Worcester Woman lives - and she could settle Ed Miliband's fate The dozen or so women gathered in a café above a charity shop on Monday had not met before, but all had been involved in a hard-fought though ultimately unsuccessful campaign led by the Labour candidate, Joy Squires, to retain an NHS walk-in clinic in the city centre. Invited by Mrs Squires to meet Liz Kendall, Labour's shadow care minister, the women - who included a nurse, a lawyer, a former magistrate and a civil servant - ranged in age from their twenties to over 70. While several were Labour supporters, many were floating voters, some of whom had backed the Tories and others the Greens. Irrespective of political allegiance, their primary concern was the NHS. One had relied on the walk-in centre, now closed, to treat the elderly mother for whom she cared single-handedly for 14 years. Another, who had suffered severe post-natal depression, wept as she spoke of the valiant but overworked mental health teams who helped her. Asked how she would vote, one woman said: "Whichever party can guarantee the NHS staying as the NHS." While that sentiment might reassure Mr Miliband, the women of Worcester also had uncomfortable messages for him and for the other party leaders. Worried about "too much sticking to Tory cuts" and reductions in legal aid, they were most alarmed about Labour's handling of immigration. While one woman was concerned about "being taken for a ride" and another felt "like a minority in my own road," several spoke out against what they saw as weakness in defending managed migration. "Labour has got to be much more positive," said one. We need migrants. And they're going to come here and pay their taxes," said another. A third believed Labour was "just in a race to the Right," while a fourth warned: "You have to educate people. This huge fear [of immigrants] is built on ignorance. In the clamour over Ukip (which, like Europe, was not mentioned), such sentiments are thought to belong to the diehard Left, not to floating voters, middle-class and mainly middle-aged, who live in a city where immigration is the biggest doorstep issue. If Mr Miliband can appeal neither to those concerned about migrant numbers nor to those alarmed by his perceived negativity, then he is in trouble. The other difficulty is personal. While the Worcester women did not care for David Cameron ("a dreadful man; entirely plastic"), nor were they much enamoured of Mr Miliband. "He doesn't have the common touch," said one. "Oh my God - Ed," added a second, despairingly. "Miliband isn't sexy or charismatic, but he says things that resonate," said a third, more hopefully. Although these views are straws in the pre-election wind, they are also evidence of the gulf between the governing and the governed. Much as their opinions varied, the women of Worcester were unanimous in their disillusion. "MPs never tell the truth," according to one participant. "I feel completely disempowered," said another, and no one round the table disagreed. "People are desperate for honesty and for passion," Liz Kendall said afterwards. They want to hear more from us. Their minds are open, but there is no way we have sealed the deal. As a frequent visitor to the constituency, she knows that the people of Worcester have a "golden vote." In her view, the road to Downing Street runs through the Midlands. While any political gazetteer features northern heartlands, southern discomfort, coastal drift and burgeoning cities, this unremarked swathe of England will be the seedbed, or the graveyard, of Labour hopes. Since 1997, the party has lost one million Midlands votes in a desertion that culminated in 2010 with defeat in 25 seats. With support having melted like snow in sunshine, Mr Miliband is running out of time to focus on forgotten areas and their neglected female voters. As the pollster and strategist Deborah Mattinson says: "Women are absolutely critical. They could make the difference between winning and losing. Mr Miliband cannot be accused of ignoring women, in Worcester or elsewhere, given his strong shadow cabinet team and some excellent female candidates, of whom Joy Squires is one. He has offered limited progress on child care and let it be known (belatedly) that Labour is going to focus on the family. He has proclaimed himself a feminist, albeit in a T-shirt that invited huge controversy. Mr Miliband may think he has done plenty. He would be wrong. Women no longer want an inventory of concessions. When choosing an administration, as opposed to compiling a wish-list for a Marks & Spencer sale, their first demand is competence to govern. Austerity and a clampdown on immigration, the hammers of the macho politician, do not impress those who want inspiration tempered with realism. Worcester Woman, grown older and more discerning since her incarnation as the pollsters" oracle, demands a leader with the boldness to seek great change and the frankness to own up to the limits of what is possible. If Ed Miliband is to maintain a hope of winning, then he should heed her.