MP speaks out after killer Mair jailed

Cat Smith, the Labour MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood, was a friend of the MP for Batley and Spen, West Yorkshire, who was repeatedly stabbed and shot in a shocking street attack during the EU Referendum campaign on June 16.

Mair, a loner with fanatical right wing views, uttered the line “this is for Britain” after the fatal attack on the Labour MP.

Mair, who made no attempt to defend himself during his seven day trial at London’s Old Bailey Court, was given a whole life term and is unlikely to ever be released.

Labour representative Mrs Cox was in the same intake into Parliament as the Fleetwood MP.

Mrs Cox’s death, at the age of just 42, left behind a devastated husband, Brendan and two young children aged just three and five at the time of the attack.

Ms Smith, who is the shadow minister for voter engagement and youth affairs, said of her friend: “I want to remember the generous and thoughtful person that Jo was.

“The way in which she was murdered cannot define the person she was.

“I pay tribute to her family, and her husband Brendan, in the dignified way in which they have held themselves in the five months since her murder.

“The verdict today is clear, this was a politically motivated murder. This was an act of terrorism from an individual holding neo-Nazi views and as such Jo’s murder was a political assassination and we should call it out for what it is.”

“It is not patriotic to murder -it was the unlawful killing of a democratically elected MP going about her business serving her constituents.

“It is cowardly and against our British values of democracy, tolerance and respect.”