LONDRES/Labour Party veteran Sir Tony Lloyd has died aged 73.

The MP for Rochdale, who served as a politician across Greater Manchester for over 40 years, had been receiving treatment for blood cancer.

But in January, he said it had turned into an aggressive and untreatable form of leukaemia, and he was leaving hospital to "spend the time I have left with my family".

Despite his illness, Sir Tony ended his message by reassuring his constituents his office would remain open to ensure they were still supported.

The death of Sir Tony Lloyd today is a terrible loss. I know the entire Labour Party, and many beyond the party, join me in sending our deepest condolences to Tony's family — Sir Keir Starmer - Labour leader

MPs from both sides of the Commons posted tributes and statements on social media.

Sir Tony was born in Stretford, Greater Manchester, in 1950 and attended the local grammar school, before going to the University of Nottingham to study maths.

But he returned to Manchester to get an MBA and later became a business studies lecturer at the University of Salford.

His political career began in 1979 when he won a seat on the Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council, but come 1983, he had turned to national politics, representing his home constituency of Stretford until 1997.