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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 Sir David’s widow, Lady Julia Amess, and his daughter, 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.
Ms 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”.
She also accused the home secretary of having strung the family along for months suggesting she “was working on ways to help us”.
In her letter, the home secretary said: “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 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”.
Giving an emotional statement to a news conference in Westminster on Monday, she said there are “no words to describe the unbelievable pain of losing a father in such a brutal and a senseless way”.
“From the moment that I woke up on 15 October 2021, my whole world was shattered beyond repair. My father Sir David Amess was not just a public servant, he was my protector, my guide, my greatest champion. And above all, my friend.
“His murder has left an unimaginable void in my family’s life that no amount of time will ever heal, and it’s difficult to explain what life is like when you lose a loved one to murder.
“Unless you have lived through something like this you will never truly understand it.”
Ms Amess added: “How can the government justify holding inquiries for other tragic events like Southport and Nottingham and yet refuse to investigate the very system that failed my father? Is his life worth less than others?
“Does our family not deserve the truth like other families and to know that what happened will never happen again?
“Yvette Cooper has strung us along for months suggesting that she was working on ways to help us. However, all she has done is remove the possibility of us being included in the Southport inquiry; instead offering another useless paper review, conducted by a person of their choice.”
Ms Amess said she wants “the authorities and the government to be held accountable, as they let my father down so badly”.
“His death was entirely preventable – and where do you go from that?”
During the press conference, a spokesperson for the family played out a video of Sir Keir Starmer saying there were “many questions” to be answered in the wake of Sir David’s murder while he was leader of the opposition.
The spokesperson said: “There you heard the words of Sir Keir Starmer himself: there are questions to be answered. Those questions that need answering still need answering today.”
Addressing the prime minister directly, ahead of a meeting later this week, they added: “Sir Keir, we’re coming to see you on Wednesday. Please reconsider the government’s position.”
Security minister Dan Jarvis said the government will “further scrutinise all the reviews that have taken place over the last few years” in the hope it will “help the family to get the justice they deserve.”
“In the years since this cowardly attack, there have been several reviews asking how this could have been avoided, and we have seen significant improvements to the Prevent programme as well as stronger protections for MPs”, he said.
“We understand that the Amess family are still looking for answers and we take this incredibly seriously.
“While we do not think a public inquiry would unearth any information that has not already been assessed, the home secretary has confirmed that we will further scrutinise all the reviews that have taken place over the last few years. We very much hope this will help the family to get the justice they deserve.”
