Ms Cox was a popular MP and former aid worker who campaigned across a number of issues before her death
Jo Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, has died after being shot and stabbed in West Yorkshire. She was 41-years-old.
Ms Cox was attacked in her constituency in Birstall near to where she held her weekly surgery. She was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary in a critical condition.
Her death was confirmed by West Yorkshire Police in a press conference this afternoon.
“The whole of the Labour Party and Labour family - and indeed the whole country - will be in shock at the horrific murder of Jo Cox today,” the Labour party said in a statement.
Read more
Jo Cox: the rising Labour star who lived on a boat
“Jo died doing her public duty at the heart of our democracy, listening to and representing the people she was elected to serve.”
Born in Batley, Ms Cox went on to study at Cambridge University, graduating in 1995. She was the first out of her family to graduate from university.
A former aid worker, she campaigned in economically deprived and war-torn countries across the world on issues such as discrimination and poverty.
Before entering politics, Ms Cox held a number of roles, including as an advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and former head of humanitarian campaigning for Oxfam. She was also the national chair of the Labour Women’s network, worked with charities such as Save the Children, acted as a senior advisor to the anti-slavery charity the Freedom Fund and as an advisor to Sarah Brown.
Ms Cox was a vocal advocate for those affected by the Syrian crisis and abstained in the contentious vote on allowing British military action in Syria. She backed the Dubs amendment before it was defeated in the House of Commons that would have allowed the UK to accept 3,000 child refugees stranded in camps in Europe.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 85791.html
everyone.
