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Transport secretary resigns after mobile phone ‘mistake’ disclosure

The industry faces dealing with a new transport secretary after Louise Haigh abruptly resigned.

She stepped down a day after admitting that she told police she had lost her phone during a mugging on a night out in 2013 but later found it had not been taken.

The MP for Sheffield Heeley since 2015 became transport secretary in July after the Labour general election win as the youngest female cabinet minister.

In her resignation letter, she described the incident as a “mistake” but said that “whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government”.

She wrote to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer: “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.”

Haigh then said that while she is “totally committed to our political project,” she believes “it will be best served by my supporting you from outside government”.

She added: “I am sorry to leave under these circumstances, but I take pride in what we have done.

“I will continue to fight every day for the people of Sheffield Heeley who I was first and foremost elected to represent and to ensure that the rest of our programme is delivered in full.”

Starmer thanked Haigh for “all you have done to deliver this government’s ambitious transport agenda” and said: “I know you still have a huge contribution to make in the future.”

Haigh’s resignation came just days after she unveiled plans for a Jet Zero Taskforce to make flying “a cleaner, greener” experience.

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