A LEADING politician appealed to men and women alike to value their vote as she brought a controversial pink battle bus to Castle.

Harriet Harman MP, deputy leader of the Labour Party, endorsed the Guardian's campaign when she visited the area on the Woman to Woman tour on Friday.

"It's your Parliament, it's your Government and it's your democracy," she said.

"Whatever you vote, get out and vote and have your say."

She urged women in particular to use their vote in the 2015 General Election in May.

"Politics is too important to be left just to the men," she joked.

Ms Harman joined Julia Tickridge, Labour's prospective Parliamentary candidate for Weaver Vale, in a door knocking campaign to speak to women in Castle.

The pair also met parents outside Charles Darwin Primary School to discuss what they want from the Government.

"We've been having conversations on the doorstep and people are very interested and keen to find out more," Ms Harman said.

"I don't think they're particularly happy with the current Government and it's for us to reach out to them."

The tour of 70 constituencies is part of Labour's biggest women's campaign and follows statistics published in January that showed 9.1 million women in the UK did not vote in 2010.

Ms Harman said: "I think that sometimes women think 'is it going to make a difference to our lives? Will they understand us?' and it's for us to reach out and listen and show that there are women fighting for them."

She said that common concerns were the cost of childcare, pay not keeping in line with inflation and a growing issue for older women of juggling work, grandchildren and elderly parents.

Ms Harman said no-one in Castle had mentioned the colour of the bright pink Woman to Woman van, which has been branded 'sexist', 'patronising' and a 'Barbie bus' nationally since the tour launched on February 11.

"No-one we've talked to has mentioned the colour, but it has attracted their attention, they know what it's about," she said.

"But they've wanted to talk to us about the cost of childcare – there's so many serious issues to discuss."