MP Jo Cox has been stabbed and shot in attack in West Yorkshire

Labour MP Jo Cox has been seriously injured following an attack in West Yorkshire.

It is believed the 41 year old mother of two was shot and stabbed in near the town library in Birstall, near Dewsbury. A 52 year old man has now been arrested as a result of the attack. West Yorkshire Police have released a statement about the stabbing and shooting. It said: "At 12.53 today, police were called to a report of an incident on Market Street, Birstall, where a woman in her 40s had suffered serious injuries and is in a critical condition. "A man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby also suffered slight injuries. According to a Labour source, Cox was attacked sometime after 1pm after she had conducted her morning surgery for constituents. Speaking to Sky News, witness Hithem Ben Abdallah said the weapon used to attack Jo seemed handmade. "It looked like a gun from, I don't know, the First World War or a makeshift, handmade gun. It's not sort of like the kind of gun you see normally." "The man stepped back with the gun and fired it and then he fired a second shot, as he was firing he was looking down at the ground," he said. "There was a guy who was being very brave and another guy with a white baseball cap who he was trying to control and the man in the baseball cap suddenly pulled a gun from his bag". Jo Cox was taken to the Leeds General Infirmary where there are armed police outside.