Transport secretary Louise Haigh admits pleading guilty to offence over phone claim
Louise Haigh says she did not gain from the ‘genuine mistake’ that led to the conviction months before she was elected in 2015
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Transport secretary Louise Haigh has admitted pleading guilty to an offence after she incorrectly told police that a work mobile phone was stolen 10 years ago.
Ms Haigh appeared at Camberwell Magistrates’ Court accused of making a false report to officers after her work mobile had been stolen, Sky News revealed.
She pleaded guilty and was given a discharge by magistrates.
The conviction came just months before she was elected as MP for Sheffield Heeley in 2015.
In a statement to The Independent, the minister said she had been mugged while on a night out in 2013, and reported the incident to the police, listing items she believed had been taken, including a work mobile phone.
Ms Haigh, who was a Special Constable in the Metropolitan Police between 2009 and 2011, said: “Some time later I discovered that the mobile in question had not been taken. In the interim I had been issued with another work phone.
“The original work device being switched on triggered police attention and I was asked to come in for questioning. My solicitor advised me not to comment during that interview and I regret following that advice.
“The police referred the matter to the CPS and I appeared before magistrates.”
Ms Haigh continued: “Under the advice of my solicitor I pleaded guilty, despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain.
“The magistrates accepted all of these arguments and gave me the lowest possible outcome [a discharge] available.”
It’s understood the case was disclosed in full when she joined the shadow cabinet, and her conviction is now classified as “spent”, meaning it is no longer on her record.
But Nigel Huddleston, chair of the Conservative Party, told The Independent: “These are extremely concerning revelations about the person responsible for managing £30bn of taxpayers’ money.
“Keir Starmer has serious questions to answer regarding what he knew and when about the person he appointed as transport secretary admitting to having misled the police.”