In July 2024, 37-year-old Louise Haigh made history by being appointed as the youngest female cabinet minister of all time. She pleaded guilty to a fraud offence back in 2015, which emerged into the public eye and triggered an abrupt end to her role as Transport Secretary. She resigned on 28 November, which is notably the first resignation within Keir Starmer’s cabinet. Considering that Haigh was the first Cabinet Minister that Starmer publicly rebuked, over remarks about Peninsular and Oriental ferries last month, it prompts questions over whether this seemingly random past conviction is really all there is to the story of her resignation. Was it just a cover that Labour used to banish her from an influential cabinet position?
Born in Sheffield, Haigh has a degree in Politics from the University of Nottingham, and worked for Aviva as a Public Policy Manager, before being elected as the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Heeley in 2015. Since then, she has remained in this position, having been declared the "most hard-working" new MP in February 2016. She has also had various Shadow Ministerial and Cabinet roles. Prior to her nomination in Keir Starmer’s 2024 Labour government, and her time in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Haigh has been associated with Starmer’s Labour Party since his anointment as Leader of the Opposition in 2020. This history within the party demonstrates a traceable path to her position as the country’s Transport Secretary, rendering the news of her premature departure poignant.
The specific details behind the events that triggered Haigh’s resignation are unclear, however it is claimed to be about a police scandal that she was involved in over 10 years ago. This was an instance in 2013, when, as a 24-year-old woman, Haigh was the victim of a mugging on a night out in London. Following this, when the police were questioning her about the incident, Haigh accidentally falsely included her Aviva work mobile in the list of items that she stated were missing from her bag. Subsequently, she was provided with a new phone. However, she later found her old one in a drawer, switched it on, and did not alert the police. The signal was then picked up by Aviva, who contacted the police themselves, and they responded by calling Haigh into question. During Haigh’s succeeding interview, taking advice from her solicitor "not to comment", Haigh did not respond to the police’s questions about the use of the phone. Following this, the case file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service and Haigh was charged with fraud by false representation. When she pleaded guilty at the Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court in November 2014, she received a conditional discharge.
Despite reports from Sky News and The Times that Aviva launched a formal investigation into Haigh after establishing that the old phone had been used to call her existing contacts, to which Haigh claims to be unaware of, she describes the incident as a ‘‘genuine mistake’’ from which she ‘‘did not make any gain’’. The situation is something that Keir Starmer was aware of, as the case was exposed to him when he first appointed Haigh onto his committee in 2020. Why then has this arrest become such an issue for Keir Starmer and his party now, and not before?
Reportedly, the immediate trigger for Haigh’s resignation was the fact that Downing Street Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney asked her to resign due to concerns raised by the media over whether she had revealed sufficient details of her conviction. In fact, Starmer apparently also took issue with elements of Haigh’s conviction that are thought to have violated the Ministerial Code, and the fact that she did not bring her fraud conviction up to the government’s Propriety and Ethics Team back in July. However, because they only asked about unspent convictions, she was not legally obligated to provide this information. That being said, considering that Starmer was in charge of the opposition during the Partygate scandal, leading with the slogan ‘Lawbreakers can’t be lawmakers’, it does not look good for him to have someone with a criminal offence on his cabinet. Therefore, after speaking to Haigh on 28 November, Starmer recommended that she step down; to which Haigh agreed, and sent a letter of resignation that night.
Haigh’s claim that she resigned due to a concern that this matter will serve as a ‘‘distraction from delivering on the work of this government and the policies to which we are both committed’’ is unclear, as media speculation would not necessarily inhibit her ability to carry out her work. This is especially true considering that, in less than 6 months in the cabinet, she made significant progress, helping the Bill bringing the railways back into public ownership become an Act of Parliament. Ultimately, whilst it is a positive step to see a politician taking accountability for their actions, Haigh’s past conviction has led to what some are saying is a disproportionate reaction. Hence, Haigh’s letter feels over-apologetic; as if she is self-scapegoating and participating in the blaming of herself. This is because, in the grand scheme of things, her actions regarding the phone do not make her a bad person, or someone who is unfit for a position in parliament. However, due to the positive nature of her resignation letter which one senior Labour figure described as a “good resignation”, there may be a place within the party for Haigh in the future. This may not be the end of Louise Haigh’s parliamentary journey.
