Government Minister Mims Davies has revealed she has had a drink spiked on two occasions as she vowed to tackle the problem.

In a statement, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment said she had drinks tampered with in 2015 and again in 2019.

It follows reports of women being spiked via needle injections on nights out in recent months.

Ms Davies urged women who have been spiked to report it “immediately” to bar staff.

She said: “I know I felt embarrassed when it happened because feeling so unwell was so sudden, but I would say to women please don’t be. If this happens, do report it immediately to one of the bar or security staff, ensure the police are alerted, try and collect some evidence if you can.

“My biggest regret thinking back now is just chucking away whatever it was in my drink on the floor. We tried to find it later on but we couldn’t.

“I know it can be difficult to think straight through the shock and panic, especially if you suddenly don’t feel well, but if you can try and keep anything you find it would really help the police.”

Describing the incidents, she said: “One (was) in around 2015 at a now closed bar in Sussex. I was out with my then partner when I suddenly felt very ill and had to go home where I passed out.

“The next morning, I had next to no memory of a normal evening with my partner and realised something must have happened but was unsure what.”

She said that the other incident occurred when she found an object in her drink at a bar in Haywards Heath.

“I think this was a very lucky escape partly due to my awareness of the previous horrible experience,” she said.

“This time, I was out with friends and after moving from a dark part of the bar into the lighter part, I took a sip of my drink which tasted really strange.

“I then pulled out something black and tablet sized from the bottom of the glass and threw it on the floor, took another sip, thought better of it and then got a new drink.”

Ms Davies said she has written to Home Secretary Priti Patel to ask what more can be done to prevent women being spiked on nights out.

She added that she was determined to work with the Government and the nightlife industry to tackle the problem of drink spiking.

“We need to tackle the culprits who think this is an acceptable thing to put women through and stop this unacceptable practice that’s happening in our communities,” she said.

There have been 274 cases of spiking with a needle in the period from September to November 5 of this year.

Meanwhile, drink spiking has long been a problem, with 2,600 recorded cases of drink spiking in the UK between 2015 and 2019.