Legacy of Jo Cox

Debate between Dawn Butler and Sarah Smith

Thursday 11th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dawn Butler]

I agree 100%: we have to hit them where it hurts. There have to be consequences. We have laws on inciting hatred in our country, and yet these companies seem to openly and flagrantly bypass them. The leader of Reform gets something like half a million or a million views whenever he posts a hate post—he is not that popular by any stretch of the imagination. It just feeds egos, and we need to legislate.

[Sarah Smith]

Does my hon. Friend agree that we would be wise to heed the warning of what happened in the run-up to the first world war in Germany? Fundamentally, radio was a new media then, and there was no regulation of it. Where we landed was the first world war. If we do not recognise that history is in many ways repeating itself as we stand here now, we could pay the significant and ultimate consequence for that.

[Dawn Butler]

In fact, we are already paying the consequences. If we do not take this issue as seriously as we should now, we cannot foresee the additional harms that will happen. The growth of the involuntary celibate movement—the underground movement that we did not really know about, but that we felt through the rise in misogyny and hate against women—was being fuelled by social media. Just because we are not a part of it, it does not mean we do not have to legislate. That is also why I feel that we have to legislate for the individual. As soon as we introduce legislation, it is out of date. We have to legislate to protect the individual—to protect our voice and our image.

I agree with the key calls from the most recent report of the Jo Cox Foundation. One is that political parties should enforce higher standards of conduct. That needs to happen, but some political parties will not care. In fact, some political parties actually recruit people who they know have violent intent and are racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, Islamophobic or homophobic. They actively go out to find them. We have to find a way to combat that.

Another of the report’s calls is that elected representatives and candidates should actively lead by example, maintaining civility during robust democratic debate. We can all take a leaf out of that book. The report also says that tech companies should do more to prevent and reduce online harms; media, digital and political literacy education should be expanded for all ages, to build greater understanding; and lastly, the Government should ensure sustained funding, police resourcing and cross-border co-ordination to protect elected representatives.

It is a sad fact that we need more protection than ever before. It is a sad fact that social media means that our speeches can sometimes be manipulated and misrepresented. The rules of the House are complex, and that can be easily manipulated for a certain agenda. It is a sad fact that that then puts us at risk in this place and outside it. A lot more needs to be done.

Jo was a great advocate for everyone—for people in Africa, for the children, for Syria. She would have hated what was happening right now in our country—she would have hated the rhetoric, and she would have been on the frontline, fighting. I want to end with a poem by a Syrian poet.

“It does not matter that I love her endlessly…

She lives in a world that the devil dreams to flee…

And yet she stands strong with a smile shinning through her lips…

With a laugh musical, poetry to my ears…

She is a brave woman…gentle and free”.

May Members of this House be a little bit more like Jo.