Labour Leader Ed Miliband welcomed this year’s Labour Women’s Dinner with the following message:

I am delighted that so many outstanding women have gathered tonight at the annual Labour Party Women’s Dinner. I am grateful for all the hard work that’s gone into putting on tonight’s event, and for the dedication you have all shown to our party during the past year.

Yvette Cooper MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work & Pensions, says that the coalition government’s cuts will disproportionately affect women. A study by the House of Commons Library shows that the effects of the emergency budget on women will be the ‘worst since the creation of the welfare state’.  It found that of the £8bn net revenue to be raised by financial year 2014-15, nearly £6bn will be from women, in contrast with just over £2bn from men.