Donald Trump is considering a laptops ban on flights from the UK to the US

Passengers flying from the UK to the US could be banned from carrying laptops as hand luggage, it has been reported.

US president Donald Trump is considering an extension of his airline laptops ban to include flights into the country from Europe, according to several reports.

Both the US and the UK have already barred passengers from bringing laptops, e-readers and tablets on board flights from some Middle Eastern countries.

But The Times reports that the UK government is bracing itself for a similar ban on flights from British airports into the US.

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The move could affect thousands of British travellers on their way to the US, meaning they would have to place valuable tech devices into the hold.

Restrictions on devices that are bigger than a mobile phone already apply to flights to the UK from Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Lebanon and Jordan, and the British government hasn’t ruled out a worldwide ban.

Sources in Whitehall told The Times that the US has given the UK government notice of a possible extension to the ban.

The UK is one of a number of countries being examined by the US Department of Homeland Security, the report said.

British security chiefs have been told the ban could be put in place within weeks.

‘As with everything from Trump’s America, there are conflicting reports about where, when and what,’ a Whitehall source told The Times.

Last month, the US introduced a laptops ban on flights from 10 airports in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.