Prime Minister and Kemi Badenoch clash over Sheffield MPs fraud conviction in PMQs
The Prime Minister and leader of the opposition clashed over the resignation of Sheffield MP Louise Haigh as Transport Secretary during a tense PMQs exchange.
Keir Starmer would not elaborate on what “further information” had come to light which led to the Sheffield Heeley MP’s resignation on Friday, November 29, 2024 - after Ms Haigh insisted she had disclosed her ‘spent’ fraud conviction to the Labour leader when she entered the shadow cabinet.
Conservatives leader Kemi Badenoch said during prime minister’s questions: “The question today is what has been on the lips of all Labour MPs, including, I believe, the Health Secretary yesterday – the Prime Minister knowingly appointed a convicted fraudster to be his transport secretary. What was he thinking?”
The PM responded that Haigh “was right” to resign when further information came to light, adding it was a “marked contrast” to the last 14 years of government under the Conservatives.
He then attempted to turn the topic onto record-high immigration numbers under the Conservatives. Badenoch accused him of “obfuscating”.
She added: “I’m going to keep him on the topic. He owes the house an explanation. He said that the former Transport Secretary was only asked to resign after further information came to light. What was that further information?”
Starmer insisted he would not disclose “private conversations”.
It is understood that Haigh was advised to resign by No 10 chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, after details of her fraud conviction were made public.
Reports have suggested the Sheffield Heeley MP did not declare her 2014 conviction when she became a cabinet minister.
In her resignation letter to the Prime Minister on Friday morning, Ms Haigh wrote: “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.”
She had reported that her work phone device but discovered "some time later" that the phone had not been taken. She did not notify police at that time.
She said the matter was a "genuine mistake" from which she "did not make any gain", and that magistrates gave her the "lowest possible outcome".
Ms Haigh, aged 37, pleaded guilty to making a false report to police at a magistrates' court six months before becoming an MP in 2015 election. Her case was dealt with by a ‘discharge’.
She was the youngest person appointed to the new Labour cabinet and became the first to resign after just five months.
Her letter added: “I am sorry to leave under these circumstances, but I take pride in what we have done. I will continue to fight every day for the people of Sheffield Heeley who I was first and foremost elected to represent and to ensure that the rest of our programme is delivered in full.”