Public Affairs monitoring for week ending 10 April 2026

Middle East crisis update: questions over whether ceasefire is holding as shipping remains disrupted; fuel protests in Republic of Ireland

A two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran was announced on 8 April, it reported that this would lead to Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz for shipping. However, shipping through the strait remains disrupted, with Iran arguing that Israel’s continued bombing of Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon puts the US in breach of the ceasefire. Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Saudi Arabia on 8 April as part of a visit to Gulf allies to discuss diplomatic efforts to support and uphold the agreement.

Protests by hauliers and farmers in the Republic of Ireland over the price of fuel began on 7 April, seeing traffic disrupted by slow-moving convoys. Protest activity is also planned in parts of Northern Ireland on Tuesday 14 April. Logistics UK is in contact with the Roads Policing Team within the Police Service of Northern Ireland as well as FTA Ireland, which has been clear that it does not condone on-road protests, which cause disruption to logistics businesses, other road users and consumers.

Logistics UK has a three-point strategy for supporting members during this crisis:

• Sharing with members what we are hearing from government and others. The key message from government remains that fuel production and imports are continuing across the UK as normal.
• Informing government and other key stakeholders of the impact of the conflict on our sector, including ensuring the critical nature of logistics is understood and reflected in contingency planning.
• Urging government to provide support to our sector to manage the crisis, including calling on the Chancellor to reconsider her plan to increase fuel duty by 5p in September.

To support this, we are collecting member feedback via a new Logistics Performance Tracker survey, with responses informing the insight we are sharing with government. Please complete our short survey on SurveyMonkey here or via Microsoft Forms here as soon as possible.

Read our latest Middle East update here which includes data on fuel prices.

Also this week

Government

• Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party) tabled a written question on the estimate of the additional cost to ferry travellers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a result of extending the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to that maritime route.
  • Answering on 7 April, Energy Minister Lord Whitehead said the Impact Assessment found no significant consumer price impacts from the ETS between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and that government will review the maritime element of the ETS in 2028 to ensure impacts remain proportionate as the sector decarbonises.

• Jessica Morden MP (Labour, Newport East) visited Owens Group in her constituency on 10 April, accompanied by Logistics UK Policy Lead for Wales Josh Fenton.

Local, regional & devolved

• Plaid Cymru launched its manifesto for the upcoming Senedd elections (Wales) on 9 April. The party wants to cut healthcare waiting lists, reduce child poverty, and support Welsh-owned businesses by developing a business-led National Development Agency for Wales. It also pledges, with regards to transport, to “make Wales a better-connected nation.”
• The Green Party launched its manifesto for the upcoming Senedd elections (Wales) in Port Talbot on 7 April. The party’s flagship policy is to scrap Council Tax and Business Rates with a Land Value Tax, with the owners of the most valuable properties paying more. On transport, policies focus on maintaining existing roads, particularly tackling potholes; promoting low‑carbon travel through expanded EV charging, rural community car‑sharing schemes; and a move away from aviation subsidies, including a review of future funding for Cardiff Airport.
• Scottish Conservative Leader Russell Findlay launched the Scottish Conservative Party manifesto for the Holyrood election on 7 April, in which the party commits to scrapping the target of reaching net-zero by 2045, which is five years ahead of the UK.
• Scottish Labour called on John Swinney on 7 April to take responsibility for ongoing disruption to Scotland’s ferry network, citing analysis showing more than 20,000 sailings have been cancelled for non-weather reasons since 2023.
• Transport for London said on 8 April that the Silvertown Tunnel helped reduce “chronic congestion” and improve journey times by more than 10% during weekday peak periods in its first year of operation.

Other

• The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) published its latest new EV vehicle registrations on 7 April showing that, in March, growth in the light commercial vehicle market was down 3.4% on the previous month.
• US payments firm Corpay will partner with Voltempo to support its efforts to link charging infrastructure, fleet payments and electricity supply to make it easier for businesses to switch from diesel to electric lorries.
• The Department for Business and Trade published its latest building materials and components statistics on 8 April, showing that deliveries of bricks and blocks fell by 18.3% and 17.4% respectively in February 2026 compared with February 2025. Meanwhile Reuters reports that the cost of materials rose more in March than in any other month on record. Halifax also published its latest House Price Index showing that UK house prices fell by 0.5% in March, suggesting the housing market is losing momentum.

Coming up

• Both Houses of Parliament will return following the Easter Recess on Monday 13 April.
• Lord Moylan (Conservative) has an oral question on ‘The target to increase rail freight volumes by 75 per cent by 2050’ on Monday 13 April.
• Deputy Director – Public Affairs Ben Garratt and Head of Public Affairs Natalie Chapman will meet Taiwo Owatemi MP (Labour, Coventry North West) on Tuesday 14 April.
• Dr Kieran Mullan (Conservative, Bexhill & Battle) will bring a debate on the dualling of the A21 on 14 April.
• Logistics UK CEO Ben Fletcher will meet with Transport Scotland CEO Alison Irvine and Director of the Environment, Climate and Sustainability Morna Cannon on Wednesday 15 April.
• Logistics UK CEO Ben Fletcher will visit Wickes at Brackmills with Mike Reader MP (Labour, Northampton South) on Friday 17 April.