Louise Haigh resigns as UK transport secretary over historic fraud conviction

Haigh is first minister to step down from Keir Starmer's government, which has faced plunging approval ratings since taking power

Louise Haigh says the incident was a 'genuine mistake' in a letter announcing her resignation. Reuters

Louise Haigh has resigned as UK transport secretary after it emerged she was previously convicted of fraud.

She pleaded guilty to a criminal offence related to incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013, when she was working as a public policy manager for insurance company Aviva. The Labour MP claimed the phone was taken during a "terrifying" mugging on a night out in London. But she found the phone "some time later" at home and did not tell police.

In a statement released on Thursday night, she said she “triggered police attention” when she turned the mobile on. “I should have immediately informed my employer and not doing so straight away was a mistake,” she said.

She was replaced on Friday by Heidi Alexander, the MP for Swindon South.

Ms Haigh said her solicitor advised her not to comment during an interview and she regrets following the advice. She pleaded guilty at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court and said magistrates gave her the "lowest possible outcome", which was a discharge.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who once said of former prime minister Boris Johnson that "you can't be a lawmaker and a lawbreaker", was reportedly informed of the incident years ago, when she joined the shadow cabinet. In a letter sent to Mr Starmer on Friday, Ms Haigh said she was "totally committed to our political project" but believed "it will be best served by my supporting you from outside government".

"I am sorry to leave under these circumstances, but I take pride in what we have done," she wrote. "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."

Mr Starmer thanked Ms Haigh for her work on the government's transport agenda. Ms Haigh has been Sheffield Heeley MP since 2015 and held several shadow ministerial and shadow cabinet roles, before being appointed transport secretary when Labour won the general election in July. She spent time as a special constable before entering politics.

In her letter to Mr Starmer, she wrote: "I gave the police a list of my possessions that I believed had been stolen, including my work phone.

Some time later, I discovered that the handset in question was still in my house. I should have immediately informed my employer and not doing so straight away was a mistake. I appreciate that whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government and the policies to which we are both committed."

Ms Haigh is the first cabinet minister to resign from Mr Starmer's government, which has faced plunging approval ratings since taking power. Ministers have been criticised over the use of donations for clothing and gifts and for increasing taxes on businesses and the wealthy in the government's first budget.

Ms Haigh was previously mired in controversy over remarks she made about P&O, which jeopardised a planned £1 billion ($1.27 billion) investment in the company's London Gateway container port.

Senior government officials, including Mr Starmer, have since praised DP World, which owns P&O, for going ahead with the investment. The announcement was the highlight of the International Investment Summit held in London last month.