October 22nd 2024.
The Budget is a highly anticipated event, with rumors swirling about what may be included in it. People are eager to see how Chancellor Rachel Reeves will address the £22 billion deficit in the nation's finances. Reeves, who became the UK's first female chancellor after Labour's victory in the 2024 General Election, has promised to make tough decisions in order to balance the budget.
Before becoming chancellor, Reeves served in Sir Keir Starmer's shadow cabinet as the shadow chancellor from May 2021 to July. In this role, she oversaw the scrapping of the winter fuel allowance for pensioners not on certain benefits, a decision that will affect over 9 million pensioners. Now, as chancellor, Reeves is facing the task of raising up to £40 billion through a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, in order to avoid a return to austerity measures.
But who is Rachel Reeves? Born on February 13, 1979, in Lewisham, south east London, Reeves is the daughter of primary school teachers Graham and Sally. She attended Cator Park School for Girls in Bromley, where she excelled in subjects like maths, further maths, economics, and politics. It was during her time in sixth form that Reeves joined the Labour Party, just a year before the party's landslide victory in the 1997 general election under Sir Tony Blair.
Reeves went on to study at Oxford, becoming only the third person from her school to attend the prestigious university. There, she studied philosophy, politics, and economics at New College. After completing her undergraduate degree, she went on to earn a masters degree at the London School of Economics. Reeves then joined the Bank of England's graduate scheme, where she worked alongside former Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Her work with the scheme also took her to Washington, where she analyzed the US economy at the British embassy.
Following her time at the Bank of England, Reeves worked at the banking and insurance company HBOS during the 2008 financial crash. She then entered the world of politics, winning a seat in Parliament in 2010 at the age of 31. Reeves quickly rose through the ranks, gaining attention for her appointment as the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury after just 18 months in the House of Commons. She was later promoted to shadow work and pensions secretary in Ed Miliband's Labour Party in 2013.
After the 2015 general election, Reeves spent the majority of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership on the backbenches. However, she returned to the shadow cabinet in 2020 as the chairwoman of the Business and Trade Select Committee. In April 2020, Sir Keir offered her the role of shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, where she faced off against Michael Gove at the despatch box. In May 2021, after disappointing local election results for Labour, Reeves was appointed as the shadow chancellor, replacing Anneliese Dodds.
As shadow chancellor, Reeves has taken a cautious and steady approach, working to rebuild relationships between Labour and business leaders. She has also been a vocal critic of the economic policies implemented by successive conservative chancellors, including the mini-budget proposed by Liz Truss. But Reeves' political career is not the only thing that makes her stand out. She also comes from a political family, as her younger sister Ellie Reeves is also a Labour MP.
Born in 1980, Ellie Reeves has been the Member of Parliament for Lewisham West and East Dulwich since 2017. She and Rachel both became members of the Labour Party at the same time, and they both attended Oxford University. Ellie is married to Labour peer Lord Cryer and has also served in the shadow cabinet, as well as being appointed as the chair of the Labour Party after the party's general election win.
Rachel Reeves is also a mother of two, as she and her husband Nicholas Joicey have two children together. Joicey is a senior civil servant who currently serves as the second Permanent Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The couple met while working in Washington, and they have a daughter named Anna, born in 2013, and a son named Harold, born in 2015.
While Reeves is often described in the media as a British chess champion, it has been reported that she has never actually won a chess tournament. She did compete in the British Under 14s championship in 1993, where she came joint 26th. In previous years, she also participated in the Under 13s and Under 12s championships, but did not place as highly. Despite this, Reeves remains a strong chess player and continues to enjoy the game.
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