Diolch. Jo Cox MP—a passionate activist, and unwavering humanitarian, a driven campaigner and a committed feminist, a friend, daughter, sister, wife, mother, and proud to the MP for Batley and Spen, the Yorkshire community in which she grew up. Jo Cox was one of us, and we are all profoundly shocked, devastated and moved by Jo’s murder. But today is a time to remember the incredibly significant and valuable contribution that Jo Cox made in her all too short time with us.

I was only lucky enough to meet Jo briefly through the Labour Women’s Network, so ahead of today’s tribute, I sought guidance from those who knew Jo far, far better than me. Jo achieved so much before entering the House of Commons just over a year ago, with Oxfam, in the European Parliament, and encouraging Labour women into politics. Jo was chair of Labour Women’s Network from 2010 to 2014, part of a team of women with big ambitions to develop the organisation to support and bring through Labour women from all walks of life into the party and into public life. The focus and determination that Jo brought to LWN to drive forward and actually get things done was a focus and determination that she brought to everything that she did. A friend and colleague of Jo’s wrote in the last few days how Jo supported and empowered other women by, ‘Half holding you upright and half shoving you forward’.

The alliances that Jo built and what she achieved in her 13 months as an MP are testament not just to the tenacity and the depth of experience she brought to the issues she focused on and the causes that she championed, but also to her personality. Friends have shared how Jo was relentlessly positive and a bundle of energy—a force of nature that enjoyed life to the full. They’ve written how, in reflecting on Jo’s life, it’s not just what she did, but the how she did it: the power of common action and not simply believing in her ideals, but living them and doing something to advance them every single day. To me, Jo Cox personified everything a politician should be, and, as we celebrate Jo’s life, let us go forward with her own words shaping our deeds: we have far more in common with each other than that which divides us. Diolch. Diolch yn fawr, Jo Cox MP.