Charity to carry on work of murdered Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox in tackling loneliness

AGE UK in Bradford is carrying on the work started by murdered Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox into tackling loneliness.

Colleagues of the Labour MP, who was murdered in Birstall last year, launched an initiative in her memory just over a month ago to tackle the “silent epidemic” of loneliness.

The cross-party Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness has been set up to find practical solutions to help isolated people.

Mrs Cox had been taking the first steps towards establishing the organisation when she was murdered last June by far-right extremist Thomas Mair in her constituency.

Age UK is co-ordinating the commission’s national spotlight on older people over the next two months.

As part of that a special befriending network event is being held in Bradford next week with an emphasis on loneliness and its effects.

Stephanie Smith, head of services at Age UK Bradford & District, said: “Age UK is proud to be coordinating the Commission’s national spotlight on older people in March and April 2017, with the aim to raise awareness of the levels of loneliness of older people in our communities and harness the potential of the Jo Cox Commission to mobilise our community members.

“Most of us feel lonely from time to time but a growing number of older people, 1.2 million nationally, of which 9,000 older people live in the Bradford district, experience chronic loneliness.

“This represents a serious public health concern, with research indicating that loneliness can be as harmful to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or being morbidly obese.

“But loneliness in later life is not inevitable.

“That is why we want to share our learning on ‘what works’ from our recent pilots on reducing loneliness.”

She added that their befriending project works across the district pairing lonely older people with a team of volunteers.

They will also be promoting the Age UK message “No One Should Have No One” on social media throughout the campaign.

It comes as the late MP’s husband, Brendan Cox, is writing a memoir, More In Common, celebrating her life which will be published in time for the anniversary of the 41-year-old’s death in June.