Working for our members – devolved nations spotlight

By Senior Policy Managers Alexandra Herdman and Josh Fenton.

Representing members across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Logistics UK has recently been meeting with stakeholders across the devolved nations to discuss the sector’s needs and priorities.

Northern Ireland

Towards the end of last year, as part of the Northern Ireland Business Brexit Working Group, Logistics UK attended a ministerial roundtable with the Minister of EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds for a pragmatic discussion across the business community in Northern Ireland.

We raised the cumulative burden of change facing the logistics sector, the narrow profit margin the logistics operators operate within, the concerns about customs with mandatory requirements for ICS2 for GB to Northern Ireland trade, as well as the logistics sector’s longstanding ask for there to be a single government interface for trade.

With logistics at the forefront of trade changes and enabling trade in NI to take place, it is essential impacts and disruptions are minimised.

More recently, at the start of the year and to build on existing relationships, Logistics UK CEO Ben Fletcher and Senior Policy Manager Josh Fenton met with Economy Minister for Northern Ireland Dr Caoimhe Archibald MLA in Belfast at Parliament Buildings at Stormont. Covering a range of topics, the discussion focused on the critical role of logistics in Northern Ireland’s economy, with conversations also covering the role of decarbonisation in the sector, skills, and ongoing challenges with GB to Northern Ireland trade.

With unique trading links across the Irish Sea, more than 6,000 logistics businesses in Northern Ireland employing nearly 70,000 people, and approximately 8% of the entire workforce, Logistics UK used the meeting as an opportunity to propose the benefits of Northern Ireland developing its own freight strategy.

Wales

In addition to meetings in Northern Ireland, Ben Fletcher and Josh Fenton together with Logistics UK members met with Plaid Cymru Transport Spokesman Peredur Owen Griffiths MS in Cardiff on 10 February, where they discussed the scale of the logistics sector in Wales and opportunities for growth.

Much of the conversation focused on the opportunities in Wales for logistics in terms of decarbonisation, multimodal capacity and skills.

Logistics UK is continuing to call for a Welsh freight and logistics strategy, as well as the establishment of a Welsh Government chaired Welsh Freight Council, whereby industry could steer government on the implementation of future work. These asks are clearly set out in the Logistics UK manifesto for the 2026 Senedd election.

Scotland

In Scotland, Logistics UK has prepared a manifesto ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary election, setting out the logistics sector’s priorities for driving sustainable growth and a fair transition, helping policymakers boost prosperity across the nation.

Logistics is one of Scotland’s largest economic sectors, with over 10,000 businesses and more than 20,000 people – 7.8% of the workforce – employed in logistics roles, contributing £7.8 billion to Scotland’s economy.

We continuously lobby and engage with politicians and decision makers across Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government. Recent highlights include:

Attending a roundtable with Scottish Labour’s Finance Spokesperson Michael Marra MSP, where Alexandra Herdman highlighted our key asks across infrastructure, decarbonisation, skills and driver welfare.

Joining Scottish Government and other partners across the HGV decarbonisation sector to celebrate the work that has gone into decarbonising road freight, following on from the cross-sector input to the HGV decarbonisation pathway and the subsequent funding and consortia opportunities to advance HGV decarbonisation across Scotland.

Speaking at the Scottish Conservative Conference in Edinburgh on 20 February alongside Sue Webber MSP and John Cooper MP on the transport panel.

Writing to many stakeholders to introduce Ben Fletcher as Logistics UK’s new CEO, with future visits and meetings planned for March and April including with Transport Scotland’s Chief Executive.

Submitted several written parliamentary questions to push forward the logistics sector’s agenda in Parliament and Government.

Regularly attending Transport Scotland working groups including A9 Safety Group, A83 Taskforce, HDV Decarbonisation Skills Forum and Network Rail’s Joint Freight Board.

Alexandra Herdman spoke at the inaugural RTX Scotland conference on the important subject of driver welfare.

Logistics UK will continue representing all devolved nations, highlighting unique challenges and opportunities for logistics across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.