not the way to get there and I am appalled by what we have seen.
  • Speaking on Times Radio, as cited in "You must believe Hamas are terrorists to be in Labour, says Rachel Reeves", The Telegraph (9 October 2023)

• I also know that many of you have concerns closer to home, about the antisemitism, the anti-Zionism and the anti-Israeli feeling that is allowed to flourish in some communities in Britain.
  And so we stand alongside you here at home as well and will ensure that the police do everything within their powers to hold responsible anybody who behaves in that way here at home. And we stand in solidarity with the Jewish community here in Britain, not just today but every single day.
  • At a Labour Friends of Israel event (10 October 2023), as cited in "Rachel Reeves under fire over call for 'police to crack down on anti-Zionists'", The National (Glasgow, 25 February 2024)
  • The leader of the opposition (Labour's) Sir Keir Starmer, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy were also present. After the 2024 general election, the four politicians entered government in the Starmer ministry.