Transport Secretary Louise Haigh quits after pleading guilty to falsely reporting phone theft

Writing in a resignation letter sent to Keir Starmer, Ms Haigh said she 'should have immediately informed my employer [of the mistake] and not doing so straight away was a mistake'

Transport secretary Louise Haigh has resigned in the wake of revelations that she pleaded guilty to an offence in 2014.

The senior Labour figure admitted fraud by false representation in 2014 after she wrongly said her work phone had been snatched during a "terrifying" incident in London in 2013. She said she reported the incident to the police and gave them a list of what she thought had been stolen, including a phone issued by her then employer, the insurance giant Aviva.

But later she discovered the work phone in her house and switched it on. Ms Haigh said she regretted remaining silent on the advice of a solicitor when police interviewed her after detecting the phone had been switched on.

In a letter send to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday morning, Ms Haigh said she reported a mugging to the police in 2013 in which she provided a list of stolen items. Among them was a work phone she later discovered at home, and she failed to notify officers that she had found the device.

She wrote to the prime minister: "As you know, in 2013 I was mugged in London. As a 24-year-old woman, the experience was terrifying. In the immediate aftermath, I reported the incident to the police.

"I gave the police a list of my possessions that I believed had been stolen, including my work phone. Some time later, I discovered that the handset in question was still in my house.

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

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