Welcome to your early morning news briefing from The Telegraph - a round-up of the top stories we are covering on Friday. To receive twice-daily briefings by email, sign up to our Front Page newsletter for free.

       1. Unions ‘holding Christmas hostage’

       Union leaders have been accused of threatening to "hold Christmas hostage" after they raised the prospect of co-ordinated lorry strikes unless drivers are granted higher pay and better conditions.

       Unite, the UK’s largest union, has threatened to launch the largest lorry drivers’ strike since the Winter of Discontent in 1979 by balloting thousands of supermarket and delivery drivers on a mass walkout. Read the full story.

       2. Households pushed to scrap gas boilers with ￡5,000 grant

       New gas boilers will be banned from 2035 and families are set to be offered ￡5,000 grants to buy heat pumps for their homes under a landmark green strategy to be unveiled next week.

       The Prime Minister will announce the “boiler upgrade scheme” as the centrepiece of his long-awaited Heat and Buildings Strategy. Read the full story.

       3. Haulage group frozen out of Whitehall after being 'hijacked by Remainers'

       Britain’s biggest haulage lobbying group has been frozen out of meetings with ministers following claims it is biased against Brexit and deliberately sparked last month’s fuel crisis.

       As businesses battle a national shortage of lorry drivers, relations between the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and the Government have entered a "deep freeze", sources said. Read the full story.

       4. Mild winter could protect households from soaring energy bills, says Kwasi Kwarteng

       Kwasi Kwarteng has told energy bosses that Britain's mild winter could protect households from rising energy bills.

       The Business Secretary this week shared internal long-term forecasts, which showed that the Meteorological Office is expecting a wet and mild winter, with energy companies. Read the full story.

       5. Queen irritated by those who ‘talk but don’t do’ ahead of Cop26

       The Queen has revealed she is “irritated” by the lack of progress on climate change as she criticised those who “talk but don’t do” ahead of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.

       After opening the Senedd in Cardiff on Thursday, Her Majesty, 95, was filmed having a private conversation with the Duchess of Cornwall and Elin Jones, the Senedd’s presiding officer, about the forthcoming climate talks, noting that it was still unsure which leaders would attend. Read the full story.

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