A concerned city councillor has called for an 'end to hatred' after meeting the sister of murdered MP Jo Cox following riots across the UK.
Cllr Ed Kimberley, who represents Warndon and Elbury Park on Worcester City Council, met with Kim Leadbeater MP, the sister of Jo Cox, at the Labour Conference in Liverpool, on Monday.
Cllr Kimberley said one issue discussed was ways to tackle the rising tide of hate in our politics at the meeting, hosted by Labour's Campaign Lab.
The UK was affected by the anti-immigration riots which broke out in July and August following a mass stabbing in Southport in which three children were killed.
One of the themes, Cllr Kimberley explained, was the importance of listening and of 'community building in tackling extremism, particularly in our most deprived communities'.
He said: "It seems particularly relevant to us because we know that these views and attitudes are on the march across the country and, while Worcester dodged the riots this year, we are not immune to hate.
"And I was very grateful to Kim because her message to us - of togetherness and community building - is exactly the direction our councillors have been moving towards.
"She spoke about her journey into politics - how at first she said no, as she hadn't any political ambitions. But she rose to the challenge and won Jo's old seat of Batley and Spen in 2021. With Reform UK winning millions of votes in the General Election across the country, it isn't good enough to condemn the rise of the far right politics. It's already mainstream.
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"But not all Reform voters are racist or far right - in fact, most are not. Most are simply frustrated. Labour in Government has the opportunity to show that politics can work for them.
"Hate is not inevitable and hate is not the answer. Worcester rejected hate on the streets and at the ballot box this year and, together, we will overcome. By fixing our broken public services, by rebuilding our broken communities, we can take away the fuel that sustains the fires of hate."
On June 16, 2016, Jo Cox, a Labour Party MP for Batley and Spen, died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, West Yorkshire. In November 2016, 53-year-old Thomas Alexander Mair was found guilty of her murder and other offences connected to the killing in an act of terrorism.
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