QUOTES OF THE DAY

“That wasn’t just a little message, that wasn’t just a murmur, that was a shout from Blackpool. We want change, and Blackpool speaks for the whole country. It says we have had enough now after 14 years of failure, 14 years of decline. We need to turn the page and start afresh with Labour, which has a positive plan for the country,”

- Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer,

above, reacts to the Blackpool by-election and local council election

results on Friday.

“I have done at previous elections and the honest answer is I didn’t have one and I forgot it. But I’ve got my blue socks on and my blue tie on,”

- Re-elected Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen on why he did not wear a blue Conservative rosette at the count.

“They dare to give us ThursdaySunday-Wednesday-Saturday 12.30 – it’s a crime! I was waiting for Amnesty International to go to them,”

- Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp bemoans the television schedules for Premier League matches which he claims leaves clubs “overworked”.

“We’ll have: A chicken bhuna, lamb bhuna, prawn bhuna, mushroom rice, bag of chips, keema naan, nine poppadoms and the last ever episode of Gavin & Stacey!!!”

- The BBC confirms the return of the comedy series for a final special on

Christmas Day.

“Whilst we are fortunate in many ways and able to live a relatively normal and enjoyable life now, the ‘living in limbo’ is still very unsettling. And the absence still aches,”

- Kate and Gerry McCann reflect on the disappearance of daughter Madeleine 17 years after she went missing.