’I should have immediately informed my employer and not doing so straight away was a mistake,’ says minister
Transport secretary Lousie Haigh reportedly lost her job at Aviva after incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013.
The cabinet minister resigned from her government role today (29 November 2024) and said in a letter to prime minister Keir Starmer that the incident was a mistake.
Haigh said: “As you know, in 2013 I was mugged in London. As a 24-year-old woman, the experience was terrifying. In the immediate aftermath, I reported the incident to the police.
“I gave the police a list of my possessions that I believed had been stolen, including my work phone.
“Some time later, I discovered that the handset in question was still in my house.
“I should have immediately informed my employer and not doing so straight away was a mistake.”
‘Lost job’
According to Sky News, Haigh appeared in court six months before the 2015 general election after making a false report to officers that her mobile phone had been stolen.
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The publication stated that Haigh had been working as a public policy manager at Aviva, “but two sources said she lost her job at the insurance firm because of the incident”.
Haigh called the incident a “genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain”.
Explaining it further in a statement sent to Sky News, Haigh said: “In the interim [between making the police report and discovering it had not been stolen], 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.”
His career began in 2019, when he joined a local north London newspaper after graduating from the University of Sheffield with a first-class honours degree in journalism.
He took up the position of deputy news editor at Insurance Times in March 2023, before being promoted to his current role in May 2024.View full Profile
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