The UK’s Transport Minister, Louise Haigh, has resigned after the media revealed that she admitted to misleading the police regarding a work mobile phone that, in fact, had not been stolen.
The case relates to an incident that occurred back in 2013, when Haigh, then in her 20s, was working at the insurance company Aviva.
Haigh was robbed at night and provided the police with a list of items she believed were taken from her handbag. She included her work phone on the list, which she thought had been stolen at the time.
Haigh was issued a new phone by her employer, but when she later found her old work phone and turned it on, the police summoned her for questioning.
Two sources from Sky News alleged that Haigh filed the report with the police to obtain a new phone from her employer. However, a source close to the transport minister dismissed the claim as “absolute nonsense,” stating that it was an honest mistake. Two other sources claimed that the incident led to her losing her job at the insurance firm. Haigh was convicted and received a conditional discharge.
Haigh disclosed her conviction to Keir Starmer when she was first appointed to his shadow cabinet, and sources say he supported her. Since the conviction had been spent, it did not appear on Haigh’s record.
In her statement, Haigh explained: “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.”
In her resignation letter to Prime Minister Starmer, Haigh emphasized that she remains “fully committed to our political project” but believes that “it is better for it if I support you from outside the government.”
