United Kingdom

The pension 'triple lock' guarantee long championed by the Conservative Government is set to be watered down next year in a move that will save the Treasury billions of pounds. The Telegraph can reveal that Boris Johnson has been advised by Cabinet ministers to temporarily alter the long-held promise on how to increase state pensions, due to a freak earnings rise. The triple lock, which has been Tory policy for a decade, promises to raise the state pension by either the inflation rate, average earnings or 2.5 per cent, whichever is higher. However, figures released on Tuesday by the Office of National Statistics found that average earnings rose by 7.4 per cent in the three months to June due to the peculiarities of the Covid pandemic. There is a growing consensus among government min...

A Taliban spokesman has said the militant group is awaiting an incoming peaceful transition of power from Afghanistan’s current government. Speaking to the BBC, Suhail Shaheen said the insurgents expected the process to take place within the next few days. He also claimed the incoming regime would respect [the] rights of women, but conceded they would be forced to wear the hijab. It comes after forces at Bagram air base, which is home to a prison housing 5,000 inmates, including Isis fighters, surrendered to the Taliban on Sunday, according to an Afghan official. The site’s district chief Darwaish Raufi told the AP news agency that the one-time American base had been handed over to the insurgents with little resistance. Meanwhile, arrangements are said to be in the making for Sir Laur...

Temporary powers designed to help alleviate congestion caused by post-Brexit lorry tailbacks in Kent – codenamed Operation Brock are to be made permanent, it has emerged. Under measures designed to ease congestion from traffic heading towards the port of Dover, steel barriers, roadside parking areas and a contraflow system were unveiled in 2019 with the intention of minimising the impact on people travelling within Kent ahead of a threatened no-deal Brexit. Those emergency traffic management powers were expected to finish in October 2021, but ministers are instead planning to remove the sunset clause from the measures in order to make them available indefinitely. The Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said: Operation Brock measures will remain temporary and will only be used ...

Herd immunity is not a possibility because the Delta variant is still spreading fast and infecting fully vaccinated people, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group has said. Professor Sir Andrew Pollard told MPs in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on coronavirus that although 95% vaccination would stop transmission of measles, the same was not true for COVID. He warned that this means anyone still unvaccinated at some point will meet the virus. Herd immunity is when enough people become resistant to a disease through vaccination or previous exposure that it can no longer significantly spread among the rest of the population. Sir Andrew said the vaccine might slow the spread of coronavirus, but as the Delta variant - first identified in India - is highly transmissible, jabs will not cont...

Time is running out to avoid failure at the crucial climate summit the UK will host in November after a UN report found the world stands at code red, Boris Johnson has been told. A senior Conservative warned the prime minister had yet to make his promises a reality, while a respected think tank told Mr Johnson he must make the landmark gathering a personal priority to deliver success. As Tory MPs launched a group to fight climate action they claim will cost too much, the environment minister, Zac Goldsmith, appeared to reveal fears of an active campaign to sabotage Cop26 in Glasgow. But, despite calls for Mr Johnson to do the heavy liftingby using his clout to pressurise other world leaders into stronger commitments there are no plans for him to meet any before November, The Independen...

The mass vaccination of children against Covid-19 is set to get the green light, with approval given for 16 and 17-year-olds to receive the jab. The Telegraph understands the change in guidance will be announced on Wednesday after scientific advisers submitted their updated advice to Downing Street. A well-placed government source said that those aged 16 and 17 will be advised to get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, matching guidance for other younger Britons. It means more than a million children will be encouraged to get a Covid-19 jab, a move that the Government had held off from taking while awaiting more medical evidence. America and some European countries are already vaccinating under-18s en masse, and have gone further than the UK is planning to at present by jabbing children a...

The mass vaccination of children against Covid-19 is set to get the green light, with approval given for 16 and 17-year-olds to receive the jab. The Telegraph understands the change in guidance will be announced on Wednesday after scientific advisers submitted their updated advice to Downing Street. A well-placed government source said that those aged 16 and 17 will be advised to get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, matching guidance for other younger Britons. It means more than a million children will be encouraged to get a Covid-19 jab, a move that the Government had held off from taking while awaiting more medical evidence. America and some European countries are already vaccinating under-18s en masse, and have gone further than the UK is planning to at present by jabbing children as...

The British public's expectations for inflation over the coming year rose sharply in July to 3.1% from 2.8% in June, although they remain below a recent peak of 3.8% recorded in December, a monthly poll from Citi and YouGov showed on Tuesday. Longer-term inflation expectations for the next five to 10 years held steady at 3.4%. The move here likely reflects the noticeable pick-up in goods prices in recent months, and anticipated energy price increases later in the year. For now, these short-term effects don't seem to be feeding into longer-term expectations, Citi economists said in a note to clients.

Text message reminders could boost Covid-19 vaccine uptake by as much as 26%, according to research published in Nature on Monday. Researchers at UCLA and Carnegie Mellon University in the US conducting two randomised controlled trials involving 100,000 patients found simple texts successfully boosted vaccine appointments by as much as 84% and actual vaccinations by as much as 26%. Including ownership language in the form of phrases such as the vaccine has just been made available to you and claim your dose today further increased appointment and vaccination rates at UCLA Health by 1.51 and 1.09 percentage points respectively. The effect held across all demographic groups, including those who had recorded high levels of vaccine hesitancy. In England, research indicates that young peop...

Pressure is mounting on ministers to outlaw no jab, no job policies being implemented by companies, amid warnings firms could be hit by a wave of legal action due to claims of discrimination. After major US businesses including Google and Facebook announced plans to only allow fully vaccinated staff to set foot in their offices due to the spread of the Delta variant already rampant in the UK, senior government figures on this side of the Atlantic appeared relaxed about other businesses following suit. The move was welcomed by the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, who called it a good idea and said the reality was that some firms would require employees to be fully vaccinated though he added legislation would not be passed to make it mandatory. But advice from the Chartered Institute o...