On a sunny afternoon in June 2016, Labour MP Jo Cox was stabbed and shot outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, by a far-right extremist. The murder, days before the EU referendum, sent shockwaves through Britain and triggered a nationwide call for a 'kinder, gentler politics'. A decade later, her sister Kim Leadbeater, who now holds a nearby seat, warns that intolerance has only deepened.
Jo Cox was the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, a mother of two young children. Her killer was an English nationalist who shouted "Britain first" during the attack. The murder came just hours after Nigel Farage, then leader of UKIP, unveiled a poster showing Syrian refugees at a border, which was widely condemned as scapegoating. In the aftermath, then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and then-Prime Minister David Cameron both called for a more respectful politics.
“Explaining Jo Cox's 2016 murder, the call for kinder politics, and why intolerance has persisted.”
But the roots of political division in Britain go deeper. Professor Rob Ford of Manchester University argues that Brexit "accelerated rather than created" the forces driving populism. The referendum campaign exposed deep cultural and ideological rifts around immigration, sovereignty and identity. Since then, far-right protests have become more frequent: in 2024, riot police clashed with anti-migration demonstrators outside an asylum hotel in Rotherham; in Belfast, racist mobs burned people out of their homes. In 2021, Conservative MP David Amess was murdered by an Islamic State sympathiser.
Kim Leadbeater, who entered Parliament in 2021 after the seat became vacant, says the brief consensus around kindness has evaporated. "Sadly and regrettably, over the last decade things are worse," she told the BBC. She remembers receiving a phone call while out running and then going into "autopilot" for months. She now fears that people are being pushed "towards the extremes" – a sentiment echoed by many who see a cycle of outrage and retaliation.
For UK readers, this matters because it affects everyday life. Political polarisation can fuel street violence, harassment of public figures, and a climate of fear that discourages people from engaging in democracy. The murder of an MP going about her constituency work was a direct assault on the idea that politicians should be accessible to the public. When that trust erodes, so does the fabric of local representation. The persistence of hate speech and far-right mobilisation also has real consequences for minority communities, as seen in the targeting of asylum seekers and Muslims.
Q: What was the 'kinder, gentler politics' call that followed Jo Cox's murder? In the days after the killing, both Jeremy Corbyn and David Cameron urged the nation to reject hatred and embrace a more respectful public debate. It was meant as a rallying cry against the kind of rhetoric that had preceded the murder. But Kim Leadbeater and others say it was short-lived.
Q: Why do some say things are worse now than in 2016? Kim Leadbeater and experts like Professor Rob Ford point to a rise in far-right activity, including riots outside asylum hotels and the murder of another MP (David Amess). They argue that Brexit did not create these divisions but tipped them into open conflict, and that the internet and social media have made it easier to spread intolerance.
Q: How did Jo Cox's murder influence the Brexit debate? The murder occurred just days before the referendum, with both sides briefly suspending campaigning. Many saw it as a wake-up call about the dangers of xenophobic language. However, the vote went ahead as planned, and the Leave campaign's anti-immigration messaging – including the "breaking point" poster – was widely cited as contributing to a toxic atmosphere.
What happens next is uncertain. Kim Leadbeater continues to speak out, but she acknowledges that reversing the trend will require sustained effort from politicians, communities and the media. With another general election on the horizon, the legacy of Jo Cox's murder remains a painful reminder of what happens when debate turns to hate.