The appalling murder of Sir David Amess while he was holding a constituency surgery in Southend has shocked me and my team to the core.  Our thoughts and prayers remain with his family, friends, and all those who knew and loved him.

I joined the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and other MPs in the tributes to Sir David in Parliament this week. You can read these powerful and moving tributes here.

This is the second time a Member of Parliament has been murdered in the last five years.  It is absolutely vital that we take the security of MPs and their staff seriously, so we will be reviewing all of our security arrangements with the local police, just as we did after Jo Cox’s murder. However, it is also really important that I remain accessible and in close contact with constituents and the wider community and I think it would be impossible to entirely remove risk from the work I do. You can read my comments on this issue in the Leicester Mercury here.

Thank you to all of my constituents who have taken the time to write to my office about what has happened and to offer their support. We are all extremely grateful.