Louise Haigh: Labour power broker behind Burnham’s rise

After Labour’s election victory, she took the helm at the transport department, making headlines with an early decision to give train drivers a 14% pay rise across three years to end their long-running strike action.

She was dubbed “Red Lou” in the press, reflecting her vibrant shades of dyed hair as well as her emerging reputation as one of the more left-leaning members of Starmer’s cabinet.

Her criticism of P&O Ferries’ decision to sack hundreds of workers in 2022 led to a public rebuke by the prime minister, after the remarks threw the attendance of its parent company at a government investment summit into doubt.

Just a month later came her resignation, after her previous conviction for making a false report to police in 2013 was revealed in the media.

The incident dated back to her time working at insurance giant Aviva, when a work phone she had reported as stolen was later found. She said it was a “genuine mistake” and she had pleaded guilty on the advice of her lawyer.

Haigh said she had told Sir Keir about the episode when Labour was in opposition, but was asked by Downing Street to offer her resignation after the story broke because “additional information” had come to light.

“But at no point would any of them tell me what that additional information was,” she recently said in an interview.

Her resignation, however, afforded her the freedom to expound the political ideas that are expected to feature heavily in Burnham’s administration.

In two essays published shortly before his Makerfield campaign, Haigh set out a vision for a radical reshaping of the British state.

This included a significant loosening of Labour’s debt rules, with the rolling five-year debt target extended instead over 10 years, and a call to “re-examine the mandate” of the Bank of England with a greater focus on growth.

She also argued for several key policies previously advocated by the new prime minister, including a new tax on the value of land to replace stamp duty on house purchases.

“The status quo is not sustainable,” she wrote. “We cannot afford to wait any longer before we change the system we inherited.”

It is a task she will now be charged with delivering, from a seat in the cockpit of the new Burnham administration.