On June 16, 2016, Labour MP Jo Cox was walking to meet her constituents in Batley & Spen when she was murdered in the street by an attacker with links to the far right.
It’s hard to believe almost 10 years have passed since that day, even though the anniversary will be marked on Tuesday, June 16. This afternoon, Sir Keir Starmer – who was first elected to parliament at the same time as Ms Cox – hosted a Great Get Together in Downing Street to mark it.
Jo Cox’s death should have been the low point for divisive politics in the UK. But we all know how the past decade has gone – just look at the past two weeks.
‘Naturally, now that we’ve hit that 10-year mark, we’re doing a lot of reflecting and thinking back to the promises that were made 10 years ago,’ Olivia Field, the chief executive of the Jo Cox Foundation, told Metro.
‘We’ll all remember how much Jo’s murder shocked and devastated the nation during what was a really tense period for most people.
‘But what happened in the immediate aftermath was really quite incredible – people put aside their differences, they came together, they chose connection over division for a short period of time.’
A short period of time, indeed. Just one week later, the UK voted to leave the European Union and the stage was set for several more years of bitter political acrimony.
As Brexit dropped down voters’ lists of priorities, immigration rose, while a deepening resentment towards status quo politics splintered the party landscape. In October 2021, another MP – Sir David Amess – was killed, this time by an Isis sympathiser.
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‘Whether you’re a politician or a professional, or in your role as a friend or family member, many of us made promises to address division and hate and foster unity and connection,’ said Ms Field.
‘When we look at where we are as a country right now, it is hard to say with complete honesty that we’ve kept those promises. People are feeling more divided than ever.’
It feels especially cruel that the lead-up to the anniversary of Ms Cox’s death should be dominated by two incidents that threaten to tear the UK’s social fabric even further.