Campaigning halted as politicians remember murdered MP’s message

THE SISTER of Jo Cox has spoken of her ongoing grief over the MP’s death as politicians called an election truce to honour the murdered Yorkshire mother-of-two.

Theresa May and other party leaders stopped campaigning for an hour to remember the Labour MP, who used her maiden speech in the Commons to say: “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”

Her widower Brendan Cox said the move sent a “powerful message” of unity, coming ahead of the first anniversary of the mother-of-two’s murder in June. In an interview with the

Mrs Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater, from Gomersal, West Yorkshire, revealed she often feels guilty when spending time with her niece and nephew. The 41-year-old said there are times that she is with Cuillin, six and Lejla, four, which are “really difficult”.

In Mrs Cox’s former constituency of Batley and Spen, in West Yorkshire, the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green candidates came together at an event raising money for a special care baby unit. The mother-of-two, 41, was shot and stabbed multiple times by rightwing extremist Thomas Mair in her constituency last June. He was later handed a whole-life prison sentence for her murder.

To mark the anniversary of her death, Mr Cox has organised the Great Get Together from June 16 to 18, in which thousands of gatherings such as street parties, picnics and coffee mornings will be held across the country.