Labour’s deputy leader has defended the choice of pink as the colour for a minibus that will tour constituencies to talk to female voters, saying that it had to be eye-catching.

Harriet Harman has denied the pink bus tour, an attempt by the party to recognise that women have different patterns in their working lives that need to be addressed by public policy, is patronising.

Labour MPs will use the minibus to talk to female voters “around the kitchen table” in an effort to win their vote in marginal constituencies, the party has revealed.

Speaking to ITV on Wednesday morning, Harman said she had signed off on the bus’s colour, which attracted a wide range of comments on social media.

“The reason it had to be eye-catching is because there’s a big hole in our democratic politics at the moment. In 2010 at the last general election, 9.1 million women didn’t vote.”

I can't help but think of this image when covering Labour's pink "Woman to Woman" bus pic.twitter.com/wKZdhKYPR7 — Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky) February 11, 2015



Harman said she did not think people would be discussing the colour of the bus when the campaign launched in Stevenage on Wednesday. “They will be discussing whether they get the same pay as men in their workplace, the same opportunities, whether they’re tearing their hair out looking for childcare … It’s really very serious issues, but I’m sure the bus is going to be looking great.”

The tour of 70 constituencies will focus on five areas that Labour has determined are key to women: childcare, social care, domestic violence, equal pay and political representation. Labour said it would engage with women outside the school gates, in shopping centres and in workplaces, with a particular emphasis on the 9 million who did not vote in the last election.

Lucy Powell, one of the party’s new general election co-ordinators, said Labour was taking its message to female voters because they wanted to “have a conversation about the kitchen table and around the kitchen table” rather than having an “economy that just reaches the boardroom table”.

All parties will be battling hard for the female vote in May’s election after a TNS poll for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour found a disproportionate number remained undecided – 35% compared with 25% of men.



Where CAN Harriet Harman have got her inspiration for the new Labour pink battle bus...? #barbiesvanisbetterthanyours pic.twitter.com/WBMWcp6VQp — Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) February 10, 2015

However, they will have to make an extra effort to avoid seeming like they are patronising voters after the Better Together campaign advert featuring “the woman who made her mind up”, which was criticised for being condescending.

Asked whether this charge could be levelled at the Woman to Woman pink bus tour, Harman said: “I don’t think it’s at all patronising to recognise that women have got different patterns of their working lives, there’s different patterns in families between what women do and what men do. That is to recognise the reality and to say public policy needs to address that.

“One danger there isn’t is that actually people won’t want to talk to us or engage with us and will think we’re patronising. I’m confident that people will think: ‘Well, there’s somebody here interested in my life and listening to me, about how I’ve got to work till I’m 67 and look after a relative and look after a grandchild, and I’m very good at my job but I’m underpaid’.”

Labour's women only battle bus hits the road (h/t @forwardnotback) pic.twitter.com/6sXxovN6Bd — General Boles (@GeneralBoles) February 10, 2015

The Labour deputy leader also explained the choice of bright pink, while acknowledging there had been some internal debate about the issue.

“There’s been a discussion about size and colour,” she said. “This is actually a One Nation Labour colour. It will attract attention and will be different from the normal thing of people shouting down the megaphone … Is it not magenta? We could have had red but that would look like all the other Labour vehicles, and we wanted to mark that this was something different. Then we looked at a darker red but it looked like a Pret a Manger van.

“We wanted it to look conspicuous and therefore a white van wasn’t going to do the job. We were not going to have it blue or any of the other [party] colours. We wanted it to be visible and I think it’s a great colour.”

The campaign was launched as Seema Malhotra, shadow minister for preventing violence against women, prepared to give a speech arguing greater gender equality in politics is necessary because “research shows that in general male lawmakers are less likely to initiate and pass laws that serve women and children’s interests”.

The use of the pink bus was immediately mocked by Labour’s political rivals.



Tory MP Caroline Dinenage said: “The wheels have come off the Labour bus. Getting Harriet Harman to drive around the country in a pink van to try to attract the female vote is as patronising as it gets. This is clearly just another divisive gimmick that the electorate will see through.”



A Liberal Democrat spokeswoman said: “Women voters won’t forget Labour’s car crash record on the economy just because Harriet Harman turns up in a pink van.”