David Cameron cancels Gibraltar speech after MP shooting

British Prime Minister David Cameron has cancelled a planned pro-European Union speech in Gibraltar after a Labour MP was shot in a village near the Leeds.

Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and seriously wounded in an attack earlier Thursday, Britain's Press Association reported. A 52-year-old man has been arrested.

Groups on both sides of the British EU referendum said they have suspended their campaigns.

Cameron was scheduled to make a two-hour visit to Gibraltar Thursday to seek votes to keep Britain in the EU in the June 23rd referendum. But he wrote on Twitter "I won't go ahead with tonight's rally in Gibraltar."

The West Yorkshire MP Cox remains in a critical conditon.

The mother-of-two , who represents Batley and Spen, was speaking to locals in Birstall near Leeds when she was set upon by the gunman.

An eyewitness said: 'Three times she was shot, the initial time, then she dropped to the floor and two more times. The third time he got close proximity he shot her round the head area.'

Ms Cox's husband Brendan Cox posted this photo of his wife shortly after the attack: