Transport Secretary Louise Haigh resigns after mobile phone guilty plea ‘mistake’

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has resigned.

It comes after she admitted she pleaded guilty to an offence connected with incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013.

In a statement on Thursday night, Ms Haigh said she discovered “some time later” that the phone had not been taken.

In her resignation letter this morning, she described it 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: “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 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.”

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