UK transport secretary quits over decade-old cellphone fraud case [Video]

FILE -Louise Haigh, Britain’s Secretary of State for Transport leaves following a pre-Budget cabinet meeting in 10 Downing Street, London, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth), File) (Kirsty Wigglesworth, Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

LONDON – British Transport Minister Louise Haigh resigned on Friday over a decade-old fraud conviction for claiming her cellphone had been stolen.

In a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Haigh said, “I remain totally committed to our political project, but I now believe it will be best served by my supporting you from outside government.

“I appreciate that whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government and the policies to which we are both committed,” she wrote.

The resignation came hours after Sky News and The Times of London newspaper reported that Haigh had been charged with fraud after she …