She endorsed Ed Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election and joined his frontbench in October 2010 as Shadow Pensions Minister.

Following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election and the subsequent formation of the Starmer ministry, Reeves was appointed to the government as Chancellor of the Exchequer, becoming the first woman to hold the office in its over 800-year history.

Early into her tenure, she established the National Wealth Fund, scrapped certain winter fuel payments, cancelled several infrastructure projects, and announced numerous public sector pay rises.

She recalls how, when she was eight years old, her father, Graham, pointed out the then Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock on the television and "told us that was who we voted for".

[10] In February 2025, BBC News reported that Reeves' LinkedIn CV had also been incorrect, and that she had left the Bank of England by March 2006.

[18] The BBC also reported that Reeves' LinkedIn CV contained an incorrect date of departure from HBOS, and that she had left the bank via voluntary redundancy in May 2009, rather than in December 2009 as previously claimed.

[23] Reeves sought nomination for the Leeds West seat at the 2010 general election, seeking to replace John Battle, who had chosen to retire.

[26] In her maiden speech, delivered on 8 June 2010,[27] Reeves praised the work of Battle and committed to continue fighting for justice for the victims of the Armley asbestos disaster and their families.

It is a real honour to serve as the Member of Parliament for Leeds West and, in doing my duty to my constituents, I will act with the hopes, dreams and aspirations of Leeds West as my guide.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.

[29] Following the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government after the 2010 election, Reeves 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.

[30] After becoming an MP, Reeves was appointed to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee[31] then as Shadow Pensions Minister in October 2010.

[42] On 12 July 2017, Reeves was elected chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, and was reelected in January 2020, serving until her return to the frontbench in April 2020.

[44] As Shadow Chancellor, Reeves opposed aspects of the budgets presented by Rishi Sunak, Kwasi Kwarteng and Jeremy Hunt.

[45] In an interview with the Financial Times, outlining her forthcoming speech in Bury on strengthening the economy, Reeves said a Starmer government would be pro-business and committed to fiscal discipline.

[46][47] In her speech in Bury on 20 January 2022, where she was introduced by MP Christian Wakeford, who had recently defected to Labour from the Conservatives amid the Partygate scandal, she added more detail to her plan:[48][49] In April 2022, after MPs agreed to refer the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, to the Commons Privileges Committee to investigate whether he was is in contempt of Parliament for misleading them about the Downing Street lockdown parties, Reeves tweeted "Honesty and integrity matter in our politics, and for our democracy.

[51] In 2023, after the Labour Party dropped its pledge to scrap university tuition fees, Reeves said "the circumstances since [Starmer] became leader have changed significantly" and blamed the Conservative government's handling of the economy for the policy shift.

[54] The decision was linked to large inflows of money into the Labour Party from global banks, professional services firms, consultancies and financiers since 2022.

This reduction of investment was in response to the economic situation with higher interest rates, and to prevent Conservative criticism in the forthcoming general election.

[70] On 29 July, Reeves announced the findings of a spending audit which had been conducted after the 2024 general election,[71] in which she accused the previous Conservative government of hiding a £21.9 billion "black hole" in the public finances.

[99][100] Reeves has written studies on the 2007–2008 financial crisis for the Fabian Review, the Institute for Public Policy Research,[101] the Socialist Environment and Resources Association,[102] and the European Journal of Political Economy.

[111][112] Securonomics is based on the belief that globalisation has failed to achieve its stated aims and that economies in the Western world must adapt in response.

She said her proposed £28 billion climate investment plan, Labour's version of the Inflation Reduction Act, had to "fit within her fiscal rules".

[109] Reeves supported the High Speed 2 rail project,[120] and raised the issue in the House of Commons,[121] as well as campaigning for the proposed Kirkstall Forge railway station.

[143] She referred to her maternal grandparents suffering from Alzheimer's disease and Dementia for the last years of their lives as examples of why she understands the desire for assisted dying legislation, but said she would fear that people would be "under pressure", and also said that she would want to make sure the "right safeguards" were in place.

"[150][151] Reeves is a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel,[152] contributed a chapter to a book about Israeli politics and society,[153] and supports the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.

[162] Post-brexit, Reeves also called for imports and exports to be kept tariff-free, for there to be "adequate investment in infrastructure" across the country rather than just in London, for a system of universal free childcare for all working parents of pre-school children which she said should be funded by scrapping the cuts to inheritance tax by Chancellor George Osborne, and also for the UK to "shadow" to the EU's employment legislation.

[167][168] In a speech outlining her securonomics policy in July 2023, Reeves accused a "rising China" of "unbalancing the old global order of a unipolar world".

In December 2024, Reeves mentioned that there is a "pragmatic" relationship with China, stating that they are the fifth-largest trading partner and have invested £32 billion in exports.

[176] Echoing similar titles of publications by Roy Jenkins in 1959 and Tony Wright in 1997, Reeves wrote the new edition of Why Vote Labour?

"[194] Prime MinisterKeir Starmer Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom) David Lammy Home SecretaryYvette Cooper