The husband of Jo Cox has paid a moving tribute to his wife, after the Labour MP was shot and killed in Birstall, near Leeds, on Thursday afternoon.
In a moving statement, Brendan Cox said: "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."
He tweeted also tweeted a picture of her:
Cox lived on a house boat on the Thames with her family when she was in the capital, and her family took part in yesterday’s flotilla campaigning for the Remain side.
Earlier today, her husband also tweeted this picture:
Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the Lib Dem leader Tim Farron all paid tribute to Cox.
Corbyn said: “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.
“Jo had a lifelong record of public service and a deep commitment to humanity. She worked both for Oxfam and the anti-slavery charity, the Freedom Fund, before she was elected last year as MP for Batley and Spen – where she was born and grew up.
“Jo was dedicated to getting us to live up to our promises to support the developing world and strengthen human rights – and she brought those values and principles with her when she became an MP.
“Jo died doing her public duty at the heart of our democracy, listening to and representing the people she was elected to serve. It is a profoundly important cause for us all.
“Jo was universally liked at Westminster, not just by her Labour colleagues, but across Parliament.
“In the coming days, there will be questions to answer about how and why she died. But for now all our thoughts are with Jo’s husband Brendan and their two young children. They will grow up without their mum, but can be immensely proud of what she did, what she achieved and what she stood for.
“We send them our deepest condolences. We have lost a much loved colleague, a real talent and a dedicated campaigner for social justice and peace. But they have lost a wife and a mother, and our hearts go out to them.”
Other Labour MPs expressed their shock at the killing on Twitter...
Cox, who was elected to the Commons last year as MP for Batley and Spen, was rushed to Leeds Infirmary hospital by air ambulance after being shot twice and stabbed.
It was announced this evening that the mother-of-two had died from her wounds at around 1.50pm.
A 52-year-old, named locally as Tommy Mair, was arrested after the attack, in which a 77-year-old man was also injured.
The attack came on the steps of the town library just before 1pm, where the 41-year-old mother-of-two had been holding a surgery with her constituents.
