Yvette Cooper has been accused of “adding salt into an open wound” after rejecting calls from the family of murdered MP Sir David Amess for a public inquiry into the killing.
In the letter addressed to Lady Julia Amess and Katie Amess, the home secretary said it was “hard to see how an inquiry would be able to go beyond” terrorist killer Ali Harbi Ali’s trial and the recently published Prevent learning review.
Responding in a statement, Lady Amess said Sir Keir Starmer should “go away and reconsider the government’s position” ahead of the family’s meeting with the prime minister and the home secretary on Wednesday.
Katie Amess said Ms Cooper’s words were “adding salt onto an open wound”, describing her reaction to the letter as “sadness, betrayal, pain and just heartbreak really”.
In her letter, the home secretary said: “You had initially asked me to support the resumption of the coronial inquest which, as I said in my last letter of 17 December 2024, is a decision I cannot interfere with given the coroner’s independent judicial role, although I do recognise how difficult this is for you.
“I am aware that you have since requested a full public inquiry.
“As you will know the coroner looked carefully at whether to resume an inquest into Sir David’s death following the criminal trial, but concluded there were no additional questions that could be answered through an investigation of this kind, that had not already been considered as part of the trial.
“In the circumstances it is therefore hard to see how an inquiry would be able to go beyond what has been reviewed in the trial, Prevent learning review, coroner’s report, as well as Lord Anderson and Essex Police’s forthcoming conclusions.
“On that basis, the government cannot establish a public inquiry.”
Ali had been referred to Prevent seven years before he killed Sir David on October 15 2021, but his case was closed in 2016.
The so-called Islamic State fanatic stabbed the veteran MP at his constituency surgery in Essex and was sentenced to a whole-life order in 2022.
Ms Amess argued that the government’s decision not to commission an inquiry made her question its approach to MP safety.
She told the PA news agency: “The government needs to think, what kind of message is it sending to other potential terrorists that are planning attacks right now if you won’t even do an inquiry into a member of parliament’s death who had served for 40 years, who you’re saying is your friend and your beloved colleague.
“If you can’t even be bothered to do an inquiry into that, then how much do you really care about the safety of MPs?”
Ms Amess said her family had not had chance to properly grieve following her father’s death and still felt she was “begging people to give me some answers”.
More to follow…
