Keighley MP Kris Hopkins has offered his support to calls for a plaque to be erected in Woolwich in memory of soldier Lee Rigby, who was murdered in May last year.

A campaign for a permanent memorial to be installed has received the support of Fusilier Rigby’s family but the local council in Woolwich, where he was killed, and local Labour MP Nick Raynsford have expressed their opposition.

Mr Hopkins – who served in Kenya, Germany and Northern Ireland with the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment – said he believed it was “right and proper” for Lee Rigby to be honoured by way of an appropriate memorial.

He said: “I simply do not accept the argument that a permanent memorial would encourage further acts of extremism. We cannot let the terrorists win and, by giving into this point of view, that is precisely what we will be doing.”