Category Archives: Louise Haigh

Labour pledges to make Sunday trains as reliable as weekday services

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Government plans to renationalise railways will establish new public body to improve the network

Sunday train services will be as reliable as those on weekdays under plans to renationalise the railways, the new transport secretary will claim in a keynote speech on Monday.

Issuing a series of pledges on which the government will be judged by millions of passengers – as well as its political opponents – Heidi Alexander will cite the creation of a network “where Sunday services are as ­reliable as Monday’s” as one of her key priorities.

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South Western Railway to become first train operator nationalised under Labour

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As part of a comprehensive programme of renationalisation, the service will come under public ownership in May

South Western Railway will be the first train operator nationalised under the Labour government, ministers have announced.

One of the UK’s biggest commuter services, which operates out of London Waterloo, it will be taken into public hands in May.

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Louise Haigh quits as transport secretary after admitting conviction for misleading police over stolen mobile – UK politics live

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Transport secretary departs after it emerged she pleaded guilty to incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013

In her resignation letter Louise Haigh said little about the past conviction, now spent, that led to her resignation. But she gave a fuller statement yesterday when approached by reporters about the story. She said:

In 2013 I was mugged while on a night out. I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.

I reported it to the police and gave them a list of what I believed had been taken - including a work mobile phone that had been issued by my employer.

Louise Haigh has done the right thing in resigning. It is clear she has failed to behave to the standards expected of an MP.

In her resignation letter, she states that Keir Starmer was already aware of the fraud conviction, which raises questions as to why the prime minister appointed Ms Haigh to Cabinet with responsibility for a £30bn budget? The onus is now on Keir Starmer to explain this obvious failure of judgment to the British public.

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Louise Haigh resigns as UK transport secretary after admitting phone offence

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Haigh tells PM she is ‘totally committed’ but leaves role after incorrectly telling police a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013

Louise Haigh has resigned as transport secretary only 12 hours after it emerged she had been convicted of fraud over a missing work phone.

Haigh quit the cabinet with a letter to Keir Starmer saying that “whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering the work of this government”.

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‘People-first’ transport in English towns could be integrated by apps

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Louise Haigh plans to focus on poorer areas, healthy methods and ability to ‘tap in and tap out seamlessly’

Transport across towns and cities could become integrated using dedicated apps, with investment focused on poorer areas and healthier methods, as part of what ministers are calling a “people-first” revolution in local travel.

Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, described the plans in a speech in Leeds as “a revolution to wrestle back power over transport”. She said powers would be heavily devolved to mayors and councils across England, who would be encouraged to devise their own priorities.

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Minister pledges better protection for UK airline passengers

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Louise Haigh says she hopes to ensure a repeat of the air traffic control failure of August 2023 never happens again

Airline passengers will benefit from tougher enforcement of consumer protection laws following an inquiry into the August 2023 air traffic control meltdown, transport secretary Louise Haigh has said.

She said she wants to ensure “all passengers feel confident when they fly”.

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Starmer steps into cabinet row over P&O to rescue global summit in London

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The PM has backed transport secretary Louise Haigh after she called ferry firm a ‘rogue operator’, threatening investment summit

Keir Starmer expressed his full confidence on Saturday in the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, after an explosive cabinet row cast fresh doubt over his Downing Street operation and threatened to overshadow a key international investment summit in London.

Government sources said the prime minister and Haigh had spoken and made up on Saturday after Starmer appeared to rebuke her on Friday for branding P&O Ferries a “rogue operator” in a statement and then calling for customers to boycott the company in a subsequent media interview.

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One Nation Tory group refuses to back Badenoch or Jenrick in party leadership race – UK politics live

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TRG says both candidates have ‘used rhetoric and focused on issues which are far and away from … the values we cherish and uphold’

Robert Jenrick, one of the final two Tory leadership candidates, is delivering a speech in London. There is a live feed on his X account.

Jenrick started by promising “a complete break with Labour’s failing agenda”. He said:

The real choice this country faces is between Labour’s failing agenda and the new approach I want us to take, the new approach we need as a country.

Because if I am chosen as the next leader of this party we will stand to offer a complete break with Labour’s failing agenda.

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New UK laws to stop repeat of P&O mass sackings scandal go before parliament

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Labour clamps down on poor working conditions at sea with laws on collective dismissal and minimum wage on cross-Channel ferries

Laws to ensure that the P&O Ferries mass sackings scandal can never recur will be laid before parliament this week as Labour clamps downs on poor working conditions at sea, with cruise and cargo ships also in its sights.

The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said the new laws would close the loopholes exploited by P&O when it fired 800 crew without warning in 2022, and any company would now face unlimited fines for acting in such a way.

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