Prime Minister Tony Blair has paid tribute to a rising star of the Labour Party who was killed in a car crash in Somerset aged 28.

Edward Ludlow, the regional director of the Labour party in Gloucestershire, was raised in Bingley and attended Beckfoot Grammar School.

His parents Ray and Jean, who still live in Bingley, have received a personal letter of condolence from Mr Blair, who described him as a "wonderful man".

"This is a most dreadful trag-edy," he said. "Although Ed's life was cruelly cut short at such a young age you should be justly proud of all he achieved during that lifetime, I know I certainly am.".

Today, Mrs Ludlow told how her son and his fiancee Isabel Owen were to be married at the end of May. She said parts of the service, including readings and hymns, would now be incorporated into the funeral in Newnham-on-Severn in Gloucest-ershire.

"They just absolutely, totally loved each other and were to have a church wedding and the reception in their home, it was to be very special," she said.

She said that the couple met at a Labour party conference three years ago and moved into their home in November. Mrs Ludlow said her son, who was more than six feet tall, had a big personality to match and ploughed energy into everything he did.

Ed, a member of Mornington Road Methodist Church, was a former cub scout and played in Keighley Brass Band and Hot Aire Band as well as playing cricket for Manningham Mills. When he left school he worked for the Yorkshire Bank's Bingley and Keighley branches before achieving a degree in Government and Social Policy at University of Northumbria in Newcastle.

After a gap year in Australia he returned to Bingley and worked for Shipley MP Chris Leslie as a volunteer in the constituency offices and helped to set up a review of local transport issues.

Mr Leslie said he had made an immediate impact in the constituency. "He was taken with the idea of community service and speaking to people," he said.

Ed died when his Rover 45 was involved in a head-on collision with a Ford Escort on the A37 at Clutton, Somerset, last Saturday.

He leaves a sister Emma and brothers James and Daniel. His funeral takes place on Tuesday in Gloucestershire.