EU campaigning cancelled after MP Jo Cox killed
- Published
Jo Cox died after being shot and stabbed in Birstall in Yorkshire
Campaigning in Scotland ahead of the EU referendum has been suspended after the death of MP Jo Cox following a shooting and stabbing attack.
The Leave campaign had been due to hold a rally in Glasgow on Thursday evening, but it was called off as both sides in the debate suspended their campaigns.
All campaigning has also been cancelled on Friday.
Flags are flying at half mast at Scottish government buildings in Edinburgh and the Scottish Parliament.
Eyewitnesses said the Labour MP for Batley and Spen was left bleeding on the ground by her attacker. A man also suffered slight injuries in the incident in Birstall, Yorkshire.
A 52-year-old man, named locally as Tommy Mair, was arrested near the town's Market Street.
He is believed to have originally come from Kilmarnock but has lived in Yorkshire for more than 40 years.
The MP holds a weekly advice surgery nearby.
Jo Cox was left bleeding on the ground by her attacker
Ms Cox was taken by ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary, where armed police were stationed outside.
It was subsequently announced in a media conference at police headquarters in Wakefield that Ms Cox had died in hospital.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, who knew Ms Cox, said: "Jo was an extraordinary woman. She devoted her life to helping people in the darkest places in our world.
"Our hearts are broken by the loss of one of our country's brightest hopes. We mourn not just the woman she was but the loss of everything she would have achieved."
'Democratic values'
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "I didn't know Jo Cox but by all accounts she was a brilliant young MP. And today she was just doing her job. My heart breaks for her family."
Politicians from the SNP, Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats had been sharing a platform at a pro-EU event in Edinburgh when the attack on Ms Cox happened.
Speakers at the rally included former Lib Dem deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who said: "One of the great things about our democracy is that anybody can just wander in and see their MP in their weekly surgeries.
"That violence against Jo... is also violence against our democratic values and very proud democratic traditions."