Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer received an unexpected kiss as he visited voters in Cumbria on Thursday morning.
While another woman handed Sir Keir a bunch of red tulips and told him “good luck with everything”.
Sir Keir spoke to voters about the cost-of-living crisis before next week’s local elections.
He spent Thursday morning in Workington, where voters will soon be going to the polls to select councillors for the new unitary authority of Cumberland.
A women kissed Sir Keir Starmer on the cheek
GB News
Sir Keir spoke to voters about the cost-of-living crisis
James Manning
He walked through the town centre with Labour council candidates Barbara Cannon and Mark Fryer, with many voters stopping him to chat about issues including the rising cost of living.
Sir Keir said: “Right now, people are really concerned about their energy bills, their fuel bills, their food bills all going up, their wages not going up and, if you can believe it, the Government has chosen this moment, this week, to impose new tax on them – national insurance tax.
“So, people will be looking at their pay slip this week and thinking, ‘I can’t afford my bills and the Government is now taking even more money from me in tax’.
“I think, if anything, it demonstrates the Government is totally out of touch with the concerns of working people across the country.”
He added: “What I want to see is a windfall tax on oil and gas companies in the North Sea.
“They made more money than they were expecting because of the high global prices and what we, the Labour party, say is windfall tax on that – use it directly to pay the energy bills of people who are struggling, particularly those that are struggling most, by up to £600, so it’s a practical plan on the table.
“Also, we say, we wouldn’t introduce this tax hike that the Government has imposed this week.
“So, I’m afraid the Government has got it completely wrong. We’ve got a practical plan and what I want is an emergency budget so we can actually do something to help people struggling with their bills.”