Heidi Alexander has been appointed Secretary of State for Transport following the overnight resignation of Louise Haigh from that role.
Ms Haigh quit the Cabinet after news broke of a conviction for a minor offence 10 years ago.
Ms Alexander, who was serving as a justice secretary until today’s promotion, was first elected in 2010 before quitting the government to become London’s Deputy Transport Mayor from 2018-2021. She was Shadow Secretary of State for Health in 2015-16.
In 2023, as South Swindon Labour candidate, she worked with Leon Daniels to help secure a donated bus from Swindon’s Bus Company to convert into a field hospital for Ukraine.
In a resignation letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ms Haigh admitted she had pleaded guilty to making a false report to police over a stolen phone in 2013, and added that she wanted to avoid being a distraction.
Ms Haigh writes: “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.”
The MP for Sheffield Heeley explained she was mugged in London in 2013. She says: “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.”
In 2014, six months before becoming an MP, Ms Haigh was given a discharge after pleading guilty to a minor offence at Camberwell Magistrates’ Court.
She adds: “I appreciate that whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government and the policies to which we are both committed.”
The former minister’s plans for a “bus revolution” had centred on giving local authorities the powers to take greater control over bus services. This included expediting franchising and remove the ban on new municipal operators.
Mr Starmer, in his formal response to the resignation, writes: “Thank you for all you have done to deliver this Government’s ambitious transport agenda. You have made huge strides to take our rail system back into public ownership through the creation of Great British Railways, investing £1 billion in our vital bus services and lowering cost for motorists. I know you still have a huge contribution to make in the future.”
