Who is Louise Haigh and why has she resigned as UK’s transport minister?
Labour party’s Haigh was the youngest member of PM Keir Starmer’s cabinet when a decade-old fraud case against her resurfaced.
The UK's Transport Secretary Louise Haigh arrives at BBC Broadcasting House in London, before her appearance on 'Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg' [File: Hollie Adams/Reuters]
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Louise Haigh’s resignation as the UK’s transport secretary has brought new scrutiny to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, marking the first cabinet departure since Labour’s victory in July 2024.
Haigh, a key figure behind the party’s rail nationalisation bill, stepped down after a decade-old fraud conviction resurfaced.
Her resignation adds to mounting challenges for Starmer, whose government is already grappling with declining public approval.
Who is Louise Haigh and why has she resigned?
Haigh, 37, was the youngest member of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s cabinet and the UK’s transport secretary since Labour’s victory in July 2024.
A long-serving Labour member of parliament since 2015, Haigh rose through the ranks under both Jeremy Corbyn and Starmer. She pushed forward the Labour’s rail nationalisation agenda, which passed Parliament earlier in November.She resigned on November 29 after a decade-old fraud conviction resurfaced.
Haigh’s friends say that in 2013, after a “terrifying” mugging, she could not find her work phone in her bag and reported it as stolen to police. Haigh’s employer, Aviva, a private insurance company, provided her with a new mobile.
Haigh later discovered the missing phone in a drawer and switched it on to check messages, her friends say. However, she failed to notify authorities that she found the phone. When the mobile’s signal was picked up by the phone company, they alerted the police, who then asked Haigh to come in and make a statement.
The exact timeline of these events is unclear, but Haigh pleaded guilty to fraud by misrepresentation in 2014. She received a discharge without any further action against her.
Meanwhile, Aviva reportedly investigated at least one other missing phone, suspecting that Haigh was seeking newer models — a claim her allies deny. Haigh eventually resigned from Aviva, feeling the investigation was unfair.
Although she said her failure to notify police about finding the phone was a mistake, the public disclosure of the charge has raised questions about her adherence to government ethics standards.
When Haigh entered the cabinet in July, she did not mention the conviction to the government’s propriety and ethics team. However, she was only asked about unspent convictions, which are the rehabilitation processes following a criminal conviction that are still being served.
Haigh claimed to have informed Starmer about the charge when she joined his shadow cabinet, but Downing Street did not confirm this.
In a statement before her resignation, Haigh said that “under the advice of my solicitor I pleaded guilty -– despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain”.
In a resignation letter, published by Downing Street, Haigh said she wanted to avoid being a “distraction” to the government.