The sister of Jo Cox has said it is more important than ever that people “pull together with compassion and kindness” on the fourth anniversary of the MP’s murder. Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed by far-right extremist Thomas Mair on 16 June 2016. She had been the Labour MP for Batley and Spen for just over a year when she was killed by Mair in Birstall, West Yorkshire, part of her constituency. Her sister, Kim Leadbeater, said on Tuesday: “Four years on since Jo’s murder, despite feeling a huge amount of pain, and despite my feelings of frustration at how far we have yet to progress on some of the issues she cared about, I do continue to be inspired by how, when faced with tragedy and crisis, people often also show the best of humanity. “I know that I have still got a huge amount of work to do in terms of dealing with the senseless murder of my sister, a woman who was genuinely one of the kindest and least self-centred people you could hope to meet. “But I sometimes feel that I can’t even begin to deal with the grieving process while there is still so much work to be done on the issues Jo cared about during her life, and indeed the issues raised by her brutal murder at the hands of a right-wing extremist and white supremacist.” Leadbeater said: “In 2020 how can we still be living in a world where people are abused, attacked and killed because of the colour of their skin? How can we still be living in a world where we are supposedly better connected than ever yet so many people feel lonely? And how can so many of us still be so reluctant or unable to listen to other people’s opinions in a civilised and respectful manner?” Leadbeater was speaking ahead of the fourth Great Get Together from 19 to 21 June, which was started in memory of Cox and in response to her much-quoted message in her maiden Commons speech that “we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us”. This year, the Great Get Together will take place with specially devised events that will comply with social distancing rules. Leadbeater spoke out as a new survey showed a big increase in the number of people who think we have become more caring as a result of the coronavirus epidemic. The YouGov poll, published by the Connection Coalition, which includes the Jo Cox Foundation and more than 400 other charities, found that the number of people who said we look after each other rose from less than a quarter to almost two-thirds between February and May. It found that 61% of people agreed that people in the UK “look after each other”, compared with 23% in February. Also, 25% thought “it’s everyone for themselves” in May, compared with 54% in February. The findings will be published in a new national study in September.