The daughter of murdered MP Sir David Amess has tearfully spoken of the home secretary's "betrayal" after rejecting his family's calls for a public inquiry into his death.
Sir David was killed in 2021 by a terrorist and Katie Amess told reporters on Monday that the family’s push for an investigation have been turned down.
She questioned why incidents such as the Southport and Nottingham attacks merited a probe and why the Government "refuse to investigate the very system that failed my father".
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper wrote to Ms Amess and Sir David's widow, Lady Julia Amess, to reject their calls for an inquiry, which the pair branded "totally unacceptable" and "insulting".
Here is the story so far.
Why has the home secretary rejected calls for an inquiry over the murder of MP Sir David Amess?
What happened to Sir David Amess?
A Southend West MP since 1997, Sir David was stabbed at his constituency surgery on October 15, 2021.
Ali Harbi Ali, a so-called Islamic State fanatic, was sentenced to a whole-life order in 2022.
The Amess family wanted the investigation to look into why ant- terror organisation Prevent closed their file on Ali in 2016 – seven years before he killed the MP.
Who was Sir David Amess?
- Sir David Amess was Conservative MP for Southend West from 1997 until his murder in 2021 - and had previously been Tory MP for Basildon from 1993 to 1997.
- He died from multiple stab wounds to the chest and was 69 when he was killed, leaving behind his wife, Lady Julia, and their five children.
- His time in Parliament was almost entirely served in the backbenches, representing Essex constituencies, but he was parliamentary private secretary to Michael Portillo.
- He served on various committees during his time in politics and was knighted in 2015 for political and public service.
- Sir David was a Eurosceptic and supporter of Brexit. He was also passionate for Southend to be given city status – which it was ultimately awarded in tribute to him in 2022.
Why has the public inquiry been rejected?
Sir David's family received a letter rejecting their call for a public inquiry into the case on Thursday.
Ms Cooper wrote to the family to state it was "hard to see how an inquiry would be able to go beyond" Ali's trial and the recently published Prevent learning review.
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".
"Yvette Cooper has strung us along for months suggesting that she was working on ways to help us,” she said.
In her letter, Ms Cooper 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."
