A 'CLEAR message' has been sent to police commissioner Philip Allott, said the chairman of Craven District Council last night after the council supported a vote of no confidence.

Almost every member of the council voted in support of a motion calling for the police, fire and crime commissioner to reconsider his position in the light of comments he made following the rape and murder of Sarah Everard.

Mr Allott was widely condemned for his comments suggesting Ms Everard “never should have submitted” to the arrest by killer Wayne Couzens.

Mr Allott took to Twitter to apologise for his 'insensitive comments' and retracted them in full. He later issued a fuller statement in which he said he had 'much to learn'.

At last night's meeting of the full council, Conservative member, Cllr Linda Brockbank called on her colleagues to support the motion that 'this council has no confidence in the commissioner'.

Cllr Andy Brown, Green Party, also called on his colleagues to send a strong message ahead of tomorrow's (Thursday) meeting of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel, in which it is understood Mr Allott will attend.

Cllr Brown described Mr Allott's comments as 'outrageous' and showed a lack of integrity.

"Is the leader of the council content for North Yorkshire to have a police and fire commissioner in office who believes that a murdered woman is partly to blame for what happened to her because she obeyed an instruction from a serving officer," he said.

Cllr Brown added that Mr Allott had shown himself 'incapable of speaking on behalf of the public in the matter of improving policing and making women safer'.

Labour's Cllr Chris Rose said she hoped every member would vote in favour of the no confidence vote.

"I was completely gob-smacked when I read what he had said. He suggested that women were at fault, and that was deplorable," she said.

Fellow Labour member, Cllr Peter Madeley said it was not a 'party-political' matter and that it was the right thing to do to support the no confidence vote.

Following the vote, council chairman, Cllr Alan Sutcliffe, said: "I think we gave a clear message there."