Transport secretary resigns over spent fraud conviction

The UK is temporarily without a Transport Secretary leading the Department for Transport, after Louise Haigh resigned yesterday when news emerged of a spent conviction for fraud.

According to a Guardian report, the circumstances around the conviction are disputed, and Haigh hasn’t previously spoken on the record in public about an offence for which she was sentenced in 2014.

However, we now know that she pleaded guilty to fraud by misrepresentation after her employer at the time – Aviva – launched an investigation with the police into a missing work phone. 

Sky News reports two sources alleging that the former Transport Secretary told Aviva her work phone was stolen in order to be issued with a newer model, while the Times claims that phones had gone missing on more than one occasion. However the Guardian cites a source close to Haigh saying those reports are “absolute nonsense”, and that in fact the incident was an honest mistake.

In a statement, Haigh maintained she had been mugged on a night out, and told police a number of items had been stolen, including her Aviva work phone. She says she subsequently found the old phone – having been issued with a new one – and when she switched the ‘stolen’ unit on, the police called her in for questioning.

The former Transport Secretary explained what happened in her resignation letter, saying: “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.”

Haigh was the youngest Transport Secretary the UK has ever seen at 37 years old, but her five-month stint in the job has been controversial – she notably accused P&O Ferries of being a rogue operator, and called for a consumer boycott of the firm.

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