Transport Secretary Louise Haigh Resigns Over Fraud Conviction

Louise Haigh has resigned as transport secretary after it emerged she pleaded guilty to fraud after claiming her mobile phone had been stolen.

Sky News and The Times both reported that she told police she had been mugged in 2013.

In a statement, the MP said she discovered “some time later” that the phone had not in fact been taken.

She said it had been a “genuine mistake” and that magistrates gave her the “lowest possible” sentence when she entered the guilty plea in 2014.

Haigh, who only became transport secretary in July after Labour’s election victory, tendered her resignation last night.

In a letter to the PM, Haigh said that while she is “totally committed to our political project,” she thinks “it will be best served by my supporting you from outside government”.

In her statement, the MP for Sheffield Heeley said: “Whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government.”

She added: “I am sorry to leave under these circumstances, but I take pride in what we have done.

“I will continue to fight every day for the people of Sheffield Heeley who I was first and foremost elected to represent and to ensure that the rest of our programme is delivered in full.”

Keir Starmer responded by thanking her for “all you have done to deliver this government’s ambitious transport agenda”.

He added: “I know you still have a huge contribution to make in the future.”

In her initial statement after news of her conviction broke on Thursday, Haigh said: “In 2013 I was mugged while on a night out. I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.

“I reported it to the police and gave them a list of what I believed had been taken – including a work mobile phone that had been issued by my employer.

“Some time later I discovered that the mobile in question had not been taken. In the interim I had been issued with another work phone.

“The original work device being switched on triggered police attention and I was asked to come in for questioning. My solicitor advised me not to comment during that interview and I regret following that advice.

“The police referred the matter to the CPS and I appeared before Southwark magistrates. Under the advice of my solicitor I pleaded guilty – despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain.

“The magistrates accepted all of these arguments and gave me the lowest possible outcome (a discharge) available.”

Haigh was elected Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley in 2015 and was quickly seen as a rising star, holding a number of shadow ministerial roles.

It is understood she disclosed her fraud conviction, which is now spent, when  she was appointed shadow Northern Ireland secretary by Keir Starmer in 2020.