Rachel Reeves appointed UK's first ever female Chancellor as Keir Starmer picks Cabinet

Rachel Reeves has been appointed the UK's first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer after Labour's sweeping general election victory.

The former Bank of England economist is the first woman in history to take control of the United Kingdom Treasury as new Prime Minister begun appointing his first Cabinet.

He entered No 10 earlier today as Labour's first PM in 14 years in the wake of his party's landslide majority on July 4.

And he wasted no time making his first political appointees, with Reeves among the first in the door, having previously served in Starmer's shadow cabinet.

Reeves, 45, faces a daunting in-tray to address the poor state of the nation's finances.

She has pledged to boost economic growth as well as end tax loopholes for non-doms, private schools and oil giants for an immediate injection of cash to the Treasury.

Starmer also appointed Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner to be Britain's deputy prime minister.

She was the first senior politician to arrive at 10 Downing Street as Starmer spent his first hours in office appointing the new Labour cabinet.

Rayner, who has been Starmer's deputy since 2020, will also gets the role of Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Scots MP Ian Murray - tipped to become Scottish Secretary - Lisa Nandy, Louise Haigh, Lucy Powell and Liz Kendall have also all been arriving at No 10 this afternoon in anticipation of ministerial jobs under Starmer.

Elsewhere in the Cabinet, David Lammy has been appointed as Foreign Secretary.

It follows some speculation during the campaign that the role could have gone to new Scottish MP for Lothian East Douglas Alexander, returning to frontline politics for the first time since 2015. Alexander had previously served as a minister under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Yvette Cooper has been made Home Secretary, Wes Streeting is the new Health Secretary and John Healey is the new Defence Secretary.

Former party leader Ed Miliband has been appointed Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. He led Labour from 2010 to 2015, losing to David Cameron's Tories in that year's general election.

And Paisley-born Pat McFadden - who had been Labour's national campaign coordinator - has been appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. More appointments are expected over Friday and into the weekend.

Bridget Phillipson has been appointed Education Secretary while Shabana Mahmood was named Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.

Addressing the public in his first speech as PM from outside Downing Street, Starmer said: "The work for change begins immediately.

"We will rebuild Britain. Brick by brick we will rebuild the infrastructure of opportunity."

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