Paul Flynn death: One of Labour's longest serving MPs dies aged 84

Paul Flynn, one of Labour’s longest serving MPs, has died aged 84. Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would be greatly missed.

“I’m very sad at the passing of my good friend Paul Flynn,” he tweeted about the longstanding member for Newport West.

“He had such love for Newport, knowledge of radical South Wales history and a dry wit. He was an independent thinker who was a credit to the Labour Party. He will be greatly missed.”

Mr Flynn’s local association called him a hero.

It tweeted: “Paul is a hero to many of us in the Newport Labour family and we mourn for his family’s loss. We would ask that the privacy of Paul’s family is respected at this difficult time.”

First Minister of Wales and Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford said Mr Flynn was a giant of the Welsh Labour movement.

“Today’s news will be a source of great sadness to all those who knew him,” he said. “He was one of the most effective communicators of his generation – inside the House of Commons and outside. But it was Paul’s willingness to speak up for causes beyond the political mainstream which marked him out as a politician of real courage and integrity.

“I first met him more than 35 years ago, and it has been a privilege to have worked with him, in the run-up to the devolution era and beyond.”

A Cardiff native, Mr Flynn was elected to parliament in 1987 after working as a chemist.

In 2016, aged 81, he became the oldest MP in over a century to hold a shadow cabinet position when he briefly served as shadow secretary of state for Wales and shadow leader of the House of Commons.

Mr Flynn, who was a strong advocate for the medicinal use of cannabis, announced in October that he intended to stand down as an MP due to health reasons. He said at the time: “It’s been a great, wonderful, rich experience. I lasted 31 years.”