Lorraine Kelly has paid tribute to her editor of nearly ten years, after the changes at ITV daytime led to a series of job cuts.

Lorraine paid tribute to her editor in a heartfelt post (Image: ITV)

Lorraine Kelly has bid farewell to her editor of nearly ten years in an emotional post. The ITV host’s programme is set to undergo major changes from next month, after it was announced that daytime programmes including Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women would be facing a shake-up.

Lorraine’s usual one hour slot is being cut to just half an hour, and will only run for 30 weeks of the year on a seasonal basis. Alongside the timing changes, ITV daytime is moving studios, and several job cuts have been made, including Lorraine editor Victoria Kennedy. Paying tribute to her “very good friend”, Lorraine shared in an Instagram post that she wasn’t ready to accept that so many members of her team have had to leave the broadcaster.

Lorraine shared her support for her “good friend” (Image: Instagram/Lorraine Kelly)

She wrote: “This wonderful woman @vejk100 has been my editor for almost a decade. She’s my fiercest defender, my finest ally and my very good friend.

“We’ve laughed and cried and not drank nearly enough. I still haven’t accepted that she’s had to leave along with so many of my brilliant team.

“To say I will miss them is the understatement of the century – BUT I count myself so lucky to have been with them on the craziest, happiest most emotional rollercoaster ride of all time.

“Wherever @vejk100 and the gang end up – they will bring hard work, enthusiasm and buckets of fun. And that’s what life should be like. Thank you for everything – especially the shenanigans.”

Lorraine is undergoing a major shake-up from next month (Image: ITV)

Victoria replied in the comments: “Love you,” while presenter Katy Hill said: “What a team! I’m so sorry so many are going. So much love to all.”

Jo Elvin also added: “A dream team of our age,” and Dr Zoe Williams shared a series of hearts.

Not long after the budget-saving cuts were announced, Lorraine opened up about her “disappointment”.

She told Desert Island Discs host Lauren Laverne: “‘I was disappointed, of course I was. This is the world that we live in now.

“Things have to change, I mean, I’ve been through so many regime changes in my life.”

Lorraine previously described the changes as “disappointing” (Image: Getty)

She continued: “For me, this is just another one, but it’s seismic. The thing that has upset me the most is the fact that we’ve got this great team, and obviously, that’s not going to be in place next year because jobs will go.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to hang on to some of these amazing people – that’s my aim. It’s very, very sad. It really is.”

Lorraine will now run from 9.30am to 10am, meaning Good Morning Britain will air for three and a half hours, and four hours when Lorraine isn’t on.

In recent years, Lorraine has been hosting the show for four days most weeks, with the likes of Christine Lampard and Ranvir Singh stepping

Loose Women has also been cut to a 30-week schedule, like the one it operated on until 2016.

Lorraine’s show will be cut to half an hour and will air on a seasonal basis (Image: Getty)

Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, previously said: “Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.

“These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever.”

Lygo added: “I recognise that our plans will have an impact on staff off screen in our Daytime production teams, and we will work with ITV Studios and ITN as they manage these changes to produce the shows differently from next year, and support them through this transition.

“Daytime has been a core element of ITV’s schedule for over 40 years and these changes will set ITV up to continue to bring viewers award winning news, views and discussion as we enter our eighth decade.”

Lorraine airs weekdays from 9am on ITV1 and ITVX.