If the sheer thought of the looming general election gives you sweaty palms, then you’re not alone. It’s tricky enough at the best of times to navigate manifestos, televised debates and ballot boxes. But now, more than ever, it seems as though there’s a crisis of confidence in politics. Who can you truly trust to run the country? And what are the options on polling day to make sure the best party for the job gets into power?

In our new series, Answer The Question, we’re sitting down with MPs from across the political spectrum to get to the heart of who they are and, more importantly, why we should trust them with our vote.

Our first MP is Labour’s Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor of the exchequer. Serving the constituency of Leeds West since 2010, Reeves occupied positions such as shadow minister for the cabinet office and shadow secretary of state for work and pensions before being made shadow chancellor in May 2021. Here, she tells Stylist about her career, the last lie she told and the thing that would make her walk away from the job.

What’s the most pressing issue for women right now and what are you doing about it?

“From the perspective of the economy, I’d say that this country still has a gender pay gap. It’s been over 50 years since the Equal Pay Act came into law and we still need to tackle pay disparities between men and women. I’m determined to be the chancellor that closes that gender pay gap once and for all.”

What’s the one thing you want to achieve in your role?

“I want to be chancellor of the exchequer. I started my career as an economist at the Bank of England and I’m well qualified to do this job. It’s what I’ve wanted to do for a long time now, because I want to make our economy stronger and fairer. Also, if Labour win the election, I will be the first female chancellor of the exchequer. The job has existed for 800 years and a woman has never been chancellor in the UK. I’d love the chance to change that and be the first woman chancellor.”

What’s been your most memorable day in politics so far?

“You may have seen last week that it’s the leader of the opposition who responds to the budget, not the shadow chancellor. But a couple of years ago, Keir Starmer tested positive for Covid-19 and I had to step in – with 45 minutes’ notice. I had just enough time to text my husband to put the TV on. It was very memorable, to say the least.”

How do people react when you tell them you’re a politician?

“People are usually very positive, I think in part because there aren’t enough women in politics. When I take my kids to school in the mornings, people know that I’m an MP and the shadow chancellor and I think they’re quite pleased by that.”

Do you have a constituent in mind when you’re standing up representing them in parliament?

“I had this conversation with a woman about a year ago and it’s stayed with me ever since. She was a mother, and she told me that she and her husband work five jobs between them and they have a toddler so they only get to spend half a day a week together. Balancing work, paying the rent and bills and managing childcare was all they were doing. She told me that she often wondered if she was doing something wrong. I think about her often as they weren’t doing anything wrong. They were doing everything right but the economy wasn’t working for her family.

So, when I think about the economy, I want to make it better for working people, and the test of whether I’ve been a good chancellor will be if people are able to earn enough to be able to live on, spend time with their family and feel that they’ve got something to look forward to.”

What piece of criticism as a politician has stuck in your mind?

“Around 10 years ago, I was doing an interview on Newsnight and one of the producers at the end of the programme mistakenly wrote a tweet to all his followers that I was boring. It was a comment that was supposed to be a direct message but he put it on Twitter and it spiralled into a whole debate about whether I was boring or not.

The economy certainly hasn’t been boring these last few years so maybe a bit more boring might be a good thing if it means that more people can pay their mortgages on time. This person did send me flowers the next day as an apology but the comment stuck.”

What was the last lie you told?

“I’m not a very good liar; I wouldn’t be a good poker player. But I do play chess with my kids most weekends, and I used to be quite a good player when I was younger. So, sometimes I‘ll throw a piece or make a bad move so that they can get an advantage in the game. And if they ask if I did that on purpose, I just respond with, ‘Oh no, that’s just me being silly’.”

How do you keep your brain sharp?

“I love Wordle. It’s the first thing I do in the mornings. I’m in a WhatsApp group with some friends and we share our scores every day. I try to go running a couple of times a week to unwind, too.”

Why should a voter trust you?

“It’s my responsibility to ensure that voters trust the Labour party – and me – on the economy. I think people should trust me based on my background and experience. I started my career as an economist at the Bank of England and I worked in financial services for many years before I became a politician. I learned at the Bank of England the importance of managing the public finances, how important it is to always ensure your sums add up. Those are the sort of values and training that I would take to the job as chancellor.”

What would make you walk away from politics?

“I’ve been an MP now for 14 years so I’ve stuck at it in pretty difficult times. However, the moment I came close to walking away from the job was at the height of the antisemitism crisis within the Labour party. Even though I knew it was an issue, I remember watching the Panorama documentary on it and it had such a big impact on me and whether I could do this job. I stayed because I believed that I had an important job to do and wanted to help turn the Labour party around, and I’m pleased that I did stay.”

What keeps you awake at night?

“The thing that keeps me awake at night at the moment with a general election looming is have we done enough to win the next election? All my years as an MP have been in opposition. I’ve been able to make changes and help my constituents, but I haven’t been able to achieve what I want in politics. I haven’t had the chance to make our country the fair, more equal and more prosperous place that I want it to be. That’s what’s been keeping me on my toes.”

Answer The Question is Stylist’s home for all things voting and elections. In the series, we sit down with MPs from across the political spectrum to get to the heart of who they are and, more importantly, why we should trust them with our vote.

“I want to close the gender pay gap once and for all”: Rachel Reeves on the election, life as an MP and the last lie she told