Party leaders hold election truce in honour of late Labour MP Jo Cox

Politicians stopped campaigning for one hour to remember the late Labour MP Jo Cox ahead of the first anniversary of her murder.

Thomas Mair, 53, was convicted of shooting and stabbing the Remain campaigner outside her Batley and Spen constituency library in the market town of Birstall, West Yorkshire, in a premeditated killing a week before the EU referendum on 16 June. He was jailed for life.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the murder as an "attack on democracy", saying it had "robbed the world of an ambassador of kindness and compassion".

The election truce was held on Sunday (21 May) and honoured the mother-of-two, who in her maiden speech in the Commons called for solidarity. "We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us," she said.

In Cox's former constituency of Batley and Spen the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green candidates attended a farmer's event, putting their political differences aside to raise money for a special care baby unit.

Cox's widower, Brendan Cox, told Sky News Sunday's election truce would "send a powerful message" of unity.

"Doing so in such a coordinated way will, we hope, send a powerful message that whatever our political disagreements, we really do hold more in common and show a united front against hatred and extremism in all its forms," he said.

"Elections are huge moments of national importance and deserve to be taken seriously. But we also need to get a better balance.

"We spend way too much time fixated on the areas we disagree with each other and need to create more moments where we come together as a country.

"That's what I'm focused on and after polling day, I am sure that's exactly what people all over the UK will be crying out for."