There have been times when I (very secretly) wished women had never got the vote. In nearly every election from 1945 to 2015, more women voted Tory than men; men-only votes would often have given us Labour governments. God knows why – older women’s traditional fear of change, social aspiration? But no longer.
Labour now has a larger lead among women than it does among men, according to a new Women’s Budget Group (WBG) poll. But a quarter of women have still not made up their minds, compared with just 11% of men (they are equally likely to vote). Despite “a generational trend of female voters moving away from Conservatives and towards Labour, our polling shows that women’s votes are in no way guaranteed and should not be taken for granted by any political party,” says its research and policy director, Zubaida Haque.
