First female chancellor hailed a 'game-changer'

Rachel Reeves, the UK's first female Chancellor of the Exchequer

The appointment of the UK's first female chancellor is a “game-changer” for gender representation in politics, a fellow Leeds MP has said.

Rachel Reeves, MP for Leeds West and Pudsey, became the first woman appointed to the role on Friday.

Katie White, the new Labour MP for Leeds North West, said the election results had been "really positive" for women.

However, Gill Furniss, Labour MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, warned gender balance in parliament was still a work in progress.

The 2024 general election has seen several historic firsts and a record number of female MPs being elected.

There are now 263 women in the House of Commons - 41% of the total number of MPs and an increase from the 220 female MPs elected in 2019.

Across Yorkshire, 22 MPs are female and three out of the six Yorkshire ministers in the prime minister's new Cabinet are women.

Ms White, who herself is the first female MP for her constituency, said: "From where I’m sitting, we are in a good position.

"We’ve got the first female chancellor - that’s game-changing.

"Of course there is always more we want to do, but I think it’s a really positive place to be right now and I personally feel really excited."

Katie White, the new MP for Leeds North West

However, Ms Furniss said while the news that more women than ever had been elected was "great", more needed to be done to increase the figures.

"To be honest, we are not quite there yet, it's only 40% of the seats overall, including Conservatives and Labour," she told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"Labour have got 46% and the Conservatives have only got 24% which is not really great."

Ms Furniss, who is the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Women’s Health, added: "Women are more than half the population, it would seem only fair that we should have the same representation."

Gill Furniss said she was pleased with the number of female MPs but said there was still room for improvement

Following her appointment on Friday, Ms Reeves said it was "the honour of my life".

In a post on X, she wrote: "It comes with a historic responsibility as the first woman to be appointed chancellor.

"To every young girl and woman reading this, let today show that there should be no limits on your ambitions."

On Monday, Ms Reeves laid out Labour's economic agenda, including bringing back compulsory housebuilding targets and the overhaul of planning restrictions.

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