Transport Secretary Louise Haigh resigns after Sky News revealed mobile phone guilty plea

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has resigned.

It comes after Sky News revealed she pleaded guilty to an offence in connection with misleading police over a work mobile phone she said was stolen in 2013.

In her resignation letter this morning, she described the incident as a “mistake” – but said that “whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government”.

She wrote to the prime minister: “As you know, in 2013 I was mugged in London. As a 24-year-old woman, the experience was terrifying. In the immediate aftermath, I reported the incident to the police.

“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.”

Ms Haigh then said that while she is “totally committed to our political project,” she believes “it will be best served by my supporting you from outside government”.

The MP for Sheffield Heeley then 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.”

In response, Sir Keir Starmer thanked Ms Haigh for “all you have done to deliver this government’s ambitious transport agenda” and said: “I know you still have a huge contribution to make in the future.”

Before entering politics, the MP was a special constable in the Metropolitan Police – serving between 2009 and 2011 in the South London Borough of Lambeth, close to where she was convicted several years later.

She was appointed shadow policing minister by Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 and frequently drew on her experience in the Met when challenging the Tory government on the rising demands on officers.

As transport secretary, Ms Haigh appointed members of the board that oversees the British Transport Police.

In 2019 she said that Boris Johnson had “deceived the police” and committed a “serious breach of trust” over claims he politicised serving officers during a speech in West Yorkshire.

Sir Keir promoted the MP to shadow Northern Ireland secretary in 2020 before moving her to shadow transport secretary in 2021.

In this brief, she was an outspoken critic of the mass sacking of 800 workers by P&O Ferries in 2022. After becoming transport secretary, she accused P&O of being a “rogue operator” and called for a boycott of its services in October.

The comments caused the firm’s Dubai-based owner to review a planned £1bn UK port investment – something that was re-confirmed after ministers held urgent talks with the company.

But she was publicly rebuked by Sir Keir who said her opinions were “not the view of the government”.

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