Top Labour minister steps down after decade-old police case surfaces

Transport Secretary **Louise Haigh** leaves her post due to a past incident with police from her pre-MP days. The case involves wrong info about stolen items during a mugging back in 2013

November 29 2024 , 06:55 AM  •  678 views

Top Labour minister steps down after decade-old police case surfaces

Louise Haigh‚ Transport Secretary has left her job today after a ten-year old police case came to light. The high-ranking Labour member made a mis-step when reporting items stolen during a night-out incident

In 2013 (when she was just 24) Haigh got mugged in London and gave cops a list of stolen stuff; including her work-issued mobile device which she later found at home. The mix-up led to legal trouble and a court visit in early-2014‚ right before she became an MP

I should have immediately informed my employer and not doing so straight away was a mistake

wrote Haigh in her resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer

Her time as minister saw some big-time changes to UK transport - like the new Great British Railways plan and a billion-pound bus service boost. Before this job she worked in various Labour party roles: shadow Northern Ireland secretary and police-related positions (fun fact: she was even a special-constable back in the day)

Last month Sir Keir Starmer had to deal with another Haigh-related issue when she criticized DP World; a mega-company that owns P&O Ferries which almost cancelled its huge London port project because of her comments. The whole thing got fixed but made some waves in govt circles

The ex-minister (who used to work at insurance company Aviva) told Sky News that Labourʼs top people knew about her old conviction when she got her big job. Now shes planning to keep working as an MP for Sheffield Heeley - just not in the governments front row anymore