5 top UK news stories today (23 March 2026)

Here’s your UK news roundup for Monday (23 March 2026):

Starmer and Trump discuss the need to reopen the Hormuz Strait

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump have discussed the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in a call about the ongoing Middle East conflict. Traffic through the strait – one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes – has slowed down by about 95% since the Iran war began on 28 February. A Downing Street spokesperson said the leaders “agreed that reopening the Strait of Hormuz was essential to ensure stability in the global energy market” during the conversation on Sunday evening. [BBC]

Starmer to bring forward EU rules legislation in King’s Speech

Starmer is to bring forward legislation in May’s King’s Speech allowing ministers to import a wave of EU laws to Britain as the prime minister seeks to reconnect with Europe’s single market. Chancellor Rachel Reeves last week set out plans to align with EU rules in certain sectors in the “national interest” and the new bill will create a framework for a swift transfer to the statute book in the UK of laws made in Brussels, reversing a central tenet of Brexit. The bill has not yet been given a formal title, but officials briefed on the plan confirmed it will be in the King’s Speech at the start of a new parliamentary session in May. [Financial Times]

Ministers to look at profits cap for energy and petrol firms

The government’s top cost-of-living adviser has called on ministers to explore a temporary cap on the profits of energy and petrol companies to prevent them from cashing in excessively on the war in the Middle East. Richard Walker – a Labour peer, the chair of Iceland supermarkets and the prime minister’s “cost of living champion” – said he had asked the government to examine limiting how much businesses were able to benefit from higher energy prices after Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for Europe’s oil and gas, and the wider conflict in the region. [Guardian]

Heathrow’s new car parks to cost more than Gatwick’s second runway

A plan to provide 36,000 parking spaces at Heathrow airport is poised to join the pantheon of cash-hungry mega-projects after it was revealed that it will come with a staggering £2.6bn price tag. That’s £400 million more than the estimated outlay for a new runway at Gatwick and more than half the cost of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 – the largest free-standing structure in the UK. At £72,000 per parking space, the two multi-storey car parks planned under the scheme will also be comfortably the most expensive in Britain and a contender for the costliest ever built. [The Telegraph]