Rachel Reeves

Early life and career

The daughter of Graham and Sally Reeves of Lewisham, South East London, Reeves was educated at Cator Park School for Girls in Bromley. At school, she was the UK Under-14 girls chess champion.

After sitting A-Levels in Politics, Economics, Mathematics and Further Mathematics, she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at New College, Oxford (MA), followed by graduating as MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Reeves cites the influence of her father on her and her sister Ellie, in leaning towards socially democratic policies. She recalls how when she was eight years old, her father, Graham, pointed out the then-Labour leader Neil Kinnock on the television and "told us that was who we voted for". Reeves says she and her sister have "both known we were Labour since then". She joined the Labour Party at the age of sixteen.

She worked as an economist at the Bank of England and British Embassy in Washington, D.C. between 2000-06.

Reeves stood as the Labour Party parliamentary candidate in the Conservative safe seat of Bromley and Chislehurst at the 2005 general election, finishing second. She also contested the 2006 by-election in the same constituency, following the death of sitting Conservative MP Eric Forth, and finished in fourth place. Labour support fell from 10,241 votes to 1,925, in what was described as a "humiliation" for Labour. The result was the worst performance for a governing party since 1991.

Reeves moved to Leeds in 2006 to work for HBOS. She was once interviewed for a job at Goldman Sachs, but turned it down although the job could have made her "a lot richer". She later sought nomination for the Leeds West seat at the 2010 general election, seeking to replace John Battle, who had chosen to retire. She was selected to contest the seat from an all-women shortlist of Labour Party prospective parliamentary candidates.

Echoing similar titles of publications by Roy Jenkins in 1959 and Tony Wright in 1997, Reeves wrote the new edition of Why Vote Labour? in the run-up to the 2010 general election, as part of a series giving the case for each of the main political parties.

Parliamentary career

Reeves was elected with a majority of 7,016 on 6 May 2010—a 5,794 reduction in the majority enjoyed by Battle—and became only the second woman to represent a Leeds constituency. In early 2017, she completed and published a biography of Alice Bacon, who was the first such woman (having represented Leeds North East and then Leeds South East between 1945 and 1970).

In her maiden speech, delivered on 8 June 2010, Reeves praised the work of her predecessor John Battle, and pledged to fight for jobs, growth and prosperity for Leeds West. She also pledged to follow in Battle's footsteps and fight for justice for the victims of the Armley asbestos disaster and their families. In a series of questions in Parliament, she enquired whether the government would honour promises by the previous government to compensate victims of asbestos diagnosed with pleural plaques, and bring legislation into force making it easier to pursue claims against insurers.

Following the 2010 election, she supported Ed Miliband for the Labour leadership, because she felt he was the candidate most willing to listen to what the voters were saying about where the party went wrong. After becoming an MP, Reeves was appointed to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee then as Shadow Pensions Minister in October 2010. In her role as Shadow Pensions Minister, she campaigned against the Government's proposed acceleration of equalising state pensions ages for men and women. She was promoted to the post of Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in October 2011. She caused controversy in early 2015 by stating "We [Labour] don’t want to be seen, and we're not, the party to represent those who are out of work".

Reeves has been named by The Guardian newspaper as being one of several MPs who employ unpaid interns, a practice that some maintain may breach the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. The Independent has named Reeves as a member of a group of new Labour MPs known as the "Nando's Five": the others being Luciana Berger, Jonathan Reynolds, Emma Reynolds and Chuka Umunna.

In September 2016, she described her constituency as being "like a tinderbox" that could explode if immigration was not curbed.

Policy stances

Reeves has written a study about the financial crisis of 2007–2010 for the Fabian Review, Institute of Public Policy Research, Socialist Environment and Resources Association, and the European Journal of Political Economy. Following her election as MP, Reeves wrote about the direction of UK government fiscal policy in Renewal. In an article entitled "The Politics of Deficit Reduction", Reeves offers her critique of the current financial situation and efforts to bring down the budget deficit.

She is a proponent of quantitative easing to alleviate the late-2000s recession, having studied the effects of the policy on Japan in the early 2000s.

Reeves supports the High Speed 2 rail project, and raised the issue in the House of Commons, as well as campaigning for the proposed Kirkstall Forge railway station. She is also involved in the campaign to save the historic Bramley Baths and the campaign to save the children's heart unit at Leeds General Infirmary.

A supporter of Israel, Reeves belongs to, and has held office in, Labour Friends of Israel. She contributed a chapter to a book about Israeli politics and society, and she is a keen supporter of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.

Reeves regularly contributes articles to publications such as the website LabourList, Progress and The Guardian's Comment is Free.

Parliamentary credit card

Reeves' Parliamentary credit card was stopped at the start of 2015, owing to a debt of £4,033.63 which she subsequently repaid.

Personal life

Reeves is married to Nicholas Joicey, a civil servant and Gordon Brown's former private secretary and speech writer. The couple have homes in Bramley and London.

Reeves' younger sister, Ellie, is the Labour MP for Lewisham West and Penge and is married to John Cryer, Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead. Reeves announced her first pregnancy on 20 September 2012, giving birth to a daughter. Her younger children were born in 2013 and 2015.

Reeves says she spends her spare time swimming, reading and walking. Reeves is a Patron of Bramley Elderly Action and a Trustee of Leeds Healthy Living Network. She was previously on the board of BARCA – Leeds and a governor of Swallow Hill Community College, and Kirkstall Valley Primary School.