Exclusive: Rachel Reeves proud to build on legacy of Labour’s Leeds Chancellors

She is well aware of that history. In her first interview with the Yorkshire Post since the election, she highlighted her predecessors, saying: “It's great to join that pack and also be the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer.”

The Yorkshire Post spoke to Ms Reeves at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s offices in her home city of Leeds, following her meeting with mayors Tracy Brabin, Oliver Coppard and David Skaith.

She has only been in her new job a week, and it’s clear she is still getting used to some things.

A beaming smile lit up her face as she told broadcasters her name and job title - “Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer” - and she put great emphasis when speaking about her boss, “the Prime Minister”.

Ms Reeves is clearly hugely driven to succeed in her new role. She has a steely determination, intensity and focus.

“I was in opposition for just over 14 years as a MP for Leeds West, now Leeds West and Pudsey,” she said.

“During that time I held a huge number of surgeries, probably tens of thousands of pieces of casework, ran local campaigns into high rise flats, swimming baths, train stations.

“But I never felt that I was really able to get to the root of the problems as I didn’t have a government working alongside me.”

Now things are different. Last week, Labour won a historic landslide with a majority of 174 seats, sending Sir Keir Starmer to No10 Downing Street and Ms Reeves next door to No11.

She recounted with a smile the events of 6 July: “I got back to London, then I got that call from the Prime Minister and walked up Downing Street.

“I’ve been in opposition for 14 years - I’ve never really done that walk before into 10 Downing Street.

“That was an amazing feeling because at long last we’re able to start finally putting into practice all those things we’ve been campaigning about, talking about all the time that I’ve been an MP.”

Ms Reeves has wasted no time in getting to work, and she says she is under no illusions over the task facing her.

“The plans I am inheriting are - I would argue - the worst since the Second World War,” Ms Reeves explained.

She cited the high levels of government debt, the tax burden being at the highest level since 1949 and “public services on their knees”.

“I can’t come in with a big cheque book and say I’m gonna sort all these problems out with public money,” Ms Reeves explained.

“I think if I said that, people would say that was very naive and they wouldn’t have voted for us … that’s why we need to leverage in private investment.”

She believes that the planning reforms announced on Monday will unlock that “in housing, in energy infrastructure, in digital infrastructure and much more.”

This will also be required to complete the West Yorkshire mass transit system, which has been promised for years but never delivered.

Ms Reeves spoke of the jobs and opportunities this would create in her home city, but added that “Tracy [Brabin] is really clear that these sorts of projects will need private sector investment”.

The NHS and social care are other areas which have come under huge strain in recent years. Labour has pledged 40,000 extra appointments a week to try and tackle the huge waiting lists.

But Ms Reeves also cited the “good work” that Leeds Teaching Hospital is doing to work with social care providers to free up beds.

She said this was an example of how “it’s not always about money - we can reform how the system works”.

“There’s already a huge amount of money, public money, spent on the health service and social care,” the Chancellor explained

“Are we convinced that we’re getting value for money on that investment? I’m not.

“We need to do things differently, not just think that more money is the answer to every problem - it’s not.”