Campaigning for next week’s EU referendum in Britain was suspended yesterday after a pro-European lawmaker was reportedly shot and injured in her constituency in northern England, reports AFP from London.
Jo Cox, 41, a mother-of-two who represents the opposition Labour party, was left bleeding on the pavement after the incident in Birstall in Yorkshire, the Press Association cited an eyewitness as saying.
Police said a woman in her 40s was in a critical condition after suffering serious injuries but did not confirm her name, adding that a 52-year-old man had been arrested.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Twitter that he was “utterly shocked by the news of the attack on Jo Cox. The thoughts of the whole Labour party are with her and her family at this time”.
“Very concerned about reports Jo Cox has been injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jo and her family,” Prime Minister David Cameron added.
Channel 4 News quoted Cox’s office as saying that the MP had been shot and stabbed. The BBC said she was flown by air ambulance to a hospital in nearby Leeds.
Cox, who was elected for the first time last year, was a supporter of Britain staying in the EU in the referendum on June 23, although it was not clear if the attack had anything to do with the campaign.
Sky News television quoted unconfirmed reports from witnesses that the shooter shouted “Britain first”—possibly a reference to British sovereignty, although there is also a far-right party called Britain First.
Both sides of the referendum race announced they would stop campaigning for the rest of Thursday.
“We are suspending all campaigning for the day. Our thoughts are with Jo Cox and her family,” the official Stronger In Europe campaign said on Twitter.
A spokesman for the rival Vote Leave group, which is backing a so-called Brexit, said that their ‘battle bus’ had stopped campaigning for the day.
“The battle bus that Boris was on is turning back to London,” he told AFP, referring to lead campaigner Boris Johnson, the Conservative former mayor of London.