Louise Haigh

Louise Haigh worked with a local council youth service before entering parliament where she served as coordinator for the APPG on International Corporate Responsibility. During this time, Haigh was also a Unite shop steward, following in the footsteps of her grandfather and uncle who were trade union officials, and volunteered as a special constable in the Metropolitan Special Constabulary. In 2012, Haigh became public policy manager at Aviva, responsible for corporate governance. In 2015, she was elected with the distinction of being the youngest Labour MP in parliament. Jeremy Corbyn appointed Haigh shadow minister for the civil service and digital reform and then shadow minister for the digital economy, a role she carried out while the Digital Economy Act was passed in 2017, to which she introduced several amendments. Haigh repeatedly aired concerns about child protection online, calling for compulsory online education in schools. In 2016, Haigh was crowned the “hardest-working” of all new MPs in her year of entry. Although previously a backer of Corbyn, she supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership contest. As police minister from 2017 to 2020, she advocated for greater protection and rights for police officers in several contexts. These included vehicle pursuits, the impact of funding cuts and the rise in mental ill health within the force (Haigh called for a “public health approach to crime”). Haigh highlighted the increasing burden on police of criminals with untreated mental health problems among the community . She is a member of several APPGs on corporate governance, refugees, Colombia and looked after children. She was elected as vice chair of the APPG on State Pension Inequality in 2017. Haigh is a vocal opponent of fracking. She has also raised the alarm on cuts to SEN provision in schools. In 2019, she introduced a Private Member’s Bill to remove automatic fatherhood rights to children conceived through rape.