‘I want to give mid-life women a voice’: Labour’s Anneliese Dodds on menopause, careers and the WI

Anneliese Dodds says mid-life women ‘will resist being pigeonholed, but their concerns have not been often listened to’. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

Workington Man was 2019’s symbolic voter – a pro-Brexit former Labour voter without a university education whom the Tories hoped to attract in droves. Looking ahead to the 2024 election, Labour eyes are on voters from Workington, as well as Worthing and Worcester – but they are on middle-aged women.

The party is targeting women who might be seen as traditional Tory voters: those aged between 45 and 65 but often squeezed between childcare, social care and a demanding career, as well as at the brunt of some of the worst NHS waiting lists.