Louise Haigh has been handed the job of First Secretary of State - the highest-ranking Cabinet post after the Prime Minister - in Andy Burnham's new Cabinet. The appointment comes after a purge of ministers loyal to former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Cabinet reshuffle
Among the casualties was David Lammy, who was replaced as Justice Secretary by Alex Norris. No one was assigned the Deputy Prime Minister title that Lammy also held. Instead, Haigh was given the role of First Secretary of State, meaning she will likely stand in for Mr Burnham when he is away for events such as Prime Minister's Questions. She was also named Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Haigh's background
The Sheffield Heeley MP entered the Commons in 2015 and is a long-time ally of Mr Burnham. Following Labour's 2024 general election win, she was appointed Transport Secretary under Sir Keir Starmer. Aged 36, she was the youngest-ever female Cabinet minister. However, she resigned after four months when it emerged she had admitted a fraud offence during her twenties.
In 2013, she told police her work phone had been taken during a mugging, but this turned out to be untrue. Following an investigation by her previous employer, Aviva, she pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation in 2014 and was given a conditional discharge. Ms Haigh insisted that in her mid-20s she had been mugged while on a night out and told police her work phone was missing from her handbag and she thought it had been stolen. "Whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering the work of this government," she told Sir Keir in her resignation letter.
Role in Burnham's rise
On the backbenches, she proved a thorn in the side of the then-PM. She was at the heart of the welfare cuts rebellion, organising MPs to threaten to vote against controversial reforms and forcing a climbdown by Sir Keir's government. A leading figure on the "soft left" of Labour, she often spoke out against more rightwing proposals. As Sir Keir faced pressure over his leadership, Haigh emerged as a key driver behind Mr Burnham and helped run his campaign for the Makerfield by-election.
Earlier this month, she revealed that the former Manchester mayor and his supporters had been plotting to take over No10 for at least a year. Following Mr Burnham's win in Makerfield, she told the BBC: "I don't think I am breaking any state secrets to say Andy has been thinking and has had his ambition, his ambitions have been clear for some time. Of course he's run for leader twice before, so this is hopefully, touch wood, third time, third-time lucky. So he's, you know, he's been thinking about this and certainly planning for this, for this moment, for at least a year."
Policy ideas
In two essays published before the Makerfield campaign began, Haigh hinted at how he could radically reshape British politics, including significantly loosening Labour's debt rules and a call to "re-examine the mandate" of the Bank of England with more focus on growth. She supported controversial policies that Mr Burnham has advocated for, including a new tax on the value of land to replace stamp duty. "The status quo is not sustainable. We cannot afford to wait any longer before we change the system we inherited," she wrote.
