The announcement of booster jabs for all over-18s is expected in the "next few hours" as the health minister said vaccines mean that the UK is in a better position than last year.

       Edward Argar said that while he did not want to "pre-judge" the findings of an urgent review by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), he was hopeful the advice will follow later today.

       "Sajid Javid has asked the JCVI for advice urgently on bringing down the gap, potentially, between second and booster jabs but also in terms of age range," Mr Argar told Sky News.

       On whether it will be extended to 18 year olds, he said: “I think that’s what they’re looking at, we’d expect that in the next few hours.”

       The vaccine rollout means that the UK is in a "hugely different place" from the emergence of the alpha or delta variants, after the emergence of the former effectively saw Christmas cancelled in 2020.

       "The vaccination programme has made a huge difference in protecting our citizens, protecting our society and enabling us to open up," he said. "The measures we’re putting in place now are proportionate, measured, I’m looking forward to a Christmas spent with family and friends."

       ？？Follow the latest updates below.

       Booster jabs are to be offered to all adults, with a recommendation by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation expected within days, The Daily Telegraph understands.

       The Prime Minister announced on Saturday that he had asked scientists to consider extending the rollout of third jabs to everyone aged 18 and over.

       He has also asked the JCVI to consider cutting the wait for a booster jab from six months to five and whether 12 to 15-year-olds should now be offered a second dose.

       The committee is expected to recommend in favour of the mass expansion of boosters to all adults, meaning a further 13 million people would be eligible, a health source said.

       Yesterday, the deputy chairman of the JCVI said offering boosters to younger groups and cutting the interval between second jabs and boosters would be a “sensible strategy”.

       ？Laura Donnelly has the story

       As the fallout from the sleaze scandal continues the Commons Committee on Standards will today publish its report into the MP code of conduct and is expected to cover the thorny issue of parliamentarians' second jobs.

       Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, has described the current investigatory bodies as "not really independent" because their recommendations can be vetoed by the Prime Minister. Her party is calling for drastic reform to the system and will give a speech on standards at the Institute for Government at 11am.

       "We want to bring in a new independent ethics commission which is overseen by the permanent secretary, so that where ministers do break the code or former ministers use the revolving door and contacts for contracts, we tighten up the rules so this doesn't happen," Ms Rayner told the Today programme.

       "We want people to have absolute confidence that ministers are doing their job and there for the people they represent, not just lining their pockets."

       Yesterday Sir Geoffrey Cox spoke for the first time since the row over him earning more than ￡1 million outside of Parliament last year and voting by proxy from the British Virgin Islands during lockdown, as he insisted his constituents get "full commitment at all times".

       The health minister has flatly rejected calls for the Government to adopt its full package of 'Plan B' measures such as vaccine certification and working from home.

       "I don't think Plan B and those measures... you drew out some of those reasons, they are hugely and significantly disruptive," Edward Argar told the Today programme. "What we actually saw last time when we were seeing infection rates still high is the number of people in hospital with Covid going down and the number of deaths going down.

       "We don't see that Plan B in the current circumstances is needed at this point because there is no evidence yet that the vaccine is ineffective with this variant. I don't think we are in a position yet to understand impact on vaccines and hospitalisations.

       "Rather than automatically going to what some will call for which is very, very heavy restrictions, or what others will call for which is nothing at all and wait and see, we've struck a reasonable and proportionate balance while we try to understand it which we hope will only take a few weeks."

       On demands from Labour to enforce working from home, Mr Argar said he never gave "100 per cent guarantees on this virus because we never know how it's going to behave".

       He insisted mask-wearing in classrooms would not fall into "measured and proportionate" restrictions at this time in response to calls from Dr Mary Bousted, president of the National Education Union, to reintroduce a face covering mandate "because Covid will not recognise the difference between a corridor and a classroom".

       Four of the new Covid cases in Scotland (see 8.01am) have been identified in the Lanarkshire area with a further two infections in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, officials have said.

       "This will be a worrying time for the six people now identified as having the new variant," said Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary.

       He confirmed that all of the cases will receive support and that Public Health Scotland is to carry out enhanced contact tracing for each of the six patients.

       "This will help establish the origin of the virus and any further individuals they have come into contact with in recent weeks.

       "There is still much to learn about the Omicron variant. Questions remain about its severity, transmissibility and response to treatments or vaccines and scientists are working at pace to provide additional information.

       "Until more is known we must be cautious and do everything we can to minimise the risk of spreading infection."

       The Government is concerned by the spread of the omicron variant but it is still "early days", the health and social care minister has said.

       Edward Argar described the 50 mutations found in the variant, 32 of which are in the spike protein, as "concerning" but it will be weeks until scientists understand how it reacts and whether the impact of vaccines will be affected.

       "The moment you make an announcement like this there are calls for you to delay it, there are others saying do it immediately. I think we struck the right balance here in providing that response," he said.

       After criticism over the lethargic pace of the vaccine rollout in developing countries, Argar said the UK "can do more and ramp it up" but insisted the Government is on track to meet its target of distributing 100 million doses by the middle of next year.

       The deputy Labour leader has called on the Government to reform its Covid sick pay regime and reintroduce working from home.

       "If we've got infections rising in the UK, and we know that it's much more infectious and easier to catch, then working from home is a good thing," Ms Rayner told Sky News.

       "I hope employers can be more flexible and it's actually good for work-life balance as well, so I would encourage people to work from home where possible."

       On sick pay, Ms Rayner said: "We've had this problem during the pandemic and the Government needs to take action so that people can do the right thing. We've been living with this virus for a very long time now and many people fall through the loopholes when it comes to sick pay."

       She conceded that the Government was "right to have acted swiftly" by putting South Africa and nine other countries on the red list in a bid to stem the spread of the omicron variant.

       Britons should go ahead with their holidays but price in an "element of risk", the health minister has said.

       Edward Argar said he was sympathetic towards families who will have to pay thousands for quarantine hotels, but claimed the addition of 10 African countries to the revived red list was justified.

       "What we’re saying is follow rules around the red list countries, and for other countries we’ve said PCR tests et cetera," he told Sky News. "we’re not saying cancel your holidays to France but we have put into place that proportionate measure.

       "We cannot say what will happen over the coming weeks [and] in travelling at the moment there is an element of risk for people. We need to have the three weeks in order to understand how this new variant works. I hope that the scientists will get information more quickly and we were as open as we could be with the British people."

       Mr Argar hailed South Africa, which has criticised travel bans as punitive, as "exemplary" in sharing all that it knows about the variant with other countries.

       Six cases of the omicron variant have been identified in Scotland, the Scottish Government has announced.

       It takes the number of confirmed cases of the variant in the UK to nine, after cases were confirmed in Essex, Nottinghamshire and a third individual who is no longer in the country but was in Westminster while they were.

       More to follow

       The announcement of booster jabs for all over-18s is expected within hours, as the health minister said vaccines mean that the UK is in a better position than last year.

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