Labour yesterday defended its approach to women voters after polls suggested there will be a lower turnout among women than men in the forthcoming election.
The Trade and Industry Minister, Ms Patricia Hewitt, said Labour politicians were talking to women about the issues that really matter to them.
She told GMTV's The Sunday Programme with Alastair Stewart: "What I find is that perhaps with women even more than men, all politics is local and what the women I meet and talk to and represent are interested in, is what's happening in their own schools, their own housing estates, their own local hospital.
"What you tend to see, I think, is the national campaign - that's what newspapers are reporting." Ms Hewitt defended the Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, for answering a question on the role of female ministers at a Labour news conference earlier this week.
She said: "I think Gordon was terrified that if he didn't answer the question he would be accused of trying to duck a hard question."