British scientists have stored DNA information for an entire human on a crystal, which could be used to bring back humanity if we become extinct.
The team from the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) used lasers to inscribe the data on a 5D crystal, which they said can survive for billions of years.
Unlike other storage formats, it does not degrade over time.
In a statement, the university described the crystal – equivalent to fused quartz – as one of the most “chemically and thermally durable materials on Earth”.
It can withstand massive forces, extreme temperatures and “exposure to cosmic radiation”.
The team at Southampton, led by Professor Peter Kazansky, used ultra-fast lasers to imprint data about the human genome – representing the entire set of DNA instructions found in a cell.
A spokesman for the university said: “Unlike marking only on the surface of a 2D piece of paper or magnetic tape, this method of encoding uses two optical dimensions and three spatial co-ordinates to write throughout the material – hence the ‘5D’ in its name.”
The team hope it could be used in the future to record the genomes of endangered plant and animal species which are faced with extinction.
Image: The 5D crystal has been stored in the Memory of Mankind archive – a special time capsule within a salt cave in Hallstatt, Austria Pic: Uni of Southampton
But there is a catch.
It is not currently possible to synthetically create humans, plants and animals using genetic information alone.
Prof Kazansky said the longevity of the 5D crystal meant the information would be available if DNA advances were ever made.
He said: “We know from the work of others that genetic material of simple organisms can be synthesised and used in an existing cell to create a viable living specimen in a lab.
“The 5D memory crystal opens up possibilities for other researchers to build an everlasting repository of genomic information from which complex organisms like plants and animals might be restored should science in the future allow.”
The crystal includes a visual key to show details about what data is stored inside and how it could be used by a future intelligence – species or machine – to create a human.
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The key shows the universal elements (hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen); the four bases of the DNA molecule (adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine) with their molecular structure; their placement in the double helix structure of DNA; and how genes position into a chromosome, which can then be inserted into a cell.
The crystal has been stored in the Memory of Mankind archive – a special time capsule within a salt cave in Hallstatt, Austria.
5D memory crystals can store up to 360 terabytes of information, and the format was awarded the Guinness World Record for the most durable data storage material in 2014.
Wednesday will be the first time in 14 years that Labour has set the agenda for government.
So, for Sir Keir Starmer’s new administration, this moment is rich in symbolism and in substance.
It is the chance for his government to exercise its power and show momentum.
Politics live: Wales’ first minister resigns
The King’s Speech will be the “foundation stone” for Sir Keir’s much-repeated mission to “rebuild Britain”. Number 10 will lay down over 35 bills to that end, with economic growth at the forefront of the programme for government.
Armed with a 170-seat majority and in the honeymoon period with the public, the new prime minister’s approval ratings have ticked up eight points since the election, according to YouGov, and he is now on the cusp of having a positive net favourability.
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This period of time is perhaps as good as it’s going to get for Sir Keir. He is at the apex of his power and this King’s Speech will be closely watched as the blueprint for the scale of his ambition in the opening phases of premiership for a leader who says he wants to carry out a “decade of renewal”.
And his team are buoyed. Appearing at a Labour Together event on Monday evening, Chancellor Rachel Reeves spoke of how “one day in government” is already better than 14 years in opposition because it means her party can finally get things done.
One senior figure said Sir Keir and his team intended to run an “insurgent” administration, in which it has to prove to the public that the government can do a little bit more for them, to fix things, and then look to the future about what it might do next, rather than expect support on its record.
To that end, his team stresses that the meat of the agenda will be around delivering growth, as well it might given that the new Labour government is relying on that, rather than additional tax rises, to better fund creaking public services.
One government figure told me: “It’s going to feel really big, by any comparison to any incoming government. We’ve had a week to knock it about, but we’ve been working on it for a lot longer, and you wouldn’t be able to compare to another new government, it’s that meaty.
“It’s going to be a real moment in terms of focus and setting out the missions and delivery. There will be unfinished business in there and a sense of a government of service.”
The raft of bills will include bedding in fiscal rules and empowering the Office for Budget Responsibility to independently publish forecasts of big fiscal events.
Image: Prime Minister Keir Starmer with Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Pick: Number 10 Flickr
In her first speech as chancellor, Ms Reeves articulated the political story the government will seek to make over the next five years: “To fix the foundations of our economy so we can rebuild Britain and make every part of our country better off.”
There will be a series of “growth” focused bills – be it around housebuilding, devolution, improving transport and increasing jobs.
They also will push ahead with GB Energy, a new state-owned energy investor that will take stakes in renewables and nuclear projects as part of Labour’s promise to deliver all electricity from renewable sources by the end of the decade.
On the planning side, Labour will legislate so that public bodies can use compulsory purchase order powers to acquire land without the need for individual approvals by a secretary of state.
A new “take back control” bill will set a presumption towards devolution with new powers for mayors over transport, skills, energy and planning, which Labour says will help rejuvenate high streets and generate growth right across the country.
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1:52
Sky questions chancellor on growth
On housing, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s ban on no-fault evictions will also be tabled in a push to reform the private rented sector in England.
Ms Reeves has already announced plans to restore mandatory local housing targets in order to get more housebuilding, and Ms Rayner will begin the formal process of consulting on the National Planning Policy Framework before the end of July – with a view to start implementing the plans as early as autumn as Labour looks to get moving.
The government will also include plans to implement worker protection reforms, including a crackdown on zero-hours contracts and “fire and rehire” practices, and an AI bill, which will seem to enhance the legal safeguards around the most cutting-edge technologies.
There will also be a new law to put the water industry in “special measures”, which would see executives face bonus restrictions and potential criminal sanctions if they fail to clean up Britain’s rivers and beaches.
Image: Angela Rayner now leads on the government’s housing policy. Pic: Reuters
Much of the King Speech will reflect Sir Keir’s “first steps” for government he campaigned on during the general election.
But his message of change is also qualified with a plea for patience from a new Labour government, which is using its early weeks in office to talk up the state of the inheritance – as George Osborne did in 2010 – in order to buy time.
You only have to look at what Ms Reeves has said on the state of the public finances, caused in large part by the pandemic and energy price shock, or what the prime minister has said on the state of some public services, with prisons in a “shocking” and “far worse” state than he had anticipated, to see the pitch-rolling that improvements are going to take time – perhaps the full five years of the first term.
But with a big majority and a party hungry for change, there are already hints of some of the pressures to come for this infant government.
The SNP has announced plans to table an amendment in the King’s Speech calling on the government to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
Kim Johnson of Labour is also tabling an amendment which former shadow chancellor John McDonnell will support.
A rebellion on this is building, with many in the party agreeing with former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown and Scotland’s Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who have publicly called on Sir Keir to scrap it.
The prime minister has refused to do so, saying this is a “difficult” decision driven by tight public finances.
Mr McDonnell has said he will look to amend the budget later this year if it doesn’t include steps to scrap the cap.
There is also internal disquiet in the party that the Labour Together and Labour First groupings are messaging the new 2024 MPs with a slate to take control of the parliamentary Labour Party and National Executive Committee positions.
One backbench source tells me that this “fixing” is adding to resentment amongst a group in the party after the government dropped 31 shadow ministers, while one figure tells me that MPs with large Sikh communities are beginning to bring up the problem of both Skikh shadow ministers being dropped.
A government source downplayed the tensions, pointing out that “groupings that are seen as more pro or sceptical of the leadership running in internal elections is as old as the hills”, and said the party leadership was not organising such slates.
But with a majority of 172, Sir Keir will not be too worried about internal soundings. His most pressing task is to show the public that his government really does mean change – and the King’s Speech will be the biggest symbol of that yet.
MPs return to Westminster today after two weeks away, to the possibility of dangerous escalation in the Middle East.
But this is a week the prime minister will also need to avoid danger domestically if he is to see through some of the key policies on which his political survival depends.
One is the legislation to declare Rwanda a safe country, which Downing Street expects will finally receive royal assent this week.
It holds the prospect of finally sending some failed asylum seekers on planes there, which the government have trumpeted as a deterrent to small boat crossings.
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0:51
‘Party of Winston Churchill wants to ban cigars’
Nearly two years since it was announced by Boris Johnson, many Tories remain sceptical that it can happen at all – there could be another intervention by the European Court of Human Rights which blocked it last time by issuing an interim injunction. Or that it can happen at a scale which would convince voters it has the potential to be a deterrent, and shift the dial politically.
But passing it would be a key moment for the prime minister and his allies, who still hold out hope – despite the polls – that the Conservatives can start to turn things around.
Read more: Adam Boulton – Is Great Britain really that great? Minister can’t say if airline found for Rwanda scheme
The next test is the second reading – a vote on the principles – of the prime minister’s controversial smoking and vaping legislation.
Announced as the surprise centrepiece of last year’s party conference, it is essentially a ban on smoking for anyone over the age of 14 – by raising the smoke age by a year every year.
Several Conservatives have publicly questioned its workability and while it has Labour support and will pass; a sizeable rebellion of Tory MPs could spell danger for the prime minister’s authority.
This is a week of key economic news too, with CPI inflation figures on Wednesday predicted to show a further fall from 3.4% to as low as 3.1%; inching closer to the Bank of England’s target of 2%.
The Conservatives’ general election hopes hinge on the economic narrative. Before the March Budget, Rishi Sunak told a conference that voters were starting to see “the green shoots of recovery” and the economy had turned a corner. That’s what the Tories’ hopes hinge on.
But despite announcing cuts to national insurance for 27 million people, the Conservatives’ dire position in the polls has barely moved. A steady stream of Tory MPs are throwing in the towel.
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0:51
Sunak won’t give date for Rwanda flights
There are times when dangerous moments in foreign affairs rally a political party behind its leader at a tough time. But a group of discontented Tories are looking to the local elections on 2 May as a moment to move against Mr Sunak if he loses swathes of Conservative councillors, as is predicted.
That’s two weeks away, and this is a key week for showing that on small boats, the economy and his own priorities such as smoking, he can make some headway.
Developments in the Middle East could also swing the other way. Today the prime minister is likely to make a statement about the actions of UK forces in thwarting Iranian attacks.
But it could also pose difficult questions for him, including louder calls for more defence spending in the UK – now uniting a vocal group of Tories and Labour.
Jeremy Hunt has acknowledged it will “take time” to bring taxes down, but he had “made a start” with his autumn statement.
The chancellor admitted the tax take – the total the government collects – stood at £45bn, outstripping the benefits of the cuts announced in the fiscal event.
The headline-grabbing announcement in Mr Hunt’s statement was that the main 12% national insurance rate would fall to 10% from 6 January – saving those on an average salary of £35,000 more than £450 a year.
Politics news – latest: Tory MPs ‘convinced’ autumn statement hints at timing of next election
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1:26
Chancellor announces national insurance cut
The chancellor also abolished Class 2 national insurance payments for the self-employed to show the government “values their work”.
Mr Hunt sought to portray the autumn statement as a tax giveaway in light of the NI cuts – worth £9bn – but economists have pointed out that the overall tax burden remains at a record high because of the continued freeze on tax thresholds.
In an interview with Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, the chancellor conceded that “taxes go up from freezing thresholds”.
He said: “If you’re trying to say that it’s going to take time to get taxes down to the level they were, then I agree.
“But what I said was when it was responsible to do so, when it wouldn’t affect inflation, I would make a start.
“We’ve done that today and we are a party that believes if we want to grow the economy, then we need to have a lightly taxed economy, and we’ve made a step which, by the way, for someone on average earnings is going to be about £450 – so it’s not insignificant.”
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2:06
UK growth ‘a dead end’ under Tories
Mr Hunt was asked whether he could call the statement a tax giveaway given that the £45bn tax take “dwarfed” the effects of the national insurance cuts.
“Have you taxed more, or cut taxes more?”
“We have put taxes up because it was the right thing to do to support families,” Mr Hunt replied.
Pressed again on whether taxes have been going up or down under the government, the chancellor said: “Taxes have gone up and we are starting to bring them down.”
Mr Hunt also denied that taxes had gone up in part to “clear up the mess” of the previous government under Liz Truss, pointing instead to the “once-in-a-century pandemic” and “energy shock” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Read more: Top announcements at a glance See if you are better or worse off
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4:22
Analysis: Autumn Statement 2023
Forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility, released after the statement, showed taxes are still trending upwards – with a post-war high of 37.7% set to be reached by 2028/29 under the current government plans.
The body put this down to so-called “fiscal drag” – with people drawn into higher tax brackets as their pay increases.
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According to the OBR, by 2028/29, frozen thresholds will result in nearly four million additional workers paying income tax – with three million more moved to the higher rate and 400,000 more paying the additional rate.
Mr Hunt was rumoured to have considered income tax cuts in the autumn statement, but it is thought he may defer this to the March budget next year.
Asked whether he would use that opportunity to cut income tax, he replied: “If it’s responsible to do so, if we can do so without increasing borrowing, then of course, as a Conservative, I would like to bring down the tax burden – but I will only do so in a responsible way and one that doesn’t fuel inflation after the great success we’ve had in halving it.”
Storm Babet is set to hit the UK this week, bringing heavy rain and strong winds, with “significant and widespread disruption” possible in Scotland.
The Met Office said the storm, named on Monday, is forecast to bring “impactful heavy rain” to the UK from Wednesday.
Strong winds will accompany the storm.
There is a “chance of extremely heavy rain to cause flooding and disruption” – as well as “strong south-easterly winds”, which would “exacerbate” any impacts, the forecaster added.
A yellow weather warning has been issued by the Met Office for central and eastern Scotland, where some “exceptional” rainfall levels could build up over two or three days.
Check the latest five-day forecast where you are
Yellow rain warnings are in place from 6am on Thursday until midnight on Saturday, mainly in the Grampian region.
Scotland saw heavy flooding last week with major travel disruption and 10 people airlifted to safety after extreme rainfall caused multiple landslides.
Deputy chief meteorologist Steven Keates said the rain forecast for Scotland later this week could fall on ground “already saturated after recent heavy rainfall”.
“This could lead to some significant and widespread disruption,” he said.
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The Met Office said the worst of the rain was expected over higher ground and further warnings would likely be issued later in the week.
Sky News meteorologist Chris England said: “Gusty winds will bring a risk of severe gales to parts of northern and eastern Scotland, especially to the lee of the mountains.”
He added that while there is the chance of localised flooding, details are uncertain at this point.
Read more from Sky News: Full list of storm names for 2023/24 Video: Tornadoes sweep through Florida
The rest of the UK will see a change to “milder but much more unsettled conditions from midweek”, he said, with strong winds and prolonged heavy rain expected across much of the country.
Storm Babet is the second named storm of the season, after Storm Agnes swept through the UK and Ireland in late September.
Storms are named when they are deemed to have the potential to cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ impacts.
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We’ll get to the economics in a moment but let’s reflect first of all on perhaps the most remarkable thing about this budget. Which is that this was, just about, a “normal” budget – the first “normal” budget in three years.
Think about it: first, there was COVID, during which the normal rules about economic policymaking dissolved away. Enormous giveaways (most obviously the furlough scheme) took place on the hoof, accompanied by few figures and no red book.
Then came Liz Truss’s astounding mini-budget and Jeremy Hunt’s equally surreal autumn statement which essentially undid everything that came before it.
Tot it all up and we haven’t had anything resembling regular fiscal policy – which is to say six monthly sets of strategic tax and spending changes accompanied by robust, detailed economic analysis – for a long time. If today’s event felt somewhat boring, it was in part because what came before it was so intense.
Click here for our budget calculator to see if you are better or worse off
The big picture for the UK economy is a little bit better than last time around.
That might sound encouraging, until you recall that the outlook last time around was utterly grim: the worst two years for household disposable income in modern record; an enormous squeeze in the cost of living, augmented by a rise in certain taxes as the government sought to repair the mess of the mini-budget.
On the basis of today’s budget, the UK should just about skirt clear of a technical recession (two successive quarters of contraction), but will do little more than flatline for most of this year.
Household disposable income will not contract by as much as expected last time around, but this year and next will still be the worst for families’ finances since at least the 1950s. Things are looking better, but still bad.
Nor is there much sign that the measures contained in today’s budget will move the dial that much. In one respect this is a little strange since many of the measures here might be considered textbook “pro-growth”.
There’s the increase in provision of childcare, which should help encourage more young parents back into the workforce. There’s the increase in the pensions lifetime allowance which should help encourage well-off older workers to get working again.
Read more: Budget news – live: Have we seen ‘giveaway to rich’? The key points
Then there’s the biggest of all the measures – full expensing, whereby businesses can offset their investments against their tax bills. This is precisely the policy business groups have been calling for for years, claiming it would boost investment and hence drive forward productivity.
Yet tot up all these measures and, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, they raise economic growth by a measly 0.3 per cent at their peak, before dropping back eventually to zero.
Part of the reason is that some of these policies are time-limited – most notably full expensing which is technically only due to last for three years. The Treasury says it wants it to be permanent, only at the moment, it can’t quite afford it.
That’s not, it should be said, because of any concrete limitation on its ability to spend but because of its self-imposed fiscal rules, which are far less of a constraint than you might imagine.
Anyway, the upshot is that the OBR thinks the growth boost delivered by all this effort is quite small.
Then again, the OBR’s forecasts are considerably more optimistic than the Bank of England, which thinks that far from rebounding rapidly, the UK is likely to see economic growth flatline for the coming years, barely making good any of the income foregone in recent years.
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2:40
Key moments from Jeremy Hunt’s first budget
Put it all together and it’s hard not to conclude that this was primarily a technical budget.
There are bits and pieces in there for households – the retention of the £2,500 energy price guarantee level, the childcare provisions and the pension tax-free allowance (primarily for the better-off) – but it’s hard to see how any of this can remedy the enormous financial crunch most households are going to face in the coming months.
They will see inflation continuing to bite, they will feel the impact of higher interest rates and they will see ever greater chunks of their income going to the exchequer (as a result of the freeze in tax-free personal allowances announced last autumn).
It is the opposite of the “feel-good factor” – the feel-bad factor.
And the budget did nothing to remedy this. It did nothing to remedy the problems young people face in trying to get on the housing ladder. It did nothing to provide a coherent response to Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Then again, there are still two big fiscal events left before the likely date of the next election, late next year. If there’s a splurge coming it’s likely to happen then.
Friends of Nicola Bulley have gathered for a “last push” roadside appeal two weeks on from her disappearance – after police extended the search for the missing mother-of-two to the Lancashire coast.
The 45-year-old went missing while walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre on Friday 27 January after dropping her daughters off at school.
Emma White, a friend of Ms Bulley, is among members of the local community on Friday standing roadside in the Lancashire village with banners and placards featuring her photograph, in a plea to “bring Nikki home”.
Image: Nicola Bulley has been missing since Friday 27 January
She told Sky News: “The community has united once again and it’s a real last push to jog people’s memories.
“We just need to bring Nikki home.”
More questions than answers
A fortnight on from Ms Bulley’s disappearance, the small rural village is no longer the same. The police presence in the quaint village has been overwhelming for many who live nearby.
It is the epicentre of a mystery that has captured the nation’s attention but more importantly, it’s the scene of a major police operation to find a mother to two young girls.
Over the last two weeks the community has banded together to try and find any trace of evidence relating to Ms Bulley’s disappearance: Dog walkers, friends, teachers from her daughters’ school – all searching in hope for some answers.
But after 14 days of not knowing what has happened to the mortgage adviser, the case poses more questions than answers.
Ms Bulley’s family are still praying she will come home, safe and well.
Image: Friends of missing Nicola Bulley are holding a roadside appeal to help jog people’s memories
Search moves to the coast
The focus of the police search operation has now shifted from where Ms Bulley vanished to further downstream, towards where the River Wyre empties into the Irish Sea at Morecambe Bay.
Officers have confirmed they are focusing on the mouth of the river, with Lancashire Police suggesting finding Ms Bulley “in the open sea becomes more of a possibility”.
Sky News understands specialist diving units have also been deployed to scour parts of the 15km stretch of river from the bench where her phone and dog were found to the bay.
After three days of helping the police search the waterway near to where Ms Bulley was last seen, a team of specialist divers that regularly assist police with underwater searches found no trace of her.
Read more: Nicola Bulley’s movements before she vanished Police looking at 500 active pieces of information in search Images released of Nicola Bulley on day she disappeared
Image: The bench where Nicola Bulley’s phone was found, on the banks of the River Wyre
Peter Faulding of Specialist Group International (SGI), whose team were equipped with a £55,000 side-scan sonar able to pick up objects underwater, told reporters he believes it is “unlikely” she has been swept out to sea.
“My personal view is that I think it is a long way to go in a tidal river,” he said.
Ms White said the fact that nothing had been found had given her renewed hope.
“To not find a key, welly, hat or jewellery, or a watch or anything – we are clinging on – whether it’s hope… we think she is not in there.”
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0:53
Voicenote from Nicola Bulley’s partner
‘We need her back’
Ms Bulley’s partner Paul Ansell has told Sky News the last two weeks have been “a rollercoaster ride”.
He says he is trying to do everything to make life as normal as possible for his two daughters. But increasingly they are asking more and more questions about their mummy and where she is.
In a voice note he sent to Sky News, he spoke of his pain and desperation for answers: “We need her back. We have to find her safe ad well. I can’t put those girls to bed again without no answers.”
Lancashire Police have dismissed any suggestion Ms Bulley is a victim of crime and say the scale of the missing person inquiry is “unprecedented”, involving 40 detectives and following 500 lines of inquiry.
Meanwhile, police have been given extra powers to break up groups causing a nuisance in the village following reports of people travelling into the area and filming properties on social media.
Police searching for missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley have vowed to “bring her home” as they called on members of the public to keep a look out for sightings of her clothes.
Officers believe the 45-year-old “sadly” fell into the River Wyre while she was walking her dog last Friday morning.
Search teams from Lancashire Constabulary are continuing to trawl the waterway near St Michael’s.
They are being helped by specialists and divers from HM Coastguard, mountain rescue, and Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service – with sniffer dogs, drones, and police helicopters also being used.
Read more: A timeline of Ms Bulley’s movements in the hour before she vanished Nicola’s partner ‘staying as strong as he can’ Missing woman’s friends hope for ‘lightbulb moment’
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0:57
‘We believe Nicola sadly fell into river’
Meanwhile, they have urged the public to look out along the river for the items of clothing that Ms Bulley was last seen wearing.
This includes an ankle-length black quilted gilet jacket, a black Engelbert Strauss waist-length coat, tight-fitting black jeans, long green walking socks, ankle-length green Next wellies, a necklace and a pale blue Fitbit.
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2:03
Retracing Nicola Bulley’s journey
Detectives are also analysing CCTV and dashcam videos, and members of the public with footage which could be useful have been urged to come forward.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Superintendent Sally Riley said there may have been an “issue with the dog that led her to the water’s edge, she puts her phone down to go and deal with the dog momentarily, and Nicola may have fallen in”.
Image: Police have speculated that Nicola Bulley had an issue with her dog, Willow.
However, Ms Bulley’s partner Paul Ansell, 44, said he would “never lose hope” of finding her.
“We’re never, ever going to lose hope, of course we’re not, but it is as though she has vanished into thin air. It’s just insane,” he said.
The 44-year-old said his “whole focus is my two girls” and that he was “hoping to goodness” that people would come forward with new information.
Fuel price protests planned for Friday are set to unleash chaos on major roads as millions of families head off on their summer holidays.
Protesters plan to cause delays with “slow-moving roadblocks” – when motorists drive really slowly – on parts of the M4, M5, M32 and A38, police warned.
Fuel Price Stand Against Tax, a Facebook group with 53,000 members, shared a post suggesting activists will assemble “nationwide” to make their voices heard.
Protests are planned in Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, London and Manchester.
An estimated 18.8 million leisure trips are planned in the UK between Friday and Monday, the RAC said, as schools across England and Wales break up for summer.
The M25 is feared to be worst-affected by traffic jams, in particular stretches between Bromley and the Dartford Crossing; Maple Cross and the M3; and the M23 to the M40.
Queues are also likely to develop on the A303 near Stonehenge, Wiltshire; the M4 between Cardiff and Newport, south Wales, and the M5 south of Bristol, according to transport analytics company, Inrix.
It is the latest in a series of protests amid mounting anger over the fuel crisis – as record prices see people across the nation battle to financially stay afloat.
Avon and Somerset Police said its protest liaison team had engaged with the protest organisers in a bid to help minimise disruption.
But superintendent Tony Blatchford warned journey times are likely to be longer than normal, in particular on motorways which are already busy at this time of year.
“We advise motorists to consider any alternative travel plans available and ensure they are suitably prepared in case they are delayed,” he said.
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0:19
A protester earlier in July had a colourful message for those he sees as benefiting from high fuel prices
On Friday a convoy of vehicles will travel north on the M5 between Bridgwater and the Almondsbury Interchange from about 8.45am, then east along the M4 and to Junction 1 of the M32.
It is expected to leave the motorway and stop “for a period of time” before completing the same route in reverse.
They are due to return to Bridgwater in the early afternoon, police said.
A second group is planning to block a Shell petrol station in Bristol Road, Bridgwater, on Friday morning.
Earlier this week protesters caused major disruption by climbing on to signs above the M25.
Motorists are also braced for long delays at the Port of Dover after three-hour waits to complete border control and admin on Thursday.
A port spokesman said: “As a result of high demand and earlier capacity issues at the border, the port system is working hard to catch up and get everyone through as quickly as possible.”
Twelve people were arrested after the same slowing-down tactics brought parts of the M4 to a standstill on 4 July.
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0:24
‘Anaphylactic shock’ driver stuck in fuel protests
Falling prices not passed on to drivers
New analysis by the RAC found just 4% of forecourts are charging below 180p a litre for petrol.
Four out of five of those sites are independent – with the rest owned by supermarkets or oil companies.
Traditionally, supermarkets have been the first to introduce discounts.
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The average price at which retailers buy petrol has fallen by 17p a litre since the start of June.
But prices at the pump have dropped by a “paltry 4p”, the data showed.
RAC believes motorists should pay 174p a litre of petrol and 189p for diesel.
But the average price of a litre of petrol on Wednesday was 187.5p, while diesel cost 196.1p, according to data company Experian.
