HER death is an utter waste of a good life, writes Redditch MP Karen Lumley on the murder of MP Jo Cox.

Over the last few days of course all our thoughts have been with her family, friends and constituents.

I am, along with all right thinking people, appalled at the death of anyone in such a brutal way. I knew Jo and was an admirer of the work that she had done in such a short time and of her charity work before she became an MP.

Despite what people may think about the hostility between MPs of different political parties, I counted Jo as a friend and had in fact been talking to her earlier in the week. She was a compassionate and wonderful human being who came into politics for all the right reasons.

We now need to calmly think about how we improve security while at the same time making sure that constituents who need to and who want to continue to gain access to their MP. We also need to revisit how we show respect for each other in many different ways, because this type of incident should never be allowed to happen again.

Last Friday I enjoyed a very busy day in the constituency, visiting two care homes – Brambles in Headless Cross and Leonard Cheshire Saltways in Webheath - as part of National Care Home Open Day, and also visiting pupils at Tenacres First School to help with their current project work. I also visited the New Redditch Mosque in Jinnah Road, Smallwood, to see the impressive new building and the wonderful facilities that it affords the local community.

I also attended the opening of new premises for Ubi-Tech (3R) Ltd in Far Moor Lane, Redditch, along with fellow Conservative MP for Stratford, Nadhim Zahawi. Ubi-Tech lead courses in wireless and radio engineering, 4th Generation networks, IT and project management, and it is wonderful to see them in Redditch.

By the time you read this the long-awaited for referendum giving us all the chance to decide on our future within the EU, will be imminent indeed. I can’t stress strongly enough how important it is that as many of you as possible vote on the day to enable us to be able to reach the right decision for the future of this great country of ours.

There is a statement on my website explaining my long-held point of view, which is that we should be voting to exit, so just follow the link below for that.

As ever, to keep up to date with what I am doing, visit tellkaren.com or follow facebook.com/Karen4RedditchCounty or mobile.twitter.com/tell_karen.