Louise Haigh has resigned from her position as transport secretary after it was revealed that she has a fraud conviction for wrongly reporting her work mobile phone stolen in 2013. In her resignation letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Haigh stated that she is committed to the political project but believes it will be best served by supporting him from outside government.
The incident occurred when Haigh was in her 20s and working for Aviva when she was mugged and wrongly reported her work phone as stolen. She was convicted by Camberwell Green magistrates and given a conditional discharge after pleading guilty to the offence.
Starmer thanked Haigh for her work in delivering the government’s ambitious transport agenda, including taking the rail system back into public ownership and investing in bus services. He expressed confidence in Haigh’s ability to continue contributing in the future.
Haigh disclosed her conviction to Starmer when she was appointed to the shadow cabinet, and he was reportedly supportive of her. The conviction is now spent and no longer on her record.
This is a developing story, and updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
Source
Photo credit www.theguardian.com
