Public Affairs monitoring for week ending 13 March 2026

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Calls for government to review Fuel Duty decision

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are being urged by Opposition parties and industry, including Logistics UK, not to proceed with a planned Fuel Duty increase this September, given rising oil prices caused by the Middle East conflict. Under the 2025 Autumn Budget, the duty will increase by 5p per litre between September 2026 and March 2027.

Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch focused on Fuel Duty in Prime Minister’s Questions on 11 March, pointing to pressure on businesses. Keir Starmer responded: “Fuel Duty is frozen. It is going to remain frozen until September, and we will keep the situation under review in the light of what is happening in Iran. But the most important issue is de-escalating the situation.”

In an effort to curb oil price rises, the International Energy Agency agreed to release 400 million barrels of reserves on 11 March, something which the Chancellor said she would support in her statement to the Commons on 9 March. In this statement she said that “the movements we have seen are likely to put upwards pressure on inflation in the coming months,” adding that she had told G7 Finance Ministers that her priorities include guaranteeing the security of vessels passing through Hormuz and the UK playing its role as global hub of maritime insurance.

The Chancellor and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will meet representatives of the fuel industry on 13 March to discuss what they are doing to keep prices down, and what more they can do to ensure changes in costs are passed on fairly. Ahead of the meeting, the Chancellor said she “will not tolerate” firms exploiting the situation to make excess profits, and that she has asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to remain on alert for unjustifiable price rises on petrol, diesel and heating oil. The Energy Secretary met with the CEO of the CMA on 10 March.

Transport Committee examines progress on HGV and coach driver facilities

The Transport Committee held a session on 11 March examining whether progress has been made in improving the availability and quality of facilities for HGV and coach drivers. The session revisited issues raised in the previous committee’s report on the road freight supply chain, which concluded that many drivers still struggle to find safe, secure and well-maintained places to stop.

MPs heard evidence from Logistics UK Head of Road Freight Maddi Solloway-Price, alongside representatives of Transport Focus, the RHA, the Unite the Union, and motorway service operator Moto Hospitality. Witnesses welcomed the match-funding introduced by the Department for Transport and National Highways to improve existing facilities, but highlighted concerns around the continued shortage and poor quality of facilities, as well as the challenges of bringing forward new sites through the planning system.

Nothing Moves Without Logistics parliamentary drop-in

Logistics UK hosted a Nothing Moves Without Logistics parliamentary drop-in in Portcullis House on Tuesday 10 March, bringing together MPs, Peers and logistics businesses to highlight the sector’s central role in driving growth.

The event was sponsored by Carolyn Harris MP (Labour, Neath and Swansea East), and the other attendees were Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Caroline Nokes MP (Conservative, Romsey and Southampton North), member of the Transport Committee Alex Mayer MP (Labour, Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard), member of the Transport Committee and Chair of the APPG for Women in Transport Elsie Blundell MP (Labour, Heywood and Middleton), member of the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill Committee Dave Robertson MP (Labour, Lichfield), Transport PPS Julie Minns MP (Labour, Carlisle), member of the Public Accounts Committee Sarah Green MP (Liberal Democrat, Chesham and Amersham) and Lord Taylor of Holbeach. Staff from the offices of Rachel Taylor MP (Labour, North Warwickshire and Bedworth) and Fabian Hamilton MP (Labour, Leeds North East) also attended, alongside a senior manager from Skills England.

Parliamentarians met representatives from Logistics UK, GXO and Robert Wynn and Sons, who shared insights into how logistics supports the Industrial Strategy’s growth-driving sectors.

Further measures sought to unlock growth and protect essential infrastructure in planning reforms

Logistics UK has submitted a response to the government’s proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), welcoming the stronger national focus on freight and logistics but calling for further measures to unlock growth and protect essential infrastructure.

The response strongly supports the clearer, more rules-based approach in the draft NPPF and particularly welcomes the inclusion of a dedicated logistics policy (E3). However, it warns that the proposals fall short in several critical areas. Logistics UK is urging government to introduce firm national safeguards for existing logistics sites and to embed logistics more explicitly in Spatial Development Strategies and local plans. The response also highlights the sector’s growing energy and infrastructure needs as it transitions to zero emission operations, and the need for additional quality driver facilities.

Plaid Cymru and Reform UK publish Welsh manifestos

The Plaid Cymru and Reform UK parties have published their manifestos ahead of the Welsh Senedd election on 7 May. Plaid Cymru are generally leading in the polls, with Reform UK at a close second.

Plaid Cymru’s manifesto is positioned as a first 100 days plan, and says the party would create a National Development Agency for Wales to support Welsh businesses to secure investment, trade and innovate; undertake a skills audit to identify future skills and convene a Future Skills Summit, to create a vision and strategy for the future of the skills system and its funding; deliver planning reforms to reduce bureaucracy and speed up planning decisions; and create a National Food Strategy to build food security and literacy, strengthen food supply chains, and use the Welsh public plate to support our food and drink industry. Business Rates reform would be entirely focused on supporting high streets and town centres. While the party commits to developing a National Energy Strategy, all the language is focused on generation, not demand.

Reform UK’s manifesto says the party would scrap net zero in devolved policy; reform business rates to create a “pro-growth system”; scrap blanket 20mph limits; build the M4 relief road, including to support freight movements; streamline the planning system and make it easier to build infrastructure; and introduce a 10-year food strategy focused on food security, productivity, farm-to-fork supply chains. There would also be a new Minister for Industry, who would be responsible for producing a Welsh Industrial Strategy.

Logistics UK Senior Policy Manager Josh Fenton attended a hustings for the Senedd elections on 11 March organised by the Welsh Ports Group. He highlighted that whoever forms the next Welsh government, Wales needs a Freight and Logistics Plan, which the current government committed to but has not delivered.

Also this week

Government

• The government published an update to the Infrastructure Pipeline on 9 March, focusing on the estimates of skills and workforce demands that will be generated by the £718 billion of private and public sector investment included in the pipeline.
• The government announced plans to overhaul the UK’s nuclear regulatory system on 13 March. The aim of the changes is to speed up the construction of new power stations and reduce project costs. They follow recommendations from the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce, which concluded that a “radical reset” is needed. The plans also form part of a broader push by the government to expand nuclear generation, including both new large-scale reactors and smaller modular reactors.

Parliament

• Ministers from the Department for Business and Trade took oral questions in the House of Commons on 12 March.
  • Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat, Mid Dorset and North Poole) asked whether the government would look at helping professional drivers in the EU reset. Responding, Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said this is part of negotiations.
  • There were questions from Liberal Democrat Business Spokesperson Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) and David Mundell (Conservative, Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) on the subject of the ending of the fuel duty freeze in September. Responding, Employment Rights and Consumer Protection Minister Kate Dearden said the real risk was a dependence on volatile international gas markets and the government was investing in clean energy.
• The Hereditary Peer Bill passed in the House of Lords on 10 March. Under the Bill, Hereditary peerages will be abolished and Hereditary peers will no longer have a right to sit in the Lords once the current parliamentary session ends, expected later this spring. To secure the passing of the Bill, the government struck a deal that will see a small number of existing Hereditary peers given life peerages.

Local, regional & devolved

• The Northern Ireland Assembly approved extending the UK ETS to maritime routes between Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 10 March, despite opposition from logistics businesses and ferry operators who warn it will add around 6% to freight costs and increase pressure on NI supply chains. Logistics UK is concerned that no thorough economic impact assessment was undertaken, and seriously questions the position of the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs that the change is needed now to support future UK-EU ETS linkage, which is not expected before 2028. The policy was debated in the House of Lords on 12 March, where a related amendment was not moved and another was defeated.
• The long-planned £130m upgrade to the A1, the main Belfast-Dublin road, was put on hold on 6 March pending the outcome of the appeal against the A5 court ruling when the High Court judged that the plans did not comply with Stormont’s climate change targets.
• Scottish independence party Alba announced on 8 March that it will wind up and will not field any candidates in the Holyrood election in May.
• Mayor of the West Midlands Richard Parker pledged his support for Generation Logistics on 11 March.

Other

• The UK economy unexpectedly failed to grow in January according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. Chancellor Rachel Reeves responded that: “Our economic plan is the right one, but I know there is more to do.”
• The Climate Change Committee published a new report on 11 March estimating the transition to net zero will cost the UK around £4 billion a year, or close to £100 billion by 2050, but that it will also avoid £40 billion to £130 billion of costs by 2050 associated with climate breakdown.

Coming up

• Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Pat McFadden will deliver a keynote speech on the future of youth employment on 16 March. Policy announcements on the Youth Guarantee and Apprenticeship Levy are anticipated. Logistics UK Deputy Director – Public Affairs Ben Garratt will attend.
• There will be a 90-minute Westminster Hall debate on 17 March from 9:30am on productivity and economic growth in the East Midlands brought by James Naish MP (Labour, Rushcliffe).
• There will be a one-hour Westminster Hall debate on 17 March from 4:30pm on the condition of roads in rural areas led by Stuart Anderson MP (Conservative, South Shropshire).
• The APPG for Thames Estuary Fair Growth will meet on 17 March at 17:30 in Committee Room 19, House of Lords, to discuss devolution and the future growth of the Thames Estuary. The speakers are Lord Heseltine, former Deputy Prime Minister and long-time champion of the Thames Estuary, and Tom Walker Interim Chief Executive of the Greater Essex Combined Authority. Contact [email protected].
• Transport Minister Keir Mather and Climate Change Committee Chief Executive Emma Pinchbeck will address Logistics UK’s President’s Council on 17 March.