PM Rishi Sunak shares condolences to family of Chesterfield's Gracie Spinks during pub voter visit

He made the comments during a visit to a Rotherham pub ahead of the general election in which he insisted Rother Valley will re-elect a Conservative MP this year.

While fielding questions at the Queens Hotel in Maltby Mr Sunak was asked how the Government planned to ensure every police force has enough resources in place to protect women from the offence.

Replying, he said: "First of all, really sorry to hear about what happened to Gracie, and of course my thoughts will be with her friends and family.

"I'm a dad of two young girls, I care very deeply about making sure that our communities are places where, especially young girls and young women feel safe when they're walking around, particularly at night and we are making progress on that.

"Of course, there's always more to do.”

After listing measures such as 20,000 more police officers on the streets and more powers “like stop and search”, he added: “But when it comes to things like violence against women and girls in particular, what we've done is make sure that we have a range of new offences, stalking being one of them, coercive behaviour, the sharing of intimate images, spiking is something that we're dealing with now, so they are all the types of things that campaigners have spoken to us about.

"What we're also doing is investing in safer communities with practical things like CCTV and better street lighting.

"Those kinds of practical improvements that improve the safety of an area. Of course we've got more work to do but it's something that I care about personally as a dad.

"We are making progress and we will keep going until everyone feels as safe as they deserve to be."

Gracie Spinks was murdered by her stalker Michael Sellers in June 2021.

Following an inquest into her death coroner Matthew Kewley called on the Government to act on a lack of stalking advocates in police forces across the country, labelling it a “postcode lottery”.

Gracie’s parents Richards Spinks and Alison Ward have been campaigning to have stalking advocates in place across all police forces.

In December new clauses were suggested to the Victims and Prisoners Bill which would, if the Act is passed, obligate the Secretary of State to assess the adequacy of the number of stalking advocates in each region of England and Wales.

Commenting on the Victims and Prisoners Bill earlier this year, Richard said his and Gracie’s mother Alison Ward’s ultimate goal was still to see stalking advocates in post across all police forces.

However, he added: “We’re not finished yet though and will keep pushing for these changes.

"A lot is happening and I’m really quite enthused by it all, it’s very positive and I think this year we can really make some changes.

"We’ll never get over the grieving side of it and what it’s done to our family and our lives but it has helped a great deal to know that what happened to Gracie is saving lives and making a difference and making changes."