MPs across south London have joined in paying tribute to Jo Cox, an MP who has died after she was shot and stabbed in her constituency this afternoon.

Mrs Cox, a mother-of-two, was holding her weekly surgery when she was attacked.

In a press conference held by West Yorkshire Police, Dee Collins, the chief constable, announced her death. 

She was 41-years-old. 

Tributes have poured in from across south London and north Surrey.

Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, Siobhain McDonagh, said her thoughts were with Mrs Cox’s children.

She said: "Jo was murdered doing her job. She is the mother of two young children. This is a really sad day for Britain.

"We weren’t good friends, but I knew her and would talk to her. She was lovely. Very hard working, very determined, and so tiny, she was less than 5ft tall.

"It’s just unbelievable, isn't it. We're all in shock, but nobody more so than her children."

Steve Reed, MP for Croydon North and a Labour colleague of Mrs Cox, said: "It's hard to process it, to be honest. You can't believe things like this can happen.

"I've never heard anyone say a bad word about Jo. She was a lovely, lovely woman; very caring, very compassionate, very thoughtful, very hard-working, really excited about becoming an MP. 

"We are all in shock."

He added: "She's got a really young family; two very young children and a husband. Imagine how they're feeling. It's not right.

"It just just terrible, it is awful. I feel so sorry for their family; the kids that will grow up up without their mum.

"And for what? Why would someone want to shoot Jo Cox? It's unbelievable."

Tania Mathias, MP for Twickenham, said she was praying for Ms Cox and her family.

Via her Facebook page she said: "RIP Jo Cox and may your family be bathed in love forever."

Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell: "This is a total tragedy. She was a smart young new MP who had made a real impact.

"To lose her in this way is a devastating for her family and a bitter blow for all of us in Parliament."

Conservative MP for Wimbledon, Raynes Park, Morden and Motspur Park, Stephen Hammond, said: "I am very saddened and very shocked to hear the news.

"There is a young family that has lost a mother. She was a member of Parliament who was well liked and well respected across the House as I understand it, although I didn’t know her personally.

"Everyone is shocked and distraught. Our thoughts are with her family at this terrible time."

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, said he was "deeply saddened by news of the death of Jo Cox".

Gavin Barwell, MP for Croydon Central, said: "It is an appalling tragedy, she was a bright, articulate, powerful advocate for her constituents but she also brought to Parliament expertise on issues like overseas aid and support for refugees from her work in Oxfam.

"I was shocked and obviously my initial reaction was praying for her and for her family, her husband and children, that she would pull through and I am devastated to hear that she hasn’t.

"She was one of those members who very rarely gave partisan speeches and when she spoke she always had something interesting to say, she was someone I admired."

The Conservative MP, who earlier this month was threatened by a man carrying a knife in his Shirley constituency office, added: "I don’t think any MPs expect this, the vast majority of the people you deal with as an MP are overwhelmingly kind and generous and welcoming.

"This is not just an attack on an individual MP, it is an attack on our democracy.

"But if we locked our MPs away and surround them with security guards all the time we would lose something very precious in our democracy which is people being able to speak to their MP face to face."

Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South who was elected to Parliament for the first time alongside Mrs Cox in May 2015, said: "She was a very dedicated and committed member of Parliament.

"What’s happened is appalling beyond words and I feel hugely for her young children.

"It is unbelievable that somebody could want to do that to somebody like Jo who was just trying to do her best for the community."

Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, said: "My thoughts are with her two young children.

"I have been really impressed by Jo. She made a huge impact not just in her constituency, but on a much bigger scale, particularly on issues in Syria.

"She was a really, truly impressive MP. One of the best, and a great loss."

Paul Scully, Conservative MP for Sutton and Cheam, said: "I’m just absolutely speechless.

"She worked hard for the community that she lives in, and this is just too difficult to compute.

"For her children to now have no mother, and for her husband to have suffered such a loss is just totally devastating."

Richmond MP Zac Goldsmith said: "What has happened is an unspeakable tragedy.

"Jo was a caring, hard working and popular MP, and she died doing her job in her local constituency, taking care of her constituents. All my thoughts are with her family and two small children."

Mayor of London and former Tooting MP Sadiq Khan said: "Everyone who met Jo knew she was special. I knew her from her time as a fearless campaigner working on behalf of some of the world’s poorest and most marginalised people and helped her, a little, in her campaign to become the Labour candidate and MP for Batley and Spen.

"She was the most powerful advocate for the people of Syria, ensuring their plight stayed on the political agenda as well as reminding us all of our country’s proud record of humanitarianism and brought her expertise to bear on some of the most pressing global challenges of our time. But she was also an extremely hard-working local MP for her home constituency and so proud of her roots there.

"Jo was one of the smartest and most independently minded MPs, respected by people from all parties."

In her maiden speech in the House of Commons in May 2015, Mrs Cox said: "Many honourable and right honourable members will try to lay claim to their constituencies being constituencies of two halves.

"I am another in that respect.

"It is a joy to represent such a diverse community."

She told Parliament that her constituency had been "enhanced" by immigration.

She said: "We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us."

Her husband Brendan Cox, said: "Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives - more difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love.

"She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love, and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her."

Mrs Cox was a Labour MP for Batley and Spen.