{"id":19599,"date":"2024-11-29T08:51:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T08:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19599"},"modified":"2024-11-29T08:51:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T08:51:00","slug":"louise-haigh-quits-as-transport-secretary-over-phone-offence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19599","title":{"rendered":"Louise Haigh quits as transport secretary over phone offence"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"ReutersReuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Haigh said she was “sorry” to leave the Cabinet “under these circumstances”<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Louise Haigh has resigned as transport secretary after pleading guilty to a criminal offence related to incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, Haigh said she was \u201ctotally committed to our political project\u201d but that it would be “best served by my supporting you from outside government\u201d.<\/p>\n

Her resignation is the first from the prime minister’s Cabinet and comes a day after she admitted that she told police she had lost her phone in a mugging but later found it had not been taken.<\/p>\n

She said it was a “genuine mistake” but had been advised by a lawyer “not to comment” during a police interview. The police then referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She said she pleaded guilty to making a false report to police at a magistrates’ court six months before becoming an MP in the 2015 election, and received a discharge – the “lowest possible outcome”.<\/p>\n

Whitehall sources told the BBC that the transport secretary d<\/a>eclared her discharge on appointment to the shadow cabinet<\/a> when the Labour Party was in opposition.<\/p>\n

In her letter, Haigh said that she appreciated “whatever the facts of the matter” that the issue would “inevitably be a distraction”.<\/p>\n

Haigh said that her appointment as the \u201cyoungest ever\u201d female Cabinet member \u201cremains one of the proudest achievements of my life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sorry to leave under these circumstances, but I take pride in what we have done,” she said, adding that she would continue to work for her constituents in Sheffield.<\/p>\n

A discharge is a type of conviction where a court finds the person guilty but does not give them a sentence because the offence is considered very minor.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir said Haigh had made \u201chuge strides\u201d as transport secretary to take the rail system back into public ownership, and thanked her for her work.<\/p>\n

Haigh has been the MP for Sheffield Heeley since 2015 and held a number of shadow ministerial and shadow cabinet roles before becoming transport secretary when Labour won the election in July.<\/p>\n

Her brief tenure included a row last month after Haigh described P&O Ferries as a “rogue operator”<\/a> and urged people to boycott the company.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir said Haigh’s comments were “not the view of the government”<\/a>, while P&O’s parent company DP World initially suggested it would not attend a flagship government investment summit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Genuine mistake’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The Times and Sky News first reported on Thursday that Haigh had admitted the offence in 2014. <\/p>\n

She was working for insurance company Aviva at the time of the incident, according to reports.<\/p>\n

In a statement in response, Haigh said: \u201cIn 2013 I was mugged while on a night out. I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.<\/p>\n

“I reported it to the police and gave them a list of what I believed had been taken – including a work mobile phone that had been issued by my employer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome time later I discovered that the mobile in question had not been taken. In the interim I had been issued with another work phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe original work device being switched on triggered police attention and I was asked to come in for questioning.<\/p>\n

“My solicitor advised me not to comment during that interview and I regret following that advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police referred the matter to the CPS and I appeared before magistrates’ court.”<\/p>\n

She added that under the advice of a solicitor, she pleaded guilty “despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain”.<\/p>\n

A Conservative Party spokesman said: \u201cLouise Haigh has done the right thing in resigning. It is clear she has failed to behave to the standards expected of an MP”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reuters Haigh said she was “sorry” to leave the Cabinet “under these circumstances” Louise Haigh has resigned as transport secretary after pleading guilty to a criminal offence related to incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013. In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, Haigh said she was \u201ctotally committed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}