UK Cabinet member resigns over past phone fraud case

A member of the U.K. Cabinet has resigned after reports revealed she was convicted in a fraud case more than a decade ago.

British Transport Secretary Louise Haigh submitted her resignation in a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, saying while she is "totally committed to our political project ... it will be best served by my supporting you for outside government."

"I am sorry to leave under these circumstances, but I take pride in what we have done," she wrote.

Her letter came hours after Sky News and The Times of London published reports revealing Haigh was charged with fraud in 2013 when she incorrectly reported a cellphone had been stolen after she was mugged.

Haigh, in her letter, said she later discovered the phone was still in her possession "some time" after the mugging incident. Once she found the phone and turned it on, police called her in for questioning, The Associated Press reported.

She pleaded guilty to fraud by misrepresentation and received a conditional discharge at the time, the AP reported. In a statement ahead of her resignation, Haigh said she pleaded guilty under the direction of a lawyer.

"I should have immediately informed by employer and not doing so straight away was a mistake," she wrote. "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."

Starmer responded to Haigh's letter Thursday, thanking her for the work she has done on the 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," Starmer wrote. "I know you still have a huge contribution to make in the future."

Haigh, 37, was first elected to Parliament in 2015. She was named shadow secretary of state for transport in November 2021 and later appointed to transport secretary last July, when the Labour Party was elected.

"My appointment to your Cabinet as the youngest ever woman remains one of the proudest
achievements of my life, but not as proud as the steps we took to improve the lives of the
British people," she wrote the prime minister Thusday.

Downing Street announced Friday that Heidi Alexander was appointed as Haigh's replacement. Alexander came back to the Parliament in July following a six-year absence. Part of that stint was spent overseeing the capital's transport system, the AP reported.