Legacy of Batley & Spen MP Jo Cox debated in the chambers
MP Jo Cox was murdered in her constituency in 2016
Last updated 9th Sep 2021
A general debate on the legacy of Batley & Spen MP Jo Cox is taking place in the Commons Chamber today (Thursday 9 September 2021).
Jo Cox was elected as MP for Batley and Spen in the June 2015 General Election, and was tragically murdered during the European Union Referendum campaign, on 16 June 2016.
How does Jo Cox's legacy live on?
The Jo Cox Foundation was established in 2016 by her friends and family, “to build a positive legacy for Jo and to create something positive from the tragedy that was her murder”.
The foundation has continued to work on some of the issues Jo was passionate about, including tackling the stigma of loneliness, raising awareness of loneliness as an issue, working to bring communities together and reduce abuse and intimidation in public life.
"We hope that she'd be proud."
Su Moore the CEO, said:
"There are as many as 20 MP's, possibly even more, talking about Jo's legacy and 5 years on from Jo's murder, it's fantastic to know that MP's from around the country are still thinking about Jo's legacy.
"We hope that she'd be proud."
The foundation hopes that the debate will keep Jo's memory alive and spur more people to get involved in the work she was passionate about.
Su said:
"Even though loneliness has been an issue that people have thought about more for the last 18 months, for us it's really important that we don't forget about it. So we'll be continuing to work on raising awareness of the issues of loneliness and making people realise that's it's ok to talk about it, it shouldn't be embarrassing to say you're lonely.
"They'll be lots of MPs from different parties standing up and talking. One of the things Jo really believed in was working across party, that it's actually only by working with politicians who don't necessary agree with you, that you can make change happen, so I hope there's something that comes out of this, that lots of these MP's from different parties, will remember there are actually some core issues that they do agree on."