Transport Secretary Louise Haigh under pressure again as unnamed sources brief press on a decade-old conviction

The Transport Secretary Louise Haigh is facing scrutiny after it emerged she has a decade-old criminal conviction over a phone she wrongly reported stolen to the police.

Haigh admitted to the conviction in a statement to Sky News, which also cited anonymous sources that appear to have briefed the broadcaster on the incident, despite it reportedly being a spent conviction.

The story has conspicuously come to light less than two months after two reportedly senior government figures suggested The Sun that her future as transport secretary could be at risk over the row she sparked over P&O Ferries.

The government’s major investment summit was partly overshadowed by reports the operator’s owner could pull out and drop investment plans over Haigh’s support for a boycott of the company, before it confirmed it would still attend. Haigh is widely seen as one of the more left-wing members of the cabinet.

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Haigh said in a statement to Sky News she was mugged on a night out on 2013, and reported that items including a work phone were stolen. But she said she realised “some time later” the phone had not been taken.

“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 Southwark magistrates.”

Sky News reports the conviction is spent. Gov.uk explains this means that “where a conviction has become spent, the individual is treated as rehabilitated in respect of that offence and is not obliged to declare it for most purposes, for example, when applying for most jobs or insurance, some educational courses and housing applications.

“Someone with a spent conviction shall be treated for all purposes in law as a person who has not been convicted of the offence which was the subject of that conviction.”

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 available.

“I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.”

Former MP Gloria de Piero wrote on X: “A young woman was mugged on a night out. She reported a phone stolen that later turned up. And now she is sorting our buses and trains out.”

Labour comms adviser Matthew Torbitt called it a “total non-story”, and questioned whether people should be “punished forever for mistakes” when convictions are spent.

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