Brexit backer defends 'tasteless' EU poll following death of Jo Cox
A MAJOR Brexit backer has defended the fact his organisation polled people on the death of MP Jo Cox ahead of the EU referendum vote.
Arron Banks defends Jo Cox poll
Arron Banks, a multi-millionaire businessman and co-founder of Leave.EU, said he did not see any problem with adding the question into a poll just days after the Labour politician was killed in her West Yorkshire constituency.
The poll contained several questions – one of which aimed at discovering whether the death of Mrs Cox would change the way people vote on Thursday.
Mr Banks refused to accept the poll question was "tasteless" during a fiery interview on LBC with Iain Dale.
He said: "I just don’t see it as very controversial."
He then told Dale he "lived in a media bubble".
Arron Banks has defended polling likely voters on their reactions to the killing of Jo Cox
Mr Banks, who has made previous donations to Ukip, continued: "We were hoping to see what the effect of the event was… whether it shifted public opinion.
Dale told Mr Banks: ”I have put questions into polls before. But I normally think, when I've done it, about the consequences. Particularly if it was what I regarded as a tasteless question."
Mr Banks replied: "So you’re saying that you should act differently privately to how you act publicly?"
He then accused the radio presenter of trying to ambush him on-air with the question about the poll.
I just don’t see it as very controversial
Over the weekend, Katie Hopkins lashed out and accused the "liberal left" of using the death of the MP for Batley and Spen to "lecture" voters on the virtues of voting Remain.
On Monday, MPs from all parties came together in the House of Commons to pay tribute to Mrs Cox.
Labour MP and friend of Mrs Cox Rachel Reeves wept as she spoke about how Mrs Cox "wanted to make the world fairer, more equal, more tolerant and more generous".
She said: "We all have better instincts and deepest fears.
"Jo appealed to our better instincts, our sense that – as she said in her maiden speech – what we have in common is greater than what divides us."
Katie Hopkins blasts Remainers after Jo Cox tragedy
Prime Minister David Cameron spoke of how he first met Mrs Cox while she was working for Oxfam in Darfur, western Sudan, in 2006.
He said: "He was doing what she was so brilliant at – bravely working in one of the most dangerous parts of the world, fighting for the lives of refugees.
"Her decision to welcome me – then a Conservative Leader of the Opposition – had not been entirely welcomed by all of her colleagues and friends. But it was typical of her determination to reach across party lines on issues that she felt were so much more important than party politics."