Sheffield Heeley Labour Party: Sheffield MP makes history
Louise Haigh MP for Sheffield Heeley made history on Friday by becoming the youngest and first female Sheffield MP to become a cabinet minister.
Louise was re-elected on 4th July with a majority of more than 15,000 and will take up the prestigious role of Secretary of State for Transport in the newly formed Labour government – she is also youngest ever serving female cabinet minister, at age 36.
Born and bred in Sheffield, she has been the MP for Sheffield Heeley for the last nine years and thanked everyone who voted for her.
As Secretary of State for Transport, Louise says she will be relentlessly focused on delivering a publicly owned, passenger centred railway and giving communities everywhere the power to take back control of buses.
This is a brief that Louise is experienced in – the Sheffield Heeley MP has spearheaded transport policy for Labour since 2021 when she was appointed Shadow Transport Secretary.
Louise is renowned for her hard work. Early in her career she was described by then-House speaker John Bercow as having “terrier-like intensity” in her campaigning against the closure of tax offices. The following year the House of Commons library named her the most hard-working of the new intake of MPs.
She is one of six Yorkshire MPs to be appointed to the cabinet.
Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley and Secretary of State for Transport, said: “It is an incredible honour to continue to represent my home in Parliament and to finally get the opportunity to deliver for Sheffield in a Labour Government.
“Transport is so important to the people of Sheffield, and I will put everything I have into putting the public back into our public transport system and delivering the connectivity we deserve.
“This will be the most public transport-committed government in Britain’s history. One of my first jobs will be to sort out the rail and bus networks across the country.
“Labour will bring rail franchises into public ownership as contracts expire and create publicly-owned Great British Railways – delivering the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation. And we will massively expand franchising powers, giving every community the power to take back control of our buses.
“Labour will deliver transport network that modern Britain needs – here in Yorkshire and in every corner of the country.”
