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Sunday morning UK news briefing: Today's top headlines from The Telegraph

UK early-morning news briefing for Sunday
UK early-morning news briefing for Sunday

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

1. Sunak plots tax raid on parcels and freelance workers

Rishi Sunak is plotting a new tax on online deliveries next month and a raid on the self-employed later this year, The Telegraph can reveal.

The Chancellor will use Wednesday's Budget to announce a £5 billion fund to help high street pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops that have remained closed as a result of the Covid lockdown. Read the full story

2. Single-shot Covid vaccine could be weeks away

A single-shot vaccine to combat Covid in Britain could be just weeks away, with regulators set to begin the approval process this week.

Ministers are expecting the Johnson & Johnson jab – which has been authorised in the US for emergency use – to start formal regulatory approval in the coming days. The UK has ordered 30 million doses, the US 100 million and Canada 38 million.. Read the full story

3. Flexible rail season tickets to fast track workers back to the office

Commuters are to be offered flexible season tickets by June at the latest as part of the Government's plan to get workers back to offices.

The new flexi-tickets – which will save workers hundreds of pounds – will be introduced in time for June 21, when the Government is due to relax its "work from home" message. Read the full story

4. PM urged to back plan for Unionists to boycott Scottish referendum

Boris Johnson is being urged by the leader of the Tories in Scotland to back a plan for unionists to boycott a second unofficial referendum on Scottish independence.

A second Scottish independence referendum can only be held if it is backed by the UK government and senior Tories are determined to reject it on the grounds that the vote in 2014 was said by the SNP to be a once in a generation event. Read the full story

5. 'Soviet' universities are fictionalising history

Universities which allow books to be censored on reading lists are risking a Soviet-style fictionalisation of history, the Government has warned in the latest front in the so-called culture wars.

Michelle Donelan, the Universities Minister, said that removing key texts from reading lists was "a very dangerous and odd road to go down, and certainly it has no place in our universities". Read the full story

Stay up-to-date with breaking news and the latest politics from The Telegraph throughout the day.