So, how are you going to get women to vote in this election?

By showing the difference that we can make to women’s lives. Women are at the sharp end of so many of the injustices in our society. If you think about low pay, I’ve got plans to raise the minimum wage to more than £8 an hour; zero-hours contracts, the insecurity that comes with that; if you think about caring, women often bear the brunt of caring responsibilities and we’ve got plans to expand nursery provision; and having a decent health- and social-care system is fundamental to our NHS Time To Care Fund [a pledged £2.5billion a year on top of Conservative spending plans].

And then there’s a wider point which is housing. That’s about building more homes but also, I’m very proud that we’re the first party in a generation to say we’ll do something about the private renting sector. We’re going to stop letting agents charging tenants fees, we’re going to have three-year tenancies with predictable rent changes. I think the other point is the gender pay gap – 45 years on from the Equal Pay Act we still don’t have equal pay for work of equal value. There’s another point – I want the government I lead to look like the country that we seek to serve. Something like 40% of our shadow cabinet are women, I want to get to 50%. A third of our parliamentary Labour Party is women – I want us to get to 50%.

The last thing I’ll say, one of the things that I’ve been most impressed with [while being in opposition] is the new feminist movement and campaigning about everyday sexism. That’s an issue that male politicians and female politicians should be talking about. Because what I’ve learned is that while legal change is really important, it is not a substitute for cultural change. And for all of those reasons, I’m a politician who believes in equality. That’s what brought me into the Labour Party, that’s what brought me into politics, and there’s no more pressing issue of inequality and injustice than making sure we have gender equality in our country.

OK. That’s very… comprehensive.

[Laughs] I’m sorry, I’m sorry! [Laughs] I don’t normally give such long answers.

What do you think will be the biggest challenges of any party that comes in to government?

For Labour, it’s showing we can make a difference in a credible way. Because we’re going to cut the deficit every year and balance the books, but I think we can still make a difference. I’m somebody who believes that the role of government is to stand up on behalf of those who have less power against those who have more power. Landlords and tenants is one example; there are lots of tenants who feel, ‘I have no power’, and I’m going do something about that. There are lots of people in really insecure jobs, zero-hours contracts; it’s like 19th-century working conditions in the 21st century and if the government doesn’t do something then it just carries on. So I think the challenges are showing that you can make a difference even in tough times. I think we can.

The political interview; Ed Miliband, Labour Party