AN organisation is to work with a foundation set up in memory of a murdered MP to help combat loneliness and bring people together in rural communities.

The White Rose Darlington group will be working closely with the Jo Cox Foundation, which was set up in memory of the Batley and Spen MP, who was shot and stabbed in June 2016.

The organisation, which will soon change its name to More In Common Darlington, will soon start a video project aimed at combating loneliness with Youth Focus North East.

It also aims to find ways of reducing animosity towards people from different nations and faiths, towards women, the LGBT community, those with disabilities and many others.

Pete Greenwood, from More In Common Darlington, said: “It turned out the hopes we had had for White Rose Darlington were almost identical to those of More In Common Batley & Spen – to spread the message Jo had spelled out in her maiden speech to Parliament.

“Her words have been taken to heart by thousands, not least in the Spen Valley, where the campaigning MP was much loved, and still is.

“We believed that Jo Cox represented the best of humanity and that she must never be forgotten. We wanted to make a positive impact at a time when hatred and division seemed on the rise.

“Two years on, after talking to [Ms Cox’s sister] Kim Leadbeater and her colleague, Parveen Butt, we are proudly joining them at the start of what they hope will become a national movement.”

The Jo Cox Foundation was established to support the MP’s friends, family and colleagues to continue her work and to highlight the issues she cared about, from the

death of civilians in Syria to the issue of loneliness in the UK.

Last year, Ms Leadbeater addressed a conference of organisations in North Yorkshire striving to combat loneliness.

She spoke about the work being done by the Foundation and the enthusiasm for the Great Get Together initiative that brings together people and communities that may not usually meet.

Mrs Cox was selected to contest the Batley and Spen parliamentary seat after the previous incumbent, Mike Wood, decided not to stand in 2015.

She became a campaigner on issues relating to the Syrian Civil War, and founded and chaired the all-party parliamentary group Friends of Syria.

More In Common Darlington is holding a meeting on Saturday, January 12 at 10am in the library at the Friends’ Meeting House on Skinnergate.