Polls suggest anti-Brexit sentiment takes lead after MP’s shooting

World Today

Polls suggest anti-Brexit sentiment takes lead after MP's shooting2

The British Pound and the London markets have rallied in the wake of opinion polls suggesting the campaign in favour of Britain remaining in the European Union is edging ahead. The critical vote on Thursday has been overshadowed by the murder last week of opposition member of Parliament Jo Cox.

CCTV’s Richard Bestic reports.

In the British Parliament, it was a day of tearful tributes to the 41 year-old murdered politician, shot and stabbed to death in her constituency. A day of politics like no other, as the U.K.’s members of Parliament, each wearing a single white rose, joined together as one in a special sitting to emphasis a national grief that spanned the political spectrum.

“There was unprecedented applause from all sides as the Mace, the symbol of Parliament, brought to a close this special session in honor of the murdered politician,” John Bercow, speaker of UK House of Commons said.

While a few miles away, at the Old Bailey Central Criminal court, the man accused of the crime, 52 year-old Thomas Mair, was again remanded in custody.

Such is the shock here at the murder of Jo Cox, a supporter of the European Union, that it’s thought in some quarters to have impacted attitudes to Britain’s Brexit referendum. Opinion polls, although still close, have seen a rise in support for those campaigning to remain in the EU.