Harriet Harman, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party has launched Amplify - www.labourwomen.org.uk - a new website highlighting the role of women in the Labour Party and working to ensure further progress towards equality.

Amplify will: •        Turn the spotlight on how the Tories with their Lib Dem allies are hitting women hardest. •        Campaign to protect the advances for women that were made by the last Labour Government - on childcare, on domestic violence, on women's rights at work- and help us to continue to make further progress towards equality. •        Discuss what women want from their government and their local authorities.    •        Provide a forum where Labour women can discuss ideas and campaign for a 2015 manifesto which takes forward the progress made by the last Labour government.   •        Become a place for women to get involved in Labour campaigns all around the country in the run-up to the General Election in 2015

Harriet Harman, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party said:

“Amplify will bring together women from across the Labour movement - members and supporters, trade unionists, politicians, feminists and community campaigners.

“Together we will work to ensure we continue to make further progress towards equality and highlight how the Tory-Lib Dem Government – particularly with the cost-of-living crisis - is hitting women hardest.”   Gloria De Piero, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities said:

“Today far too many women feel disconnected from politics.

“David Cameron and Nick Clegg have tuned women’s voices out. They have shut women out of the top table of politics and have lost touch with the reality of women’s lives and struggles.

“But Labour is listening. On the weekend of International Women’s Day Labour is holding events across every part of Britain with women from every generation, background and perspective to find out ‘What Women Want’.

“And ‘Amplify’ will give women in the Labour Party and outside it a platform not just to be heard but to send their messages right to the heart of our Party and our politics.”   Ends   Editors’ notes   1.   Link to the Amplify website: www.labourwomen.org.uk