Rachel Reeves
Rachel Reeves was recently elected as chair of the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee. Getty

Issues linked to soaring debt last seen in the lead-up to the 2008 financial crash are emerging again in Britain, the new head of the business select committee has warned.

Labour MP Rachel Reeves has called for regulators to be "forever vigilant", adding she was concerned households were overstretching themselves with personal debts.

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"I do worry about the growth of some of those issues we saw in the mortgage market in 2008 now rearing their heads in unsecured lending and in car purchases," she told the BBC's Today Programme.

"We've got to be forever vigilant. We're not going to have the same crisis as in 2008, but there are risks building up in the financial services sector as well as in household debt."

Her warning comes a day after the Bank of England cautioned lenders in the UK may be entering a "spiral of complacency" over household lending, with the rise in consumer credit potentially posing a threat to the economy.

Alex Brazier, the bank's director for financial stability, said outstanding car loans, credit card balances and personal loans had increased by 10% over the past year, while household incomes had risen by only 1.5%.

Reeves, who worked at HBOS during the financial crisis, also pledged to hold company bosses accountable over their record on reducing the gender pay gap in the workplace. From April next year, firms in the UK will have to disclose the ratio of pay between the genders.

"I'd like the select committee to scrutinise that, to look at what sectors and businesses are doing well and which have some way to go," she said.

"And I am keen to call in some of those businesses to understand why some - I hope - are getting close to parity on pay, while others are still out of step."

The Labour MP also praised the work of her predecessor as committee chairman, Iain Wright MP, for his work on high profile cases, such as the cross-examination of Sir Philip Green following the collapse of BHS and of Mike Ashley amid claims of poor working conditions at Sports Direct's warehouse.

Reeves said those events were "really powerful and actually changed behaviour in some cases".