Louise Haigh has resigned as transport secretary after pleading responsible to a legal offence associated to incorrectly telling police {that a} work cell phone was stolen in 2013.
In a letter to Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer, Haigh stated she was “completely dedicated to our political venture” however that it will be “greatest served by my supporting you from exterior authorities”.
Her resignation comes a day after she admitted that she advised police she had misplaced her telephone throughout a mugging on an evening out however later discovered it had not been taken.
She stated it was a “real mistake” however had been suggested by a lawyer “to not remark” throughout a police interview. The police then referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service, she stated.
She stated she pleaded responsible to creating a false report back to police at a magistrates’ court docket six months earlier than changing into an MP within the 2015 election, and acquired a discharge – the “lowest attainable final result”.
Whitehall sources advised the BBC that the transport secretary declared her discharge on appointment to the shadow cupboard when the Labour Celebration was in opposition.
Starmer thanked Haigh for her work to ship the federal government’s transport agenda.
In her letter, Haigh stated that she appreciated “regardless of the information of the matter” that the problem would “inevitably be a distraction”.
Haigh stated that her appointment because the “youngest ever” feminine Cupboard member “stays one of many proudest achievements of my life”.
“I’m sorry to go away below these circumstances, however I take delight in what we now have executed,” she stated, including that she would proceed to work for her constituents in Sheffield.
A discharge is a kind of conviction the place a court docket finds the individual responsible however doesn’t give them a sentence as a result of the offence is taken into account very minor.
