A fitting tribute

The BBC report:

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the Queen has agreed Southend will be granted city status following the killing of MP Sir David Amess.

Sir David was stabbed to death at Belfairs Methodist Church on Friday.

He regularly championed Southend’s case to be a city during his time in Parliament.

Mr Johnson told the House of Commons he was “happy” to announce Southend “will be accorded the city status it so clearly deserves”.

The prime minister said: “That Sir David spent almost 40 years in this House, but not one day in ministerial office, tells everything about where his priorities lay.”

He added Sir David “never once witnessed any achievement by any resident of Southend that could not somehow be cited in his bid to secure city status for that distinguished town”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told Parliament he was “so pleased” by the announcement.

Sir Keir said the news was “a fitting tribute to Sir David’s hard work”.

His murder was chilling. MPs should not have to worry about being killed as they meet constituents. We want MPs to be accessible.

He campaigned for Southend to be a city for 40 years, so a nice tribute by the Government to grant it, as a way to honour him.

For those interested Southend-on-Sea is in SE Essex and has a population of 183,000. It has the longest pleasure pier in the world – around 2.2 kms long.