Rachel Reeves’ secret expertise, lovable childhood pic and household life
Rachel Reeves, Britain’s first ever female Chancellor, will present Labour’s second Budget of the parliament at the despatch box on November 26 – here’s a rundown on who she is
Rachel Reeves will present Labour’s second Budget of this parliament on November 26, in what is seen as a make or break moment for the Government.
The Chancellor will make a financial address amid turbulent economic times, and growing unrest among some Labour MPs over the direction of the party.
It follows weeks of speculation over tax, with the Chancellor previously tipped to break Labour’s manifesto commitment not to hike income tax. Ms Reeves had seemed to roll the pitch for tax rises, warning “each of us must do our bit”, but now after better than expected forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the plans are believed to have been dropped.
In a bombshell Budget, she is expected is an end to the two-child benefit cap, is looking at hikes to gambling taxes, and also introducing a new £2,000 yearly cap on how much money can save into your pension through salary sacrifice.
Other measures being considered include a tourist tax, allowing local leaders to introduce taxes for overnight stays, and also a boost to the minimum wage, with the Treasury looking at increasing the amount to around £12.70 from April 2026, which would be a rise of around 4%. The Treasury has also been looking at eliminating VAT on energy bills, which currently stands at 5%.
Ahead of the Budget, the Mirror has pulled together a rundown on the life of our Chancellor Ms Reeves.
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Political career
2025 has been a difficult year for the Chancellor, who came under fire after accepting free tickets to a Sabrina Carpenter concert, arguing security concerns mean she couldn’t sit in the crowd.
She also appeared to be in tears in the Commons during a tense PMQs in July, shortly after the PM swerved a question over whether Ms Reeves would still be Chancellor at the next election. Mr Starmer backed her immediately after PMQs, and a spokesperson for the Chancellor explained it had been over a personal matter.
There were further issues in October when she admitted an “inadvertent mistake” after failing to obtain a rental licence on her family home. She had failed to obtain a “selective” licence from Southwark council to rent out the house. The local authority requires licences on privately rented properties in certain areas.
In a sign of how important the Budget is for Ms Reeves, at the gathering of Labour MPs this week, the Chancellor called for unity within the Labour Party, describing politics as a “team sport”.
Ms Reeves wasn’t elected as a Member of Parliament until her third attempt at trying. Finally in 2010 she became MP for Leeds West, where she won a majority of just over 7,000. She served the constituency until boundary changes last year, when she was re-elected as an MP for the slightly altered Leeds West and Pudsey area with a majority of 12,392.
Just five months after being elected in 2010 Ms Reeves was promoted to Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions under then Labour leader Ed Miliband. The following year she became Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and in 2013 the Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions.
She became a backbencher during Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure and would later distance herself from his leadership. Under Mr Starmer she became Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, before being appointed Shadow Chancellor in 2021. After the election, she took on the role of Chancellor.
Ms Reeves has previously spoken about Alistair Darling, the last Labour Chancellor and who steered the country through recession in 2008, being a mentor to her when she first joined Parliament. Ms Reeves described Mr Darling, who died in 2023 aged 70, as the person who she would love to be able to pick up the phone to now. “I hope that he would be proud of what I’m doing as the next Labour Chancellor after him,” she said.
Banking career
Ms Reeves studied the prestigious degree of PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Oxford University, a course taken by the most recent Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and ex-PM Liz Truss. She also completed a masters in economics at the London School of Economics.
Despite having a photo of former PM Gordon Brown on her desk at university (apparently bought for her as a joke because he was a hero of hers), Ms Reeves wanted to get a “proper job” before considering any sort of career in politics. She pursued a career at Bank of England as an economist and later worked for the Bank of Scotland for more than three years.
Dame Sue Owen, who was her boss in Washington DC when Ms Reeves became the Bank’s first member of staff posted in the US capital, told the i newspaper last year: “I think she was quite conscious that there were people, even people like Gordon Brown, who’d only ever been in politics and that to have some credibility, she thought you needed to have done a real job first.”
At one point, she turned down a job at Goldman Sachs – a decision she says she does not regret but has joked: “I could have been a lot richer.”
Interests
One of Ms Reeves’ biggest and most well-known passions is chess. As a child, she had clear skills and talents in maths and was taught to play chess by her dad when she was seven. She went on to become under-14s British girls chess champion.
And she has gained skills that should come in handy this Budget, having told the BBC in a 2021 interview: “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.”
As well as being a dedicated chess player, she is known to be a huge fan of Beyoncé. Ex Labour MP Michael Dugher, with whom Ms Reeves once shared an office in Parliament, told the i this week: “She is someone who is great company and great fun. She’s a bit more Beyoncé than Taylor Swift in her musical tastes. She also loves Ronnie Scott’s [jazz bar in London’s Soho]. She takes being a mum extremely seriously as well, so she’s just normal is what I would say.”
Family life
Ms Reeves was born in 1979 in southeast London to teacher parents Graham and Sally, who split up when she was seven. She went to a comprehensive school in Beckenham – Cator Park – with her sister Ellie and would spend her school holidays with their grandpa and grandma at their council maisonette in Kettering. The pair would go on to become the first sisters in history to sit around the Cabinet table – with Ellie also being a Labour MP and Cabinet minister.
Having been a Labour member since 1996, she has spoken of memories of her dad telling her to vote for the party when she was under the age of 10. She has also talked about her dad instilling a competitive spirit in her at a young age, with him never letting her win at chess. Ms Reeves is married to a senior civil servant, Nick Joicey. The pair have two children, whom they try to keep out of the spotlight.
