Image source, Sir David Amess/Twitter

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab says there seems to be a "certain inevitability" to Southend becoming a city after the murder of MP Sir David Amess, who long campaigned for the move.

Raab tells LBC radio there "feels like a certain inevitability about this campaign".

He adds: "Let me respect the mechanism for deciding it but say that I think it will be a very fitting tribute if it should come to pass."

Sir David's family have asked people to support campaigns that he was involved in, including helping Southend gain city status and fundraising for a memorial to Dame Vera Lynn, who he thought "epitomised the strength of the nation".

Some of his colleagues say making Southend a city would be the "perfect tribute".

A man has been arrested in connection with a death threat sent to Labour's Rhondda MP Chris Bryant.

South Wales Police say a 76-year-old from Pontycymer, Bridgend county, has been arrested on suspicion of malicious communications.

Officers were called at about 16:30 BST on 16 October after reports of malicious communications being sent.

Mr Bryant says he got the death threat after calling for people to be kinder following Sir David Amess's death.

Read the full story here.

We've got more from Justice Secretary Dominic Rabb, who says he has received death threats - but does not want to let terrorists win by stopping his meetings with constituents.

Raab tells BBC Breakfast that police have been in touch with him "to talk about practical things like concerns over constituency surgeries".

He says: "I've had three threats to life and limb over the last two years so of course I take it very seriously.

"At the end of the day, my feeling is - it's a personal one - is that we mustn't allow those who attack our democracy, who want to threaten us, who want to stop us talking to our consituents and serving our communities, we can't allow them to win."

MPs will share tributes to Sir David Amess in Parliament this afternoon, and the justice secretary has just told the BBC: "I still feel the friendship that he gave to me when I first became an MP."

Dominic Raab says he spoke with Sir David about animal welfare at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester a few weeks ago.

"He was a tenacious, formidable campaigner, a conviction politician known as 'Mr Southend', very much an Essex man who spoke authentically to his constituents," says Rabb.

Raab adds that one of Sir David's most admirable traits was that he was "able to talk and break bread with people from across the political divide even or perhaps especially when he disagreed with them".

We've got more from shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds, who tells BBC Breakfast that he has made changes to how he operates since the murder of fellow MP Jo Cox.

Cox was killed in 2016 by a far-right extremist in her Batley and Spen constituency - a seat now held by her sister, Kim Leadbeater.

"I have made changes since the terrible murder of Jo Cox," he says.

"Things like appointments for surgeries, things like being very careful of advertising where I go in advance, and I know that other members of Parliament do that now."

He adds that he hopes the wider review into MPs' security made its report "speedily".

Commenting on Diane Abbott's suggestion that MPs' surgeries take place behind screens to prevent further attacks, Thomas-Symonds says the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP "speaks from experience".

"I know that in recent years there was a survey that showed that she received around half of all the abuse that is directed at MPs," he says.

Image source, PA Media

Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds has told BBC Breakfast that he has been subject to death threats due to his job - and that he knows he is not "alone" in that regard.

"I've had incidents since I've become a member of Parliament, whether it's intimidation while out on the streets, death threats, terrible letters, awful emails," the Labour MP says.

"I am in no sense alone in that. I don't know a member of Parliament who has not suffered in that way. It's clear that something now has to change."

On the death of colleague Sir David Amess, Thomas-Symonds says it "hasn't sunk in".

"I still have a sense of disbelief, really, about what's happened."

He describes the Conservative MP for Southend West as "a very kind and very generous man".

"I first met David when I first came into Parliament in 2015," he says. "I hadn't previously worked in Parliament and I was still finding my way around the place.

"David approached me to ask how I was and how I was settling in. That conversation captured the essence of David. He was a very kind and very generous man."

The husband of murdered MP Jo Cox says there is "a set of very straightforward things that just need to be done" to make MPs safer from terrorism.

Brendan Cox tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Of course the home secretary and the speaker are right to be looking at the security of MPs because we need to make sure that is as good as it can be...but that is not going to be a panacea."

He says: "We should absolutely improve security but we shouldn't pretend that that's going to fix the problem."

Cox adds the statement from Sir David's family, which calls for "togetherness", is so important because society needs to change its response to terrorism.

"It's about denying terrorists what they want. They want that division so let's give them togetherness. They want that infamy so let's give them neglect, let's not put their pictures on the front page of newspapers, we have to stop playing into the hands of being the inadvertent amplifiers of terrorism."

He says we must "strengthen the defences on our diplomatic culture" and put a stop to the "day-to-day vitriol, abuse as well as the threats, intimidation and violence".

The killing of Sir David Amess comes five years after the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox. Her husband Brendan has been telling us how he felt when he heard the news.

"I had a very physical reaction to it," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"There was just being back in that moment five years ago when I got a phonecall about what had happened to Jo. So I guess just being back in that moment was very hard,"

"And then just a wave of emotion, of sadness, of sorrow for what his family would be going through having gone through something very similar, knowing those first moments where you hear about the attack but hope that it will be OK through to those moments when you get told and then you have to tell other people."

He says he and their children talk about Jo all the time and she is an "ongoing force in our family".

"For the kids, hearing about this over the weekend does bring it all back," he says.

He says the outpouring of grief will be a comfort to Sir David's family.

"That public reaction really did make a difference to us, it really did give us that sense of solidarity of kindness in a world which at that moment feels incredibly unkind."

Image source, PA Media

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lead MPs in paying tribute to their late colleague in the House of Commons this afternoon.

Politicians will have at least two hours from 15:30 BST to share their memories of Sir David, after prayers and a minute's silence.

This will be followed by a service at St Margaret's Church, next to Parliament.

Tributes to Sir David have been pouring in from politicians and constituents, with the PM calling him one of the most "kindest, nicest and gentle people in politics".

Home Secretary Priti Patel says his "infectious personality" meant he "touched so many lives".

Image source, Rex Features

The family of MP Sir David Amess say they are "enormously proud" of him and “broken” as they try to understand "why this awful thing has occurred".

In a statement, his family says:"We ask people to set aside their differences and show kindness and love to all. Please let some good come from this tragedy.

Sir David, 69, was married with four daughters and a son.

The family said the "wonderful" tributes paid to him by friends, constituents and the public had given them strength.

"We have realised from tributes paid that there was far, far more to David than even we, those closest to him, knew," they added.

They described Sir David as strong and courageous, a patriot and a man of peace.

We'll be bringing you updates throughout the day following the killing of MP Sir David Amess, who was stabbed during a meeting with his constituents in Essex on Friday.

• The Conservative MP was stabbed multiple times during his surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea
• His family say their hearts are shattered as they called on people to "set aside hatred and work towards togetherness"
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lead MPs in paying tribute to their colleague in the House of Commons later
• There will be prayers, a minute’s silence and a service at St Margaret's Church, next to Parliament
• Police are holding a 25-year-old man - named by Whitehall sources as Ali Harbi Ali - under the Terrorism Act
• Officers have until Friday to question him