We're going to wrap up our live coverage for today. Thanks for joining us.

Here's a recap of the main stories today:

• Up to 3,000 lorries are stuck in Kent waiting to leave the UK as politicians thrash out a plan to reopen France's border to trade and travel
• The European commission has urged countries to lift UK travel bans, amid alarm over a new coronavirus variant
• Stranded lorry drivers have spoken of their fears of being stuck in Kent over Christmas after France shut its border with the UK.
• The situation is "serious" at Manston where hundreds of lorry drivers are stranded, the Road Haulage Association said.

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Politicians are in talks to resume freight, after France closed the border because of the new variant.

Sikh groups, including Coventry-based Langar Aid, have arrived in Dover to help deliver food and water to stranded lorry drivers in Kent.

Two vans of snacks and bottled water have arrived at the scene, said Ravinder Singh from the charity Khalsa Aid.

"We are working with the local Sikh community to prepare 800 hot meals for the drivers which will be distributed later," he said.

While some of those hoping to cross the Channel to mainland Europe are queuing on the M20, others have been diverted around eastern Kent, via Manston.

The situation is "serious" at Manston where hundreds of lorry drivers are stranded due to the closure of the border.

The Road Haulage Association's policy and public affairs managing director Rod McKenzie tweeted that "drivers have few toilets and little food to eat".

The trade body is calling on the government to act quickly to tackle the situation.

Manston Airport is being used as a temporary lorry park.

Lauren Moss
BBC South East Political Editor

There are now almost 3,000 lorries being held in Kent as they wait to cross to the continent, the leader of Kent County Council has said.

Roger Gough told the BBC that 2,220 vehicles are now at the airport in Manston.

A further 632 are still being held on the M20 motorway.

Hugh Schofield
BBC News, Paris

President Macron and Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke on Monday, and it is understood that the French side gave an undertaking to find a rapid solution to the blockage.

Most likely it will include compulsory negative Covid tests for lorry drivers coming into France from the UK, and authorisation for European nationals wishing to travel home from the UK for Christmas.

Truckers stranded in Kent for a second night talk of their fears of not getting home for Christmas.

Image source, PA Media

The Road Haulage Assocation (RHA) says while it recognises the EU needs reassurance that the UK is taking all possible measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, hauliers have been operating within the strict protocols since March.

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the RHA, said: "There are many serious implications to this latest situation, even lateral flow covid testing will have a massive impact on the supply chain.”

Mr Burnett continued: “HGV drivers caught up in this mess have limited access to toilet and washing facilities - the majority have none.

"Denying them even the most basic facilities is not only putting their health at risk, it’s exacerbating the very situation that it was supposed to prevent."

Duncan Buchanan, director of policy at the Road Haulage Association, said he was "very disappointed" with how the government presented the levels of freight disruption on Monday evening, saying they were "seeking to minimise the nature of the problem".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a briefing on Monday that the number of lorries waiting on the M20 had been reduced from 500 to 170, although Highways England later said there were 900 lorries parked on the M20 as of 18:00 GMT.

Mr Buchanan said the UK was facing "a very serious problem".

"This is a very different level of supply chain disruption, of the like we have probably never experienced," he told MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee.

"Many of the retailers are saying... we will be fine until Christmas at least, but we must recover very fast to keep the shops fully stocked after Christmas. It's a big worry."

Image source, PA Media

At least 4,000 lorries could be impacted by the French travel ban and subsequent blockage at Dover, a food industry chief has told MPs.

Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, told the business, energy and industrial strategy select committee: "I don't think the number of trucks in the queue or other areas is the relevant number.

"We reckon about 4,000 on their way to Dover at various points.

"Anyone seeing this all happening in the run-up would have parked somewhere else, somewhere more congenial and in a better state."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Getty Images

It is likely to be a slow process getting through the backlog of vehicles waiting to cross the Channel, according to John Keefe from Eurotunnel.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Wake Up to Money programme earlier, he said: "If everyone arrived at the same moment, it would be difficult. We run six departures per hour, each one carries 32 trucks... somewhere between 180 and 200 trucks per hour.

"From what we're seeing, there might be some form of testing, so if people have to go through testing first, then it looks like it might start as a trickle rather than a flood," he said.

"Hopefully, it's just 48 hours and hopefully those trucks will eventually go through because the trucks have to get back to their base, the drivers have to get home.

"The logistics and transport process is a circuit; it keeps on running in both directions. It's in everybody's interest that that starts up again soon."

The European Commission has publishedits draft recommendations, externalon UK-EU travel, following concerns over the new variant of coronavirus. These will be confirmed by EU ambassadors later.

They include a recommendation that all non-essential travel to and from the UK "should be discouraged until further notice".

Travel bans from the UK to the European Union should be lifted, but people should be "discouraged" from making journeys across the Channel, the European Commission has recommended.

It has called for a joint approach from EU members after individual countries imposed emergency restrictions, including a 48-hour closure of the border with France.

Flight and train bans "should be discontinued given the need to ensure essential travel and avoid supply chain disruptions", the commission said.

EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders said: "Member states should take co-ordinated action to discourage non-essential travel between the UK and the EU."

But "at the same time, blanket travel bans should not prevent thousands of EU and UK citizens from returning to their homes".

The transport commissioner, Adina Valean, says it is "crucial transport workers are exempt from any restrictive measures".

Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor

Queues on the M20 in Kent aren't exactly unheard of, but the French decision to close the border is dramatic and has caused a lot of disruption.

Politicians on both sides of the Channel are hopeful they might be able to agree a way of getting things moving again before the end of the year.

But if that requires a massive expansion of testing for coronavirus at the border, that's easy to say, far harder to do.

Read more from Laura

The port of Harwich in Essex - which is about 130 miles from Dover by road - is seeing a build up of lorries as drivers divert from Dover, a spokesman for the port said.

The port of Felixstowe in Suffolk is also busy but there are no queues.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said discussions were under way between the UK and France "to find a resolution" to the Channel disruption.

Testing lorry drivers for coronavirus is a "necessity", the president of the Port of Calais says.

Jean-Marc Puissesseau, who is president and chairman of the ports at Calais and Boulogne, said he hoped testing could start "very soon" and hoped a solution could be found in a matter of hours to the closure of the border.

He told BBC News: "I do hope really that something will be found and the hauliers will be able to spend Christmas at home."

He said 1,200 lorries had travelled from Calais to Dover on Monday with a further 600 making the journey as of midday.

France has suspended any travel from the UK, meaning no lorries are allowed to leave the Port of Dover.

Florian, a lorry driver from Romania who has been caught up in the queues at Dover, has been speaking to the BBC.

After a second night trying to sleep in his vehicle, he said he and other drivers were "disappointed and afraid" they will miss Christmas with their families.

"We don't know what to do, I have called everywhere if they can help us and no answer, nobody knows. We have to wait."

He says his family - including his wife and seven-year-old daughter -are waiting for him to return home for Christmas.

He says he told his daughter that is stuck in Kent because the border is closed, "but she doesn't know what the border is, she says 'you have to come, I wait for you, we have to make the tree for Christmas'".

Florian adds that he has asked about getting a coronavirus test, and was told he would not be able to get one of the quick turnaround tests, but would have to wait three days for a PCR test.

Grant Shapps is warning hauliers not to travel to Kent due to the risk of being stuck in the county, unable to cross to France.