Louise Haigh has resigned as Transport Secretary after pleading guilty to a criminal offence after she incorrectly told police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013.
Heidi Alexander, MP for Swindon South, has been appointed as her replacement, Downing Street said.
Haigh’s resignation is the first from the Prime Minister’s Cabinet and comes a day after Haigh admitted to telling police she had lost her phone in a mugging but later finding that it had not been taken.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, she said she is “totally committed to our political project” but believes “it will be best served by my supporting you from outside Government”.
“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,” she wrote.
She added: “My appointment to your Cabinet as the youngest ever woman remains one of the proudest achievements of my life, but not as proud as the steps we took to improve the lives of the British people.”
Starmer thanked Haigh for her work to deliver the Government’s transport agenda. The BBC reports that Haigh disclosed the conviction to Starmer when she was first appointed to his Shadow Cabinet.
On Thursday Sky News and The Times reported on Thursday that Haigh admitted the offence in 2014.
She had reported to police a list of items that she had believed stolen, including a work phone, after she was mugged on a night out in 2013.
Who is Heidi Alexander?
Swindon South MP Heidi Alexander has been appointed Transport Secretary, replacing Louise Haigh.
Alexander has been an MP continually since 4 July 2024.
She has also served Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services since July 2024, and served as Deputy Mayor of London for Transport from 2018 to 2021.
Alexander supported Andy Burnham in the 2010 and 2015 Labour leadership elections, and Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election.
She chaired Sadiq Khan’s campaign for the 2016 London mayoral election.
Alexander was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, in 1975.
Haigh said she discovered “some time later” that the phone had not been taken.
She said the matter was a “genuine mistake” from which she “did not make any gain”, and that magistrates gave her the “lowest possible outcome”.
As the conviction has now been spent it is no longer on her record.
Haigh has been MP for Sheffield Heeley since 2015 and held several shadow ministerial and Shadow Cabinet roles before becoming Transport Secretary when Labour won the election in July.
She was working for insurance giant Aviva at the time of the incident, according to reports.
In her letter to the Prime Minister, she wrote: “I appreciate that whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government and the policies to which we are both committed.”
Sir Keir said Ms Haigh had made “huge strides” as Transport Secretary to take the rail system back into public ownership through the creation of Great British Railways and investing £1bn into vital bus services.
In his reply to her resignation letter, he wrote: “I know you still have a huge contribution to make in the future.”
A blow for the North and ‘HS2 light’
By Steve Robson
Northern Correspondent
Northern leaders paid tribute to “extremely effective” MP Louise Haigh amid unease about how her departure will affect major transport decisions.
Haigh, a Sheffield MP, had a strong relationship with Labours’ mayors in the north and only last week met Andy Burnham and Richard Parker to discuss the idea of a new rail link to replace the cancelled leg of HS2.
Tracy Brabin, mayor of West Yorkshire, shared a stage with Haigh in Leeds for the launch of an integrated national transport strategy on Thursday just hours before the story of her fraud conviction emerged.
She said Haigh was an “extremely effective transport minister” who lived her mantra “move fast and fix things”.
“Her approach to working closely with local leaders to co-create solutions to old problems was refreshing and the elegant and stoic way she responded a sign of her character.”
Haigh’s replacement, Heidi Alexander, is the MP for Swindon South and a former deputy mayor of London under Sadiq Khan. While she has experience in transport, it has been almost entirely focused on London.
While arguing for more investment in the capital in 2019, the new Transport Secretary was quoted as saying: “Let’s be honest, when we invest in transport in London, we invest in transport in the whole of the country.”
Such comments will worry northern leaders who believe they need an ally in the cabinet to make the case for investment ahead of a crucial spending review in the spring.
Haigh follows Sue Gray in leaving the government, another key figure who was seen as pivotal in delivering for the north.
A source close to the plan for a replacement rail link between Manchester and Birmingham said they do not think Haigh’s departure is a blow as the mayors will continue to “push it forward” and because it has “good traction” in the Department for Transport.
“Heidi is very good but it’s a shame there is no northern link which will make it harder,” they added. Another northern mayor said Haigh had “been a real supporter for us” and had helped “move a load of projects further on”.
“She was just getting things done,” they added. “For the north I think Louise was a real champion so I’m sorry to see her go. I think that feeling is reflected across the mayors.”
Henri Murison, chief executive of lobby group Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “Louise Haigh has seriously engaged with the productivity issues in the North, repeating the government’s commitment to better connect both sides of the Pennines by delivering Northern Powerhouse Rail – including new lines just yesterday at launch of the process to develop a national transport strategy.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Louise Haigh has done the right thing in resigning. It is clear she has failed to behave to the standards expected of an MP.
“In her resignation letter, she states that Keir Starmer was already aware of the fraud conviction, which raises questions as to why the Prime Minister appointed Ms Haigh to Cabinet with responsibility for a £30bn budget?
“The onus is now on Keir Starmer to explain this obvious failure of judgement to the British public.”
Rail, Maritime and Transport union general secretary Mick Lynch said Haigh “achieved a great deal” during tenure, including “laying the foundations for the public ownership of our railways – a landmark achievement that prioritises the needs of passengers and workers over private profit”.
He said: “Her vision and dedication have set the stage for a fairer, more efficient, and publicly accountable transport system.”
Liz Truss needs to take her own advice, and cease and desist