West Yorkshire MP Shot And Killed In Her Constituency

16 June 2016, 18:01 | Updated: 16 June 2016, 20:24

Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox has died after she was shot and stabbed in an attack in her constituency

One eyewitness said the 41-year-old mother of two was left lying in a pool of blood on the pavement.

It happened to her outside her advice surgery in Birstall near Leeds.

A second witness reported three shots, including one "round the head area''.

Her husband Brendan Cox, has released a statement saying:
"Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo's friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.

"Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.

"She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn't have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.

"Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.''

West Yorkshire Police said a 52-year-old man was arrested in connection with the attack.

A police spokesman said officers were called at 12.53 today to Market Street, Birstall, "where a woman in her 40s had suffered serious injuries and is in a critical condition''.

He added:
"A man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby also suffered slight injuries.

Armed officers attended and a 52-year-old man was arrested in the area.''

Ms Cox was elected to the seat of Batley and Spen at the last general election in 2015.

She is married with two children, graduated from Cambridge University in 1995 and has worked as an adviser for former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown's wife, Sarah, and Baroness Kinnock.

Ms Cox has been a vocal advocate for the victims of the Syrian civil war and abstained in last autumn's contentious vote on allowing British military action in Syria

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was "utterly shocked by the news of the attack on Jo Cox. The thoughts of the whole Labour Party are with her and her family at this time.''