Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday makes her first public appearance since the funeral of her late husband, Prince Philip, to open a new session of parliament and present her newly victorious government's post-pandemic legislative agenda.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is riding high after the Conservatives' triumph in last week's local and regional elections in England, but faces new questions over the UK's cohesion after pro-independence forces emerged on top in Scotland.

Britain told Hong Kong on Friday that it had "no right" to order other countries not to accept a UK travel document for a popular youth working scheme after the city confirmed it had made the request to several other nations.

Britain has circulated a draft resolution to members of the UN Security Council calling on rich countries to donate doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to poorer and war-torn states, according to a text of the draft seen by AFP Friday.

A ship will on Monday set sail from the south coast of the UK bound for Lebanon with 100 armored patrol vehicles (Land Rover RWMIK) donated by the British Government to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the British embassy said.

These vehicles, worth £1.5 million, will "further reinforce the stability on the Lebanese border with Syria and help the LAF to counter efforts by terrorists and smugglers to cross into the country," the embassy said in a statement.

France and Britain on Monday joined a growing list of nations starting mass vaccinations for all elderly citizens as London began quarantining arrivals to try and halt the spread of a new Covid-19 variant. 

The French drive aims to cover all people over 75 and comes after Brazil and India, which figure among the worst-affected countries, administered their first jabs over the weekend.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Monday condemned the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as  "appalling", calling for the Kremlin critic's release.

"It is appalling that Alexey Navalny, the victim of a despicable crime, has been detained by Russian authorities," Raab wrote on Twitter. 

Schools and colleges across Britain closed on Tuesday ahead of a national lockdown as the country battled to control surging coronavirus cases that are threatening to overwhelm its healthcare system.

Even before Brexit, Britain and the European Union had an often troubled history.

Brexit becomes a reality on Thursday as Britain leaves Europe's customs union and single market, ending nearly half a century of often turbulent ties with its closest neighbours.

France and Britain will reopen cross-border travel Wednesday after a snap 48-hour ban to curb the spread of a new coronavirus variant threatened UK supply chains.

Much of Europe swiftly banned British travellers and UK freight entering their nations after the discovery of a more transmissible variant of Covid-19 in Britain.