Meeting of the Parliament 16 June 2026 [Draft]
I thank my colleague Jenny Young for bringing this important and thoughtful debate to the chamber.
I did not know Jo Cox, but I was privileged to meet many people who did. I attended the first Jo Cox women in leadership programme just a year after Jo was killed and found out that Jo was a kind, patient person who had spent most of her career working with those in need here in the UK and across the world. I learned that Jo had an ambition for a fairer and more just world, and I think that tonight’s debate, at a time when some seek to stoke division and hate, is a reminder that we can always choose to take a kinder and more compassionate path.
As others have noted, in her maiden speech to Parliament, Jo poetically said:
“we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”—[Official Report, House of Commons, 3 June 2015; Vol. 596, c. 675.]
Last night, I spent a long time thinking about what I should speak about in the debate. I asked myself, what do the words in that quote make me—us—think?
Scotland’s story is one of immigration and emigration. Over the centuries, many people from across the world have come to Scotland, shaping our heritage and embracing our traditions. Similarly, Scots have emigrated across the world at times of hardship to find work or to be with family members who have set up new lives and homes in other parts of the world.
As I think of the events of last week, when we witnessed violence and bigotry on our streets and in my region of Ayr, which was a shock, I feel that tonight’s debate commemorating the memory of Jo Cox could not have come at a more important time.
Who are we, if we do not care about the people around us? Who are we, if our first thought is not to smile when we hear children chattering in a playground, and see children from many cultures enjoying playing and learning from one another? It should give us great joy to see that.
The attack on Jo was motivated by far-right political thinking and was fuelled by prejudice and hate. On the 10th anniversary of Jo’s death, my thoughts go out to her family and friends, and to everyone who has been impacted by that attack. I also pay tribute to Sir David Amess and send my thoughts to his family and friends, some of whom are in the chamber tonight.
I am saddened that Jo’s husband, Brendan, feels that the balance is shifting back in the wrong direction. We know that Jo’s lasting legacy, including the work of the Jo Cox Foundation, has improved individual experiences in politics, in particular for women, and has helped to create a wider societal debate about how we conduct ourselves in politics and the importance of prioritising kindness and collaboration over hate and hostility. This is a pivotal moment, and it would be wrong for that shift to reverse and to go in the wrong direction.
Every one of us in the Parliament has a moral responsibility to challenge the behaviour of those who use divisive rhetoric—as other members have said, our words matter. We know that those who use words of division serve only their own political interests; those words in fact damage our communities and public trust in institutions that wish only to serve.
I again thank Jenny Young for bringing the debate to Parliament to commemorate Jo’s memory on the 10th anniversary of her death. I also thank members who seek to serve in the way that Jo Cox would have done, had she been given the opportunity. That is how we should honour her legacy.