Jo Cox report urges UK to help world's troubled regions

Former Coronation Street actress frontrunner for Jo Cox's seat

20 September

Former Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale actor Tracy Brabin (pictured above) is believed to be the frontrunner for the parliamentary seat of the late Labour MP Jo Cox.

The one-time soap star was named alongside environmental campaigner Jane Thomas as a potential candidate for the post.

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The final nominee will be announced at a hustings event on Friday, with the by-election to be held on 20 October.

The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Ukip will not field a candidate, while right-wing groups Liberty GB and the English Democrats have suggested they might put one forward.

Brabin, who is from Batley and frequently campaigned with Cox, paid tribute to the politician at her funeral in July, calling her a "true inspiration and an extraordinary woman".

A source told The Sun: "Tracy worked very closely with Jo on a number of local issues and is keen to carry on her work.

"She's well known locally, she grew up around here and is seen as the best candidate by the local Labour party.

"There will obviously be a process to nominate her, but it's pretty much nailed on."

The actor played Tricia Armstrong in Coronation Street from 1994 to 1997 and then Carole, a love interest for Ashley Thomas, in Emmerdale in 2014, notes Metro. She also starred in several episodes of EastEnders.

Cox, the MP for Batley and Spen, died after being shot and stabbed in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on 16 June.

Yesterday, the Old Bailey heard the man accused of her murder will not be relying on medical evidence when he goes on trial.

Thomas Mair, 53, from Birstall in West Yorkshire, is charged with shooting and stabbing Cox during the EU referendum campaign.

BNP denies producing leaflet criticising Jo Cox

30 June

The British National Party has denied allegations it is behind a leaflet claiming murdered MP Jo Cox took "misguided action by helping Muslims".

Paula Sherriff, the Labour MP for Dewsbury, which is situated next to Cox's West Yorkshire constituency of Batley and Spen, made the accusation in the House of Commons yesterday.

"Yesterday, people in my constituency received a leaflet from the BNP saying Jo Cox took misguided action by helping Muslims in the country, who may now go on to join Isis, alongside some other horrendous allegations," she told MPS.

Sherriff added that she had also heard from a "significant number" of constituents who had been aggressively told to leave the country following the Brexit vote in the EU referendum.

"One seven-year-old Muslim girl and her family were told – I have removed the expletives for the purpose of reading it in the House – that last Friday was the 'best day ever – go home all of you'. And I continue to hear about a number of similar incidents," she said.

Home Office minister Karen Bradley said she was "shocked" by Sherriff's claims, which she described as "utterly, utterly unacceptable".

She also asked to meet the MP to discuss how to ensure such crimes were reported and action taken against the perpetrators.

A BNP spokesman said in a statement: "Let me be clear, we have already stated that the murder of Jo Cox was outrageous and we find violence of any sort abhorrent. We also find this new affront disgraceful and we categorically deny any involvement in the production and distribution of this leaflet

"The BNP have notified the police insisting on a serious investigation using fingerprint and DNA technology to identify the perpetrators of this vicious act."

Cox, who campaigned for the protection of civilians in Syria, was shot and stabbed in Birstall on 16 June.

Yvette Cooper reports death threat ahead of Jo Cox birthday tributes

22 June

Labour MP Yvette Cooper has contacted police after receiving a death threat apparently connected to her stance on the EU referendum.

"Got this today for speaking out for Remain. This has to stop," she wrote on her Twitter account, along with the message. She later confirmed she had reported the threat to the police.

Cooper, who, in 1999, became the first MP to take maternity leave, has three children: Ellie, 17; Joel, 14, and 11-year-old Maddy.

The former shadow home secretary, the MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, has been a vociferous campaigner for Britain to remain a member of the European Union.

The death threat comes less than a week after Cooper's fellow Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death outside a surgery in her Batley and Spen constituency. Police are investigating claims the killing was politically motivated.

Cox's husband, Brendan, has said he believes his wife was targeted because of her beliefs.

"She had very strong political views and I believe she was killed because of those views," he said. "She died because of them and she would want to stand up for those in death as much as she did in life."

He added that Cox had expressed concerns that the rising temperature of the EU referendum debate was "whipping up fears and whipping up hatred".

Events are taking place across the world today to mark what would have been the MP's 42nd birthday. Tributes have been organised in New York, Paris and Cox's constituency. Crowds are also expected to gather in London's Trafalgar Square from 4pm.

A study earlier this year on abuse faced by parliamentarians found "81 per cent of MPs had suffered aggressive or intrusive behaviour, one in five had been subject to an attack or attempted attack, and 42 per cent had been threatened with harm", the Daily Telegraph reports.

Jo Cox 'would be so pround' of £1m memorial fund

21 June

A memorial fund set up in remembrance of Jo Cox, the 41-year-old MP killed on Thursday, has surpassed £1m in just three days.

More than 30,000 people have donated to the fund, which was set up by friends of the MP.

The money raised will be divided between the Royal Voluntary Service, which tackles loneliness among the elderly, anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate and the White Helmets, a volunteer search-and-rescue organisation in Syria.

Fund organiser Tim Dixon, who was a friend of Cox, said the response had been "overwhelming and deeply gratifying to Jo's family".

"It shows how powerfully Jo's story has moved so many. Jo would be so proud," he told The Guardian.

Batley and Spen MP Cox, a mother of two, was shot and stabbed outside a constituency surgery at a library in Birstall. A 52-year-old local man, Thomas Mair, has been charged with her murder.

MPs returned to Westminster for a special session to pay tribute to their fallen colleague yesterday.

The Daily Telegraph's parliamentary sketchwriter, Michael Deacon, said he had "never seen the Commons so full" and described how "battle-hardened MPs, weathered schemers, flinty veterans" alike joined hands and wept as they shared fond memories of Cox, who was only a year into her first term.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who was seen to wipe his eyes at one point, spoke of her "irrepressible spirit and boundless energy", while Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves finished her remarks by addressing Cox's husband, Brendan, and their two young children, who were sitting in the gallery above.

"Batley and Spen will go on to elect a new MP," she said. "But no one can replace a mother."

Who is Jack Buckby? Ex-BNP member to contest Jo Cox's seat

20 June

As MPs return to Westminster for a special session to pay tribute to Jo Cox, it has been revealed that a former BNP politician is to stand for election in her place.

Jack Buckby was once considered a rising star in the British National Party's youth movement and a protege of its leader, Nick Griffin. However, he left the party in 2013, citing disagreement with its "open race hatred" and joined fellow far-right group, Liberty GB.

He now intends to stand for Liberty GB in the by-election to replace Cox, the 41-year-old MP who was shot and stabbed to death outside her constituency surgery on Thursday.

All of the major parties have agreed not to contest the Batley and Spen constituency, which Cox won for Labour in 2015 with a 6,051 majority.However, in a statement on its website, Liberty GB said: "Too much is at stake to allow Labour to retake Batley and Spen unchallenged."West Yorkshire has been "turned upside-down" by mass immigration, the party adds, leaving "English" communities facing "demographic eradication".

"The Labour Party has blood on its hands," it continues, apparently in reference to the death of Cox. "By shutting down debate and labelling working class people concerned about their communities as racists, they risk driving desperate, disenfranchised people to further horrendous acts like this."

Liberty GB was founded in 2013 by former Ukip politician Paul Weston, who has described immigration to the UK as "ethnic cleansing of the English" and called for Islam to be "removed" from the country.The party's platform includes "halting the Islamisation of Britain" and "promoting British values and assimilation rather than multiculturalism", reports The Independent.

Cox was to present a report on "anti-Muslim bigotry" in parliament later this month, according to Tell Mama, a non-profit organisation which monitors Islamophobia in the UK.

Her report "warned of an increase in Islamophobia and increasing aggressive action by far-right nationalists in the past year", Sky News reports.