LABOUR’S famous pink battle bus rolled into town today, carrying the party’s deputy leader, Harriet Harman.

She was in Swindon to speak to students and staff at New College to try to find out why so many young people and women do not vote.

The bus, which has attracted much media attention because of its garish look, is part of the Woman to Woman tour which Labour is using to encourage more women to vote.

Joined by the parliamentary candidate for South Swindon, Anne Snelgrove, the shadow culture secretary held a question and answer session with more than 100 people.

Mrs Harman, the MP for Camberwell and Peckham, said: “It has been a very dynamic and interesting discussion, with the young people having a lot of clear and confident views but feeling their views are not understood by those in politics.

“Also there was a very big discussion about whether or not the lives of young women are going to be more equal than those of their mothers, which they feel they are.

“I think listening to them has been very important for us today and it’s about us being in tune with what people’s concerns are rather than sitting in Westminster telling people what we think they think.”

Although not everyone in the room was a Labour supporter, Mrs Snelgrove said it was a very helpful afternoon to understand what needs to be done to encourage younger people to engage with politics.

She said: “It was a great mixture of students and the general public. I thought it was fascinating, with lots of passion in the room.

“The election campaign has been a bit lacking in passion for me so it was great to see so much of it in there. The young people in particular are very passionate about making sure there is more information about politics in schools.

“Some of them said they weren’t going to vote because they did not have enough information, which I think is very sad.

“ I will take that on board and make sure we do something about that when we’re elected.”

The principal of New College, Graham Taylor, said such events were important in helping to increase knowledge and interest in politics.

He said: “It’s important for all the youngsters, and we have 3,000 of them here, to learn about the political scene.

“The more politicians we have of any political hue who come in and talk politics and look at why youngsters don’t vote is really useful to our learners.”

APPEAL TO SAVE CHILDREN'S CENTRES

While in Swindon, Harriet Harman also met users of the Croft Children’s Centre, which is to close at the end of the month.

The move is being made to save money as the council  faces a budget deficit but last week Anne Snelgrove, Labour’s PCC for Swindon, wrote to the council leader calling for them to remain open until after the election, a move supported by her party’s deputy leader.

Mrs Harman said: “It’s really heartbreaking that you’ve got these purpose-built centres which bring together everything children need and then find they are to be mothballed.

“The council should keep them open. If it’s a Labour Government after May we are going to have 25 hours free child care which is going to be paid for by a levy on the banks. This will bring money into children’s services and we want to make sure those centres are still there.”

Council Leader David Renard has replied saying it is not possible to reverse the decision at this late stage and questioned why there was nothing in Labour’s budget.

Speaking earlier in the week, he said: “I am not going to overturn a decision which was passed by full council at the request of someone not on the council. We passed the budget last week, which Labour did not vote against, and there was nothing in their amendments mentioning reversing the decisions.”

The Labour Group has said it did not look to reverse the decision because it was a Conservative budget so they could not put in changes of  this size.