LABOUR’S deputy leader Harriet Harman brought her “big pink bus” to East Lancashire to talk to women about the importance of voting.

The shadow deputy prime minister toured Burnley, Colne and Rawtenstall in a bid to get more women to the polling stations for May’s general election.

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She was joined at the school gates of St James-the-Less and St Mary’s primary schools in Rawtenstall by Labour supporters as well as Heywood & Middleton MP Liz McInnes, who lives in the town, and Will Straw, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Rossendale & Darwen.

Mrs Harman said her Woman to Woman tour is aimed at reaching the more than nine million women who did not vote in the last election.

She said: “It has been good to come to East Lancashire and there has been a big emphasis on why people do not vote and giving those people the confidence to vote this year.

“We went to a Sure Start children’s centre and they had done a display about voting, so it is good that this tour is generating that discussion about voting.

“We have got to get out there and talk to people and not just expect them to vote.

“Nine million women did not vote last time and it is down to us to give them that confidence and the feeling that politicians are listening to them so there is a reason. That is why we have been coming to where women are, such as the school gates in Rawtenstall.”

Mrs Harman said she had spoken to a number of women about what their concerns were in the area.

She said: “The main issues are surrounding schools, childcare and the health service as well as pay not going up but the costs of living going up.”

Mr Straw said: “I am delighted that Harriet Harman has come to Rossendale to talk to mums and dads about the issues that face our families and to tell them what we would do.

“These are things like extending free childcare from 15 hours to 25 hours, which is really important, tackling low pay and making further moves to close the pay gap. We had a good reaction and lots of children have been taking home our balloons.”

Ms Harman has been MP for Camberwell & Peckham since 1982. She was first appointed to the cabinet in 1997 as Secretary of State for Social Security and the first Minister for Women.

After holding further cabinet and government positions on two further occasions, she became the leader of the Labour Party, and leader of the opposition, following the resignation of Gordon Brown in May 2010. She held both posts until Ed Miliband won the 2010 Labour leadership election.