Louise Haigh | |||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Transport | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 July 2024 – 28 November 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Mark Harper | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Heidi Alexander | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of Parliament forSheffield Heeley | |||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Meg Munn | ||||||||||||||||||
| Majority | 15,304 (39.8%) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Louise Margaret Haigh Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | Red Wall Caucus | ||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Sheffield High School | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Nottingham (BA) Birkbeck, University of London (LLM) | ||||||||||||||||||
Louise Margaret Haigh (/heɪɡ/) is a British politician who served asSecretary of State for Transport from July to November 2024. A member of theLabour Party, she has been theMember of Parliament (MP) forSheffield Heeley since2015. She held various shadow ministerial and shadow cabinet portfolios between 2015 and 2024.
Born inSheffield, Haigh was privately educated atSheffield High School and later studied at theUniversity of Nottingham. She later worked inParliament, before working as a public policy manager atAviva. Haigh was elected to Parliament as MP for Sheffield Heeley in the2015 general election, and joined the shadow frontbench as Shadow Minister for the Civil Service and Digital Reform underJeremy Corbyn. She became the Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy in 2016, and was re-elected in the2017 general election. She was theShadow Minister for Policing from 2017 to 2020, and was re-elected in the2019 general election.
AfterKeir Starmer becameLeader of the Opposition in2020, Haigh joined theShadow Cabinet asShadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. InNovember 2021, she became theShadow Secretary of State for Transport. Following Labour's victory in the2024 general election, Haigh was appointed to theCabinet asSecretary of State for Transport in theStarmer ministry. On 28 November 2024, it emerged that Haigh had pleaded guilty tofraud by false representation in 2014 after falsely reporting in 2013 to police that her work phone had been stolen; she subsequently resigned as Transport Secretary.
Louise Haigh was born inSheffield, and grew up onAbbeydale Road.[1] Her grandfather and uncle were trade union officials.[2] She was educated atSheffield High School, aprivate school.[3] She then studied government and economics at theLondon School of Economics but did not complete the course, opting to study politics at theUniversity of Nottingham.[4] She also studied law atBirkbeck, University of London[5]
After graduating, Haigh worked for the local council youth service from 2006 to 2008. She then began working in Parliament, where she was the co-ordinator of theall-party parliamentary group on international corporate responsibility.[2] During this time, she was also aUnite shop steward and volunteered as aspecial constable in theMetropolitan Special Constabulary from 2009 to 2011.[6]
From 2012 until her election in 2015, Haigh worked for insurerAviva as public policy manager, responsible for corporate governance and responsible investment policy.[6][7][8]
Haigh was selected to stand for theLabour Party inSheffield Heeley in May 2014.[9] At the2015 general election she was elected to Parliament as MP for Sheffield Heeley with 48.2% of the vote and a majority of 12,954.[10][11]
In September 2015, Haigh was appointed Shadow Minister for Civil Service and Digital Reform.[12][13] The role, newly expanded under Jeremy Corbyn,[14] covered the Government's digital strategy, theFreedom of Information Act, data security and privacy.[15] In this role, Haigh criticised a 2016 reshuffle of Permanent Secretaries which saw two fewer women as departmental heads.[16] She opposed the closure of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills office in Sheffield city centre, saying the decision demonstrated "contempt" for the city.[17]
Haigh was declared the "most hard-working" new MP in February 2016 after a study of the activity of MPs elected in 2015.[18][19][20]
In September 2016, Haigh revealed that hundreds of women had theirtax credits stopped in error by US companyConcentrix.[21][failed verification] The revelation led to an announcement that theirHMRC contract would not be renewed.[citation needed]
Panic alarms were installed in Haigh's office and home by South Yorkshire Police in December 2016 after she received death threats for calling for a debate on the banning ofBritain First, the far-right group.South Yorkshire Police provided her with uniformed and undercover protection as she attended to her constituency activities.[22]
On 10 October 2016, she was made Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy.[23] Haigh served in this role during the passage of theDigital Economy Act (2017) and introduced a number of amendments, including an obligation for television broadcasters to include subtitles and closed captioning in on-demand content online which was adopted by a subsequent Government amendment.[24] She repeatedly raised concerns about child protection online, including calling for social media companies to recognise "that alongside their new-found power, they have responsibilities" in dealing with harmful and illegal content.[25]
At the snap2017 general election, Haigh was re-elected with an increased vote share of 60% and an increased majority of 13,828.[26]
On 3 July 2017, she was made Shadow Policing Minister.[27] Haigh has called for greater protection for police officers involved in vehicle pursuits, saying the current rules are "hampering the ability of the police to apprehend very serious offenders".[28] In this role she has raised the issue of stress and mental health of officers, citing a 77% rise in officer leave due to mental health problems between 2014 and 2018.[29] She has called for a "public health approach" to reducing violent crime[30] and blamed the rise in crime on government spending cuts to both police and other public services.[31]
Haigh was a member of a number ofall-party parliamentary groups (APPGs), including the APPGs on corporate governance, refugees, Colombia and looked-after children. In July 2017 she was elected vice chair of the APPG on state pension inequality and in February 2019 became a joint chair of the APPG on social care.[32][33]
In October 2018, Haigh stated her concern that forcing police to find more to pay for police pensions out of their general budget leaves less money for the police to protect the public.[34] Haigh also said it was wrong that the police were forced to deal with mental health crises due to underfunding of the NHS.[35]
In April 2019 Haigh introduced a private member's bill that would remove the automatic parental rights of fathers of children conceived through rape. The bill would also establish an inquiry into the family court's handling of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls.[36][non-primary source needed] According to Haigh's website, this Bill was inspired by her work withSammy Woodhouse, a survivor of child sexual exploitation, to increase protections for victims of abuse.[37][needs update]
At the2019 general election, Haigh was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 50.3% and a decreased majority of 8,520.[38]
On 6 April 2020, Haigh replacedTony Lloyd as the interimShadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in theStarmer shadow cabinet, following Lloyd's hospitalisation as a result ofCOVID-19.[39] On 28 April 2020, Lloyd resigned as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary to focus on recovery, and Haigh replaced him permanently.[40] She is the second woman afterMo Mowlam to serve as the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Haigh made her first visit to Northern Ireland as Shadow Secretary of State in August 2020.[41] AfterBrexit she was in charge of Northern Ireland policy in relation to theNorthern Ireland Protocol. She said: "We're aunionist party in the Labour Party, but if there is a border poll we should remain neutral. I think that's an important principle." Haigh was criticised for undermining the views ofKeir Starmer who said he would side with unionists in any poll.[42]
During theshadow cabinet reshuffle, Haigh was appointed as theShadow Secretary of State for Transport on 29 November 2021.[43] She was replaced as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary byPeter Kyle.[44]
Haigh revealed Labour's plans for therenationalisation of British rail on 25 April 2024,[45] pledging to do this in the first term of a Labour government.[46]
Haigh was again re-elected at the2024 general election, with an increased vote share of 55.2% and an increased majority of 15,304.[47][48] On 5 July 2024 she was appointed as theSecretary of State for Transport in theStarmer ministry.[49] On 10 July 2024 she was sworn into thePrivy Council, entitling her to be styled "The Right Honourable" for life.[50]
As Transport Secretary, Haigh spearheaded reforms across the UK's transport sector. In November 2024, the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act received Royal Assent, enabling the Government to bring passenger rail services into public ownership as existing contracts expire.[51] Haigh also introduced legislation to extend powers over bus services to local transport authorities in England, allowing them to franchise services and, where desired, establish publicly owned bus companies.[52]
In the October 2024 Budget, Haigh secured over £1 billion to enhance bus services nationwide, £712m for local authorities to improve services, alongside a further £243m for bus operators, and £151 million to maintain a £3 cap on single bus fares until the end of 2025.[53]
On the 25 November 2024, Haigh launched a new Jet Zero Taskforce with some of the most senior figures in the aviation sector to support the production and delivery of sustainable aviation fuels and zero-emission flights.[54]
While promoting the government's newEmployment Rights Bill in a television interview on 9 October, Haigh urged viewers to join her in boycottingP&O Ferries after the firm hadsacked hundreds of its workers with immediate notice two years prior.[55] Speaking toITV News, she called P&O "a rogue operator" and said it needed "cracking down on".[56] Haigh was publicly rebuked by Starmer, who stipulated that her view was "not the view of the government".[57] The incident came only days before a government-led international investment summit, that P&O's parent company,DP World, attended despite the controversy.[58]
On 28 November 2024, it emerged that Haigh had pleaded guilty tofraud by false representation relating to misleading police in 2014.[59] In a statement, Haigh said that she had beenmugged on a night out in 2013 whilst working as a public policy manager for the insurerAviva. She said that she had given the police a list of items that she thought were missing from her handbag, which wrongly included her mobile work phone supplied by Aviva.[60] She was issued with a new phone by her employer, but Haigh said she later discovered her old phone in a drawer which she switched on.[61] Haigh said that this signal was picked up on by Aviva and they alerted it to the police, who called in Haigh for police questioning to make a statement.[62] During the interview with the police, Haigh said that her solicitor had advised her "not to comment", and she did not respond to questions about the use of the phone when approached for comment.[63][64] A case file was sent to theCrown Prosecution Service and she was charged with fraud by false representation. Six months before she was elected as an MP at the 2015 general election in November 2014, Haigh pleaded guilty when she appeared at the Camberwell Green magistrates' court, and received aconditional discharge.[65]
Starmer spoke to Haigh on the night of 28 November and said that it would be better for her and the government if she stood down; Haigh agreed and subsequently resigned as Transport Secretary that night.[65] The Prime Minister's spokesperson said in a briefing with reporters on 29 November that Starmer accepted Haigh's resignation following "further information emerging".[66] In a letter to Starmer, Haigh stated that whilst she was "totally committed to our political project," she believed it would be best served supporting him from "outside government".[67][68] Haigh also said that the issue would "inevitably be a distraction" from delivering on the work and policies of the government, but said she took "pride" in what they had done.[64] In response, Starmer said that Haigh had made "huge strides" as Transport Secretary, and that she still had a "huge contribution to make in the future".[69] She was succeeded as Transport Secretary byHeidi Alexander.[70]
On 29 November 2024, following her resignation from government, Haigh voted in favour of theTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legaliseassisted suicide.[71][non-primary source needed]
Haigh was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominateJeremy Corbyn as a candidate in theLabour leadership election of 2015,[72] although she later said she regretted this decision.[73] She then supported and campaigned forAndy Burnham.[74] In the2016 Labour leadership election, Haigh supportedOwen Smith.[75]
Haigh supported theBritain Stronger in Europe campaign during the2016 European Union membership referendum.[76]
Haigh has previously called for compulsory online education alongside sex and relationships education in schools.[77]
In the2020 leadership election, Haigh chaired the leadership campaign ofLisa Nandy, who came third to Keir Starmer.[78] She also nominatedAngela Rayner for deputy in the2020 deputy leadership election, which Rayner won.[citation needed]
In August 2025 it was reported Haigh was in a relationship with formerSDLP leader, andMember of Parliament forFoyle,Colum Eastwood.[79]
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forSheffield Heeley 2015–present | Incumbent |
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| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 2020–2021 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 2021–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Transport 2024 | Succeeded by |
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