Police charge suspect in slaying of UK MP Jo Cox

British police said on Saturday they had charged a suspect in the slaying of lawmaker Jo Cox.

West Yorkshire police said on its website that Thomas Mair, 52, had been charged with the murder of the 41-year-old mother of two.

"We have now charged a man with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon," West Yorkshire Police Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen said in a statement.

Mair was due to appear at Westminster Magistrates` Court on Saturday, Wallen said.

Cox, a supporter of Britain staying in the EU, was shot and stabbed on Thursday by a man who witnesses said shouted "Britain first", in her own electoral district near Leeds in the county of West Yorkshire in northern England.