BackUK leaders urge unity as Parliament recalled after Jo Cox murder
Prime Minister David Cameron and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn made a rare joint appearance at the site of the attack to praise Cox and called for restraint in the referendum debate
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London: The UK recalled Parliament on Monday to pay tribute to murdered Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox, as political leaders urged unity after weeks of acrimonious campaigning over membership of the European Union.
Prime Minister David Cameron and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn made a rare joint appearance on Friday at the site of the attack to praise Cox and called for restraint in the referendum debate. Campaigning for the 23 June vote has been suspended since her death was announced.
“We should value and see as precious the democracy we have on these islands where 65 million of us live together, work together and get on together," Cameron said after laying flowers with Corbyn at the spot where Cox was shot. “It is all underpinned by tolerance, so where we see hatred, where we find division, where we see intolerance, we must drive it out of public life, out of our communities."
Cox, 41, was killed in the town of Birstall, northern England, in the early afternoon on Thursday. She was a fervent supporter of Britain remaining in the EU, as well as a champion of the poor and of Syrian refugees. Her murder followed an increasingly rancorous debate over the referendum, with opinion polls putting the “Leave" campaign ahead by several percentage points.
‘Hatred and poison’
Police arrested a 52-year-old man after the attack, and media reports have linked him with anti-immigration organizations and white supremacist groups in the US and South Africa. Some media outlets also reported that the attacker shouted “Britain first" as Cox was shot and stabbed.
“Jo was an exceptional, wonderful, very talented woman, taken from us in her early 40s when she had so much to give and so much of her life ahead of her," Corbyn said. “In her memory, we will not allow those people that spread hatred and poison to divide our society, we will strengthen our democracy, strengthen our free speech."
Corbyn said House of Commons Speaker John Bercow had agreed to his request for a recall “so that we can pay due tribute to her on behalf of everyone in this country who values democracy, values the right of free speech and values the right of political expression." Parliament has been in pre-referendum recess since Wednesday.
“It’s an attack on democracy what happened yesterday," Corbyn said. “It’s the well of hatred that killed her."
United front
The appearance by Corbyn alongside Cameron was a show of unity by two men who have yet to campaign together despite both supporting a “Remain" vote. Cameron’s Conservatives also said they won’t contest Cox’s seat in the special election to replace her.
Events planned by the two main campaign groups have been cancelled, while publication of opinion polls and an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report were delayed until the weekend. Cameron, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Bank of England governor Mark Carney all cancelled or shortened public appearances on Thursday.
The repercussions of Cox’s death spread beyond UK borders, with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton among those commenting. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the killing underlined the need to engage with others of differing political views with respect, urging an end to the “total exaggeration and radicalization" of political debate.
Merkel response
“We know how important it is to establish boundaries in one’s choice of language and argument as well as the choice in a sometimes disparaging way of arguing—and to engage with respect those who think and believe and love differently," Merkel told reporters in Berlin. “Politics can’t solve everything, but it can contribute to ensuring in what manner we engage in disagreement—and this terrible murder reminds us all always to take this to heart."
Cameron is due to appear on Sunday evening on a special referendum edition of BBC Television’s Question Time show, following a morning appearance by his pro-Brexit justice secretary, Michael Gove, and by Corbyn on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.
On Saturday, the IMF plans to release a report on the implications of a British exit from the EU, while polling company BMG will publish a referendum poll, both after being delayed by a day. The suspension of campaigning lifted the pound, which has fallen in recent weeks as polls tightened.
‘Hard to believe’
“Membership in the EU has made the UK a richer economy, but it has also made it a more diverse, more exciting, and more creative country," IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said on Friday in a speech in Vienna. “I have always admired the United Kingdom for its openness to other nationalities and foreign cultures, and I find it hard to believe that attitudes have changed in such a short time."
Cox, who worked for charities including Oxfam and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation before running for office, celebrated Britain’s diversity in her first speech to Parliament after being elected in May last year and repeatedly raised the plight of refugees from the war in Syria.
“Parliament has lost one of its most passionate and brilliant campaigners," Cameron said. “If we truly want to honour Jo, then what we should do is to recognize that her values—service, community, tolerance—the values she lived by and worked by, those are the values that we need to redouble in our national life in the months and years to come." Bloomberg
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