Rachel Reeves has become the first woman finance minister of UK. The 45-year-old Reeves is an economist and has pledged to grow the nation's economy.
Reeves is said to be a former child chess champion and Bank of England economist. Reeves becomes chancellor of the exchequer after her centre-left Labour party won Thursday's UK general election by a landslide, ending 14 years of rule by the right-wing Conservatives.
"It is the honour of my life to have been appointed chancellor of the exchequer," Reeves wrote on X after her appointment by UK’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
"To every young girl and woman reading this, let today show that there should be no limits on your ambitions," she said.
Earlier, Labour Party in UK had put the economy at the heart of its election manifesto, targeting growth and wealth creation as key priorities in government.
"Economic growth was the Labour Party's mission," Reeves said.
"It is now a national mission. Let's get to work," said the married mother of two children.
Labour Party 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.
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.
Who is Rachel Reeves?
At 14 Reeves became UK’s girls' chess champion before studying philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford. She did her Master's degree from the London School of Economics.
Later, she worked as an economist for a decade, first at the Bank of England before switching to the private sector.
In 2010, Reeves was elected Labour MP for Leeds West in northern England. Eleven years later, Starmer appointed her as Labour Party's finance spokesperson.
