Brendan Cox accuses Nigel Farage of using Southport stabbings to ‘spread hatred’
Brendan Cox has accused Nigel Farage of using the Southport stabbings to spread his “narrative and hatred”.
The husband of Jo Cox, the Batley and Spen MP, who was killed in 2016 by neo-Nazi Thomas Mair in Birstall, claimed the Reform UK leader is “nothing better than Tommy Robinson in a suit” after his comments on the attack.
Three young girls were left dead and eight others seriously injured after Monday’s horrific mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed children’s holiday club on Merseyside.
Police were yesterday granted more time to question the 17-year-old suspect, arrested on suspicion or murder and attempted murder. The teenager cannot be named for legal reasons.
Right-wing rioters staged violent protests near Southport mosque, marring a night of remembrance for the little girls who lost their lives.
Police officers suffered serious injuries when bricks, stones and bottles were thrown and cars were set alight during unrest that followed a vigil for the murdered children.
Baseless rumours were spread on social media, misidentifying the suspect and falsely claiming that he was a refugee, when in fact he was born in Wales.
Mr Farage, the MP for Clacton in Essex, questioned “whether the truth is being withheld from us”, after police said they do not believe terrorism is a motive “at this stage”.
In a social media video, the Reform UK leader said: “I have to say there are one or two questions. Was this guy being monitored by the security services? Some reports say he was, others less sure.
“The police say it’s a non-terror incident, just as they said the stabbing of an Army Lieutenant Colonel in uniform on the streets of Kent the other day was a non-terror incident.”
Mr Cox, of the anti extremism group Hope Not Hate, said: “It is beyond the pale to use a moment like this to spread your narrative and to spread your hatred, and we saw the results on Southport’s streets last night.
He told the BBC: “The fact that Nigel Farage whipped up that crowd, whipped up that sentiment, I think should make us all reconsider in what basket we put him.
“For me, it puts him on the wrong side of the line, not a credible politician, but someone willing to use awful events and hatred and undermine the community, the communities in which we live.”
While Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, said Mr Farage has a “level of responsibility” as an MP and “it’s not to stoke up what conspiracy theories or what you think might have happened”.
Mr Farage replied that Mr Cox’s comments were “absolutely disgraceful” and added: “I think it’s quite legitimate to ask questions as to what the hell is going on.”
Three girls – Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven – were fatally stabbed in the attack, while eight other children suffered knife wounds – five of whom are in a critical condition. Two adults were also critically hurt.
Southport MP Patrick Hurley said rioters must face the “full force of the law”, saying they were “utterly disrespecting the families of the dead and injured children”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said rioters had “hijacked” a vigil for victims and will “feel the full force of the law”, while Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the rioting as “violent attacks from thugs on the streets”, which she branded “appalling”.
The suspect, who was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, is from the village of Banks, just outside Southport.