Heidi Alexander named new Transport Secretary after Louise Haigh quits

Swindon South MP Heidi Alexander has been appointed Transport Secretary, Downing Steet said.

It comes just hours after Louise Haigh quit the post after it emerged she pleaded guilty to a fraud offence a decade ago.

In a letter to the Prime Minister , Haigh said, “I remain totally committed to our political project, but I now believe it will be best served by my supporting you from outside government.

“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,” she wrote.

Sky News and The Times had reported that Haigh had been charged with fraud after she reported that a work mobile phone had been stolen after she was mugged in 2013. She later said she had mistakenly listed it among the stolen items.

After she found the phone and switched it back on, she was called in for questioning by police. Haigh pleaded guilty to fraud by misrepresentation and was given a conditional discharge.

In a statement before her resignation, Haigh said that “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.”

In response, the PM thanked her for “all you have done to deliver this government’s ambitious transport agenda” and said she still has “a huge contribution to make in the future”.

Haigh, 37, has represented a district in Sheffield, northern England, in Parliament since 2015 and was named to the key transport post after Labour party come to power in July.

Alexander, her replacement, returned to Parliament in July’s general election after a 6-year absence, part of which she spent at City Hall in London with a prominent position overseeing the capital’s transport system.