Rules for English travellers heading overseas have been significantly simplified, with the “amber” list of countries scrapped and the traffic light designation replaced with destinations listed as either “red” or OK for travel.

The long-heralded shake-up of the travel regulations, announced by the Department for Transport on Friday, also included a reduction in the number of countries placed on what was the “red” list, with almost all travel not permitted. Turkey, Pakistan and Maldives are among eight countries to be removed from the red list.

Another key change, initially announced in a series of tweets by Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, means that people who are double-vaccinated will no longer have to take a Covid test before they return to the UK from a green-list country.

They will still need to take a test within two days of returning to the UK, but from a point October, Shapps said, this will be able to be a cheaper lateral flow test rather than a PCR test.

More to follow…