POLITICIANS and activists have held a General Election “truce” to remember MP Jo Cox, who was murdered almost a year ago.
The Labour MP and mother of two young children was assassinated by the Brexit-backing, right-wing extremist Thomas Mair, who shot and stabbed her as she left a surgery in her Batley and Spen constituency. The Scots-born neo-Nazi said the MP was a traitor to white people.
As a mark of a respect and a “show of solidarity”, candidates in Edinburgh gathered in the Serenity Cafe.
Cox’s husband Brendan has said his wife would have been “incredibly touched” by the UK-wide response to the upcoming anniversary of her death on June 16.
He added that the co-ordinated suspension of campaigning would send a message that “whatever our political disagreements, we really do hold more in common and show a united front against hatred and extremism in all its forms”.
“Elections are huge moments of national importance and deserve to be taken seriously. But we also need to get a better balance. We spend way too much time fixated on the areas we disagree with each other and need to create more moments where we come together as a country."
“That’s what I’m focused on and after polling day, I am sure that’s exactly what people all over the UK will be crying out for.”
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme that the trauma of his wife’s death was “for us, as a family... something that goes on and on. Individual days can be worse – and better. It’s not just the big moments.
“The kids are incredibly excited about the Great Get Together, they love planning a party. They know that their mum would have loved it.”
Cox travelled to Edinburgh last Wednesday to meet First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, as well as representatives of all the main parties at the Scottish Parliament and presiding officer Ken Macintosh.
They will also take part in the Great Get Together community event from June 16 to 18, which Cox has organised to mark the anniversary of his wife’s death.
The nationwide event will include street parties, barbecues, picnics, coffee mornings and tea parties. More than 100 organisations, including the Scottish rugby team and Cricket Scotland, have also backed the event.
Mair was given a whole-life prison sentence for her murder.
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