Louise Haigh, the youngest member of the Shadow Cabinet, was just 27 when first elected as a Labour MP in 2015. The price for such political precocity is that youthful mistakes are more costly than a bad hangover or unfortunate outfit.
Haigh, now 36, doesn’t hesitate for a second when asked if she regretted nominating Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader just after arriving in Westminster. “Yes,” she tells i.
“It was a naive thing to do and I deeply regret the hurt in the Jewish community that resulted.”
She supports Sir Keir Starmer’s position against calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, pointing out that Hamas continues to insist it would repeat the “horrendous” attacks of 7 October. The shadow transport secretary goes further than the current Labour leader on what is happening in Gaza, however.
“A lot of us are very concerned that what is happening in Gaza now is a form of collective punishment against the Palestinian people,” she says.
“There are some very serious questions for the Israeli government to answer right now…around the targeting of hospitals and of refugee camps. I think most people would accept that all of that is morally wrong.”
Ms Haigh, a former Unite official, was moved to the transport brief by Sir Keir in 2021 from her previous position as shadow Northern Ireland secretary and was left in place in the last reshuffle.
The Government’s cancellation of the phase 2 of HS2 last month puts her at the heart of one of Labour’s most difficult dilemmas: does the party press on – or accept the scheme is dead?
For now it is playing for time, although if Mr Sunak carries out his promise to sell off land bought for the new track he will effectively kill it off before a future Labour government can revive it.
“We don’t want the Government to pursue this salting the earth strategy,” says the Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley. “It feels vindictive and spiteful to waste taxpayers’ money and tie the hands of future governments in the approach that they’re taking.”
She is working with metro mayors and private industry on Labour’s plan but can only say she “hopes” that the party can present its own plans – including a definitive answer on the future of HS2 phase 2 – by the time of the next election.
Ms Haigh is clearer on the party’s commitment to take train operators back into public ownership. As franchises come up for renewal or are forfeited in a contractual breach they will fold into a new unified operation, a process that should be complete by 2027.
Most in the industry accept, she says, that separating out the operations of the track from those running the trains has been a mistake with long-suffering passengers bearing the brunt.
The creation of “one single guiding mind” isn’t about ideology she insists but to ensure passengers actually benefit from investment. “For decades, the passengers have been at the bottom of the barrel in terms of priority.”
Ms Haigh is unapologetic about her union heritage – her uncle and grandfather were both union officials – and says the party would take a different approach to the likes of Mick Lynch of the RMT.
“I’m not shy of saying that we will take a consciously different approach to working with the unions. Under a single unified network when you’ve got the workforce in one place you can use your partnership model to look ahead to the challenges that are coming with automation and modernization of the railways.”
Labour-run Wales has shown it is possible to negotiate for workforce reform and wages “that don’t break the bank”, she claims.
Ms Haigh, who drives a petrol Nissan Juke, says that Rishi Sunak “demeaned himself” by claiming that Labour was prosecuting a war on motorists.
Many of the councils that were criticised for introducing low-traffic neighbourhoods and 20mph limits were Tory-run, she pointed out. It was, she insisted, entirely a matter for local people to decide what was appropriate. There would be, she added, no Whitehall diktat from a Labour government that people should walk or cycle more.
Does she cycle? “God no, have you been to Sheffield?”
