Here, the late Jo Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater tells how both she and Jo had personal experience of loneliness...

tougher not easier. There are more pressures at home, at work and at school. We seem to have less time to meet together and get to know each other. And with the internet, if we’re not careful we can judge too quickly, and find ourselves concentrating on what we disagree about and not what we have in common.

So we need to find new opportunities to grow and nurture links between individuals both online and in person, to create new communities across boundaries and borders, and to create space for people to connect on a human level.

The Commission’s work has sought to start a conversation about how we can ensure that our future is more about meaningful connections, kindness and community, not isolation, separation and loneliness.

There are simple things we can all do straight away.

We need to check our relationship balances as often as we check our bank balances, and think about whether we’ve got the connections we need to keep us going.

We all need to think about the people in our families, neighbourhoods and wider communities who may be feeling isolated and lonely.

It’s about day-to-day acts of kindness and making real, human connections with those around us.

In the last year we have seen a lot more awareness of the issue. Jo would have loved that.

But she believed in action not words. So now it’s up to all of us to play our part in continuing the work that she began on this important issue.