Who is Rachel Reeves?

Rachel Reeves is preparing to deliver her second Budget, against a backdrop of disappointing productivity in the economy and expected tax rises.

It has been a turbulent year for the chancellor who, before Labour won power in the 2024 general election, had promised to bring economic stability.

Reeves was born in south-east London in 1979, just months before Margaret Thatcher became prime minister at a time of immense social and economic change.

She has previously told the BBC her mother would tick off items on a bank statement against receipts while sitting at the kitchen table: "We weren't poor, but we didn't have money to waste."

Her parents separated when she was at primary school, and she and younger sister Ellie, also a Labour MP, were shuttled between separate homes.

During the school holidays, the sisters would spend time with their grandparents in the Northamptonshire town of Kettering.

They would be taken to do the rounds of relatives' houses, who would give them a 20p or 50p piece each. At the end of their week, they were taken to the local toy shop to choose their goodies. While Ellie would spend all her cash, the young Rachel would allow herself a smaller treat and save most of the money.

Decades later, Chancellor Reeves would say that kind of restraint defines her, and she has very much modelled herself on Gordon Brown’s "prudence" in the lead-up to Labour’s 1997 election win.

Rachel Reeves: The basics

Age: 46

Place of birth: Lewisham, south-east London

Education: New College, Oxford and the London School of Economics

Family: Married to Nicholas Joicey, a senior civil servant and former speechwriter to Gordon Brown during his time as chancellor. They have two children. Her sister is Labour MP and junior minister Ellie Reeves.

Parliamentary constituency: Leeds West and Pudsey

Chess talent

Reeves played chess from an early age, with her father teaching her the key moves. She became a national under-14 champion, and would "quietly thrash" any boys who might think they were in for an easy game, according to Ellie.

She has credited chess with teaching her "to think ahead, to plan a strategy".

A keen flute player, she took her music GCSE a year early at Beckenham's Cator Park School for Girls, a comprehensive, and would go on to gain four A grades at A-level.

Seeing the extent of cuts at her school, where the library had been turned into a classroom and the sixth form consisted of "two pre-fab huts in the playground", she has said she was politicised by her own experience of public services. At the age of 16, she joined the Labour Party.

She went on to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University. As a student, she would host others before college discos, blasting out Destiny's Child songs and dressing up in her room.

Despite her serious demeanour, colleagues and friends have suggested the Labour MP's public persona does not reflect her human side, including a loud laugh and a deep love of Beyoncé tracks.

Rachel Reeves with her sister Ellie Reeves, who is also a Labour MP

After graduating, Reeves took on a role as an economist at the Bank of England.

She worked on the central bank's Japan desk, looking at the country's attempts to come out of stagnation in the 1990s.

During a secondment to the UK embassy in Washington, she met her future husband Nicholas Joicey, who had spent time as a film critic for newspapers and as a speechwriter to then-Chancellor Gordon Brown.

CVs and expenses

Before becoming MP for Leeds West in 2010, Reeves moved to the city and spent time working there for the retail arm of Halifax Bank of Scotland.

Her career at HBOS came under scrutiny, after the BBC revealed Reeves and two colleagues were the subject of an expenses probe while she was a senior manager at the bank.

A spokesman for Reeves said she had no knowledge of the investigation, always complied with expenses rules and left the bank on good terms.

Reeves has also faced questions about the accuracy of her online CV, which the BBC found exaggerated the length of time she worked at the Bank of England.

A spokesman for the chancellor confirmed that dates on her LinkedIn were inaccurate and blamed an administrative error by the team.

Rachel Reeves served as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury under Ed Balls (right), pictured in 2012

Entering Parliament in 2010, an early mentor on economic policy was Alistair Darling - the last Labour chancellor, during the financial crisis.

She quickly rose up the party's ranks, shadowing roles at the Treasury, Work and Pensions, and the Cabinet Office.

Throughout Jeremy Corbyn's four-and-a-half years as Labour leader, she remained on the backbenches because she felt she could not endorse his policies. Called a "Red Tory" by some in the party, she described this as a "very unpleasant period" in an interview with the BBC's Nick Robinson.

A former editor of the BBC's Newsnight programme was forced to issue a written apology to Reeves after calling her "boring snoring" on social media in a post that was meant to be a private message.

While she said the incident was "deeply humiliating", her key objective after Sir Keir Starmer appointed her shadow chancellor was to portray Labour as a steady, pro-business hand on the economy.

Rachel Reeves became the first chancellor to address a Labour conference in 15 years

Following Labour's landslide election victory last July, Reeves became the country's first female chancellor and quickly faced what she described as "tough choices".

She claimed a "black hole" in the nation's finances meant winter fuel payments would have to be axed for millions of pensioners and National Insurance hiked for employers.

Despite Labour's attempts to win over businesses during the election campaign, many were disappointed they bore the brunt of the £40bn in tax rises announced in her first Budget.

Less than 12 months after her party took office, the government made two major policy U-turns in the face of rebellions from Labour MPs - on cuts to winter fuel payments and plans to reduce the benefits bill.

The climbdowns meant Reeves would have to look to tax rises or other spending cuts to meet her financial rules - making her upcoming Budget even more challenging.

Pressure continued to grow on the chancellor, when a tearful appearance in the Commons in July sparked speculation about whether she could keep her role and a temporary rise in government borrowing costs.

Reeves said it had a been a "tough day" and she had been dealing with "a personal issue".

The prime minister backed her, insisting she would be in the job "for a very long time to come".

Sir Keir had to defend his chancellor again last month, after it emerged she had failed to get the correct licence when renting out her family home.

Her letting agent said an oversight meant it never applied for the licence on her behalf but Reeves said she took full responsibility and apologised for the "inadvertent mistake".

While the episode could be brushed off as an embarrasing error, it was an unwelcome distraction a month before her second Budget.

Before taking office, Reeves promised she would govern with "iron discipline" and bring stability to the public finances, leading to comparisons with former Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher.

Now she is under pressure to deliver the economic growth promised by her party, while also ensuring people feel better off.