Legacy of Jo Cox

Nia Griffith Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dame Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

Before I begin, I pay huge tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) for an absolutely outstanding speech.

It is a real privilege to take part in this debate to mark the 10th anniversary of the tragic death of our wonderful former colleague Jo Cox, with those amazing words of hers as important now as ever—words that she spoke in her first speech in Parliament, when she said that

“we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”—[Official Report, 3 June 2015; Vol. 596, c. 675.]

Those words have inspired so many initiatives up and down the country.

I want to pay tribute to the enormous amount of amazing work that Jo Cox did in her life, both before becoming an MP and in her short time here, whether it was with Oxfam, helping Syrians or in her constituency of Batley and Spen. Jo did so much in developing countries around the world, particularly to help women, and there was then the outstanding work she did with the Syrians. In her short time as an MP, she certainly made a major impact in this place: feisty, forthright, sticking to her principles, holding the Government to account, not taking no for an answer and driven by a determined optimism—she really did believe in people. She was an amazing example to us all.

I also pay tribute to David Amess, the other MP who has been murdered during my time in Parliament, who was murdered at his surgery. He was a thoroughly decent and courteous man who did so much to help others.

Next weekend—the nearest to 22 June, which was Jo Cox’s birthday—we will be commemorating in Llanelli with two events. On Friday 19 June, we will be launching the Llanelli More in Common partnership, a partnership of organisations working to bring people together, celebrate all that we have in common and help to build a stronger community where everyone has a sense of identity and belonging. It is the culmination of a lot of work on the ground, and I want to thank all those who have contributed. There are too many to name everyone, but I want to pay a special tribute to Steve Kelshaw, who has been the driving force behind it. I know that he met my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley at No. 10 yesterday; I thank the organisers of that event—it was such a privilege for him. What will matter now is what they do going forward, and what difference they can make and how all the partners play their part.

I would also like to extend a special thank you to Jane Hutt, who recently retired from the Welsh Senedd. In her role as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice in the Welsh Labour Government, she was very supportive of initiatives to foster community cohesion in Llanelli, as indeed she was for many communities up and down Wales in her various ministerial roles.

On Saturday 20 June, Llanelli will be commemorating the life of Jo Cox with the Great Get Together picnic, as we have done in previous years. Of course, this year is so special because it is the 10th anniversary of Jo’s tragic murder. The Great Get Together is inspired by Jo Cox’s belief that we have more in common than that which divides us. I hope that as many people as possible will join us on the green in front of Llanelli town hall. I want to say another big thank you to all those who have organised it.

Sadly, as many colleagues have referenced, we have once again recently seen violent scenes in towns across the UK, which I utterly condemn. Violence is so destructive and counterproductive to our communities. No one should feel that they are a likely target because of their skin colour, religion or accent. Many people are living in fear, which must make us all the more determined to bring people together, absolutely shut down violence, speak up for decency and bring our communities together.

I would also like to make a special appeal for people to stop insulting and abusing trans people online—just let everybody get on with their life.

Let me turn now to another area that Jo championed: tackling loneliness. At its very extreme, we have seen some awful so-called lone-wolf mass killings—individuals who have spent long periods on their own in front of a computer screen, where powerful algorithms have fed them ever more extreme and violent material. It is so important to continue our work for safety online. That includes implementing the current legislation in full and looking to see what more can be done.

More than that, we must not let people get lonely. It is really important that people come together and that we talk, express different opinions and have a good old ding-dong. We must hear and listen to different opinions, which is why Jo’s work on loneliness remains so important. It is not just about one age group or social group; loneliness is as much a problem among younger people as older people. We are social animals. Tackling loneliness is integral to our own wellbeing as well as that of our communities. Let us make sure that Jo Cox’s legacy lives on in all that we do.