Louise Haigh has officially resigned as transport secretary after pleading guilty to a criminal offence related to falsely telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013.
Haigh had written a letter to Sir Keir Starmer saying she was “totally committed to our political project” but that it would be “best served by my supporting you from outside government”.
Her resignation is making it the first one from the prime minister’s Cabinet and comes a day after she confessed that she told police she had lost her phone in an attack but later found it had not been taken.
Haigh added it was a “genuine mistake” but was advised by a lawyer “not to comment” during a police interview. The police thereafter, referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Haigh remarked she pleaded guilty to making a false report to police at a magistrates’ court six months before being elected an MP in the 2015 election, and received a discharge – the “lowest possible outcome”.
Sir Keir thanked Haigh for her work to deliver the government’s transport agenda.
In her letter, Haigh said that her appointment as the “youngest ever” female Cabinet member was still “one of the proudest achievements of my life”.
“I am sorry to leave under these circumstances, but I take pride in what we have done,” she remarked, adding that she would continue to work for her constituents in Sheffield.
A discharge is a type of conviction where a court finds someone guilty but does not give them a sentence because the offence is considered very minor.
Haigh has been the MP for Sheffield Heeley since 2015 and held a number of shadow ministerial and shadow cabinet roles before becoming transport secretary when Labour won the election in July.
