The Only Thing Worse Than The Pink Labour Bus Is 9 Million Women Not Voting

There are only 84 days until the next General Election so it should come as no great shock that the leading parties are pulling out all the stops to get our attention, curry favour and lure us into the polling booths.

The Conservatives made the headlines after their Black and White fundraiser on Monday night, where the most controversial lot turned out to be a shoe-shopping trip with Home Secretary Theresa May.

One donor forked out over £17,500 for the honor of afternoon tea and a chance to go wild in the aisles with May but then these are the kinds of people who will pay £210,000 for a bronze bust of Margaret Thatcher so there really is no accounting for taste.

Now it’s Labour’s turn to irritate female voters as they unveiled the latest weapon in their arsenal to get their man back into Number 10 – a pink minibus.

The 16-seater is emblazoned with the slogan ‘Woman to Woman’ and is targeting the all-important British female vote.

Deputy Leader Harriet Harman is leading the charge, which she calls Labour’s first “proper” women’s campaign.

‘We don't want women to give up on politics,’ explained Harman.

‘If you look at the figures, the disaffection that there is with politics is even more pronounced among women.’

She is referring to the 9.1 million women who did not vote in the last General Election in 2010.

Nine million.

The hashtag #pinkbus has been trending on Twitter this morning, with many tweeting their outrage at the ‘patronising’ choice of colour.

Harman defended the van as being the “One Nation Labour colour”:

‘We wanted it to look conspicuous and therefore a white van was not going to do the job.’

Fair play to you, you’ve got us all talking about it even if Labour are now being branded sexist and narrow-minded.

But don’t play dumb Harriet, you and your team knew you were going to court controversy when you rolled up in Scarborough in a hot pink van to try and court the female vote.

This shouldn’t come as news to anyone but not all women are naturally drawn to pink things and these kinds of skewed gender stereotypes aren’t going to do any of the parties any favours in 2015.

As gay marriage is legalized and companies are publically shamed for gender specific toys and clothing, the time for outdated and restrictive cultural norms is over.

A pink bus travelling around talking about issues such as childcare and domestic violence isn’t just insulting to women; it excludes men from these debates too.

If Labour really want to engage the shocking number of women who don’t make it to the polling booths, it’s time to forget about men’s vs. women’s issues and realize these are issues for all Brits.

All men and women should be worried about the fact that two women in England and Wales are killed at the hands of their partner every week.

All men and women should care that HSBC bank have been accused of helping their wealthiest clients dodge millions of pounds worth of tax, in some cases actively breaking the law to do so.

While a pink bus is no doubt reductive, at least we as a nation are now talking about the female voting crisis – and that’s what it is, a crisis.

Whether this makes women actually go to the polls in May or not remains to be seen.

Liberal Democrats, your move.

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