Ed Miliband does not want to talk about Heywood and Middleton

Labour are doing their absolute best to put a positive spin on their result in the Heywood and Middleton by-election, despite coming within a whisker of losing their once-safe seat to Ukip.

With Ed Miliband duty-bound to congratulate his new MP Liz McInnes in person, a hurried press conference was organised in a Manchester suburb. Except he refused to answer any questions from the press.

The Labour leader says it’s time for his party to ‘listen’. But that clearly does not extend to pesky journalists who might try to puncture the red balloon. As Miliband’s own MP John Mann told the BBC moments later, ‘people want action, not listening’.