Rishi Sunak says he fears for daughter’s safety as he vows to lock up more criminals
Rishi Sunak has pledged to lock up more criminals as he revealed worries about his daughter walking to school alone.
The PM admitted many women and girls do not feel safe on Britain’s streets.
He told of his horror at the case of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was gunned down in her own home in Liverpool in the summer.
Mr Sunak vowed to make sure that his children and every youngster can walk around safely.
The PM and wife Akshata Murty have two daughters, Krishna, 11, and nine-year-old Anoushka.
The family moved out of Downing Street in his last few months as chancellor to allow his oldest child walk to school, although it did not happen in the end and now he is PM she is not able to wander unescorted.
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He said: “I want to make sure that my kids and everyone else can walk around safely. That’s what any parent wants for their children.
“It’s what anyone wants for them – particularly their wife or their sister as well.
“In the past I’ve taken it for granted, and many of us as men have, and we saw in the events of the last year showed us that so many women and girls, actually for a while have not felt as safe as they should.
“So tackling that and making it safer for people is something that’s just personally quite important to me.”
Mr Sunak said he wants to “charge more people and reduce crime and have them in jail”.
He added: “I come to it as a parent. My eldest is at the age where she’s starting to walk to places by herself or is wanting to.
“That’s why we were not in that flat in Downing Street in that last term when I was chancellor.
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“It was because she was going to start walking to her primary school – the last term of her primary school, she turned 11.
“And then she was allowed to walk to school by herself, which she didn’t end up doing for lots of other reasons.
“But that brings it home. It brings it home to you as a parent and again over the summer the awful things that we read about with the young girl Olivia, which we’ll all remember.”
The government announced in 2019 it would build 10,000 more prison places.
Latest figures show the UK prison population was around 89,500.
Mr Sunak gave a glimpse into the changes his family has gone through since his swift installation as Prime Minister less than a month ago.
He said moving back into the smaller flat above No 10, where the family lived when he was Chancellor, made it “quite familiar for the family”.
“So that bit has been easier than it otherwise might have been,” he said.
“But look it happened quite suddenly so it was a bit of an adjustment for everybody and I’ve been working pretty much night and day for the last couple of weeks because there’s a lot to get through.
“I haven’t really had time to stop and think.”
He said taking part in the Festival of Remembrance to honour the armed forces “was a pretty special moment which I won’t forget”.