The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has rejected calls from the family of MP Sir David Amess for a public inquiry into his murder.

In a letter addressed to Lady Julia Amess and Katie Amess, Yvette Cooper said it was “hard to see how an inquiry would be able to go beyond” terrorist killer Ali Harbi Ali’s trial and recently published Prevent learning review.

Katie Amess, daughter of Sir David, said Cooper’s words were “adding salt on to an open wound”, branding them “unacceptable” and “insulting”.

Sir David, the Conservative MP for Southend West, was stabbed to death by Ali, a so-called Islamic State fanatic, at a constituency surgery on 15 October 2021.

His widow, Lady Amess, said Sir Keir Starmer should “go away and reconsider the government’s position” ahead of the family’s meeting with the prime minister and the home secretary on Wednesday.

Describing her reaction to the letter, Katie Amess said she felt “sadness, betrayal, pain and just heartbreak, really”.