Murdered MP Jo Cox would have been “deeply concerned” at the current divisions in UK society but would not have shied away from the challenge of uniting people, her sister has said a decade on from the killing.
Kim Leadbeater described the 10th anniversary of her “wonderful” sister’s murder at the hands of a neo-Nazi in 2016 as a “moment in time” to urge political leaders, especially not to “push people towards the extremes”.
She said it is crucial to “push back on the divisive rhetoric and the dangerous language” but declined to name names, saying she did not want to give “bad behaviour oxygen”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage recently faced widespread criticism for saying the public should feel “pure, cold rage” about the case of student Henry Nowak.
Violent protests erupted earlier this month in Southampton, near where the 18-year-old was fatally stabbed in December 2025, amid an outcry over his treatment by police. His killer, Vickrum Digwa, falsely claimed he had been the victim of a racial attack and Mr Nowak was handcuffed by police who ignored his pleas that he could not breathe as he lay dying.
Last week, Elon Musk also came in for criticism over social media’s role in violence in Belfast, which saw homes set alight and people targeted based on their race.
The billionaire X owner had used his online account to promote calls for people to take to the streets in response to an earlier knife attack in the city for which a Sudanese man appeared in court. Mr Musk hit back at accusations he was inflaming tensions and blamed immigration policy.
In an interview with the Press Association, Ms Leadbeater said it is “absolutely fine to be angry about things”, from worries around immigration to the cost of living and housing, but not to stoke division.
She said: “You’ve got to decide if you want to take the debate forward and you want to work on solutions. And sadly, not everybody at the moment seems to be doing that.
“They seem to be shouting and not listening. And what that shouting does is it stokes that division. And it only takes one individual to not be able to draw the line between the anger and the violent language, and then acts of violence. And I find that deeply disturbing.
“And I worry, if that continues, where we end up as a society. So I suppose the 10th anniversary of Jo’s murder is a moment in time to say to everybody, whatever your political views are, whatever your ideologies are, let’s keep them in a safe, sensible space and not push people towards the extremes because there are no wins in that.”
Ms Cox, who was shot and stabbed by neo-Nazi Thomas Mair in her Batley and Spen constituency on June 16 2016, days before the EU referendum, had famously spoken against division in her maiden speech in Parliament a year earlier.
She told the Commons: “We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”
Ms Leadbeater remembered her sister as someone “full of kindness, full of compassion, but also full of a steely determination to make a difference and to get things done”.
She told PA: “Even though she would look, as I am doing at the moment, at some of the challenges we face as a country and be deeply concerned, she would not stop working hard to address those challenges and to look at how we can bring people together.
“And also to tell the real story of our country, because the division and the anger, and sadly, the violence, is not really who we are as a country. Jo knew that, I know that.”
It is a “difficult and delicate balance” between calling people out and not stoking tension, Ms Leadbeater said, adding that she tries “not to personalise politics” because in doing so it can give “bad behaviour oxygen”.
She said: “It’s a difficult and delicate balance, and I struggle with it, probably more this year than ever. But we need to push back on the divisive rhetoric and the dangerous language. And I think the best way of doing that is actually to show a different way.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Ms Cox is remembered now “with renewed determination to carry forward the values she lived by”.
He added: “At a time when those values are being tested, her legacy feels as vital and urgent as ever. The best way to honour her memory is to stand firmly against hatred and division, to bring communities together, and to show, through both big acts and small, the compassion, decency and solidarity that define our nation at its best.
“Jo’s legacy endures in the communities she inspired, the people she brought into public life, and the countless acts of kindness carried out in her name. We will continue to carry her spirit with us, in our work, in our politics, and in our determination to build a more united and hopeful Britain.”
Ms Leadbeater said she has “an abundance of happy memories” with her sister, and will spend Tuesday with family as a “nice, calm, quiet day to think about Jo”.
She said Ms Cox’s family had tried to “create a really positive, powerful legacy for her by bringing people together” in the years since her death and urged people to take part in the annual Great Get Together this weekend on what would have been her birthday.
Ms Leadbeater said: “It’s really simple things – organise an event in your community, check in on your neighbours, make sure nobody’s lonely.
“It can be a picnic, it can be a tea party, it can be a music event. We do the run for Jo in Yorkshire, where we get people running through the woods – and it’s not really about the running, it’s about the human connection, it’s about the fun that you can create.
“That is what our country looks like. And I would encourage anybody to get involved in that and celebrate all the really good stuff that is going on out there.”
