FORMER cabinet secretary and civil service head Sir Jeremy Heywood has died of cancer at the age of 56.

Downing Street made the announcement on Sunday morning.

Heywood was cabinet secretary between 2012 and 2018, and head of the civil service from 2014 to 2018.

Theresa May has said the news is "extremely sad", while Labour's Yvette Cooper said Heywood had done "a lot to hold government together at very difficult times".