LABOUR Party leader Ed Miliband made a surprise visit to Worcester this afternoon - with a host of people asking him questions in an live Q & A.

Mr Milband addressed a crowd of around 150 people in Angel Place, and stood on a wooden pallet where he used a microphone to belt out a passionate speech.

The trip also saw him pop into local shops on a tour of the city, firstly heading to David Christopher Jewellers at The Cross to surprise staff, and then Colston Bakeries & Cafe Deco opposite Crowngate Shopping Centre for a snack.

During a question and answer session with the public, who had surrounded him in a circle outside Boston Tea Party, he pleaded with them to “vote Labour in the county council elections”.

He took at a swipe at David Cameron, insisting the so-called bedroom tax was “totally and utterly the wrong thing for the country” and pledged to scrap it if his party came to office.

During the trip, which took place before an authentic audience full of curious shoppers and young people on the way home from school, he called Worcester “a special place” which was suffering from public sector cuts.

Mr Miliband, who had no security as he walked down Foregate Street, shook hands with taxi drivers, startled office workers and other passers-by, asking each person how they were.

He was also heckled by some people, with one man shouting “go home” and another yelling “all politicians are liars” from over the road.

But the vast majority of the crowd were largely supportive as he answered questioned on a range of topics, from the bankers to fixing the economy.

“We are re-inventing politics in this country, you could watch me and David Cameron on Prime Minister’s Questions on TV but that’s boring,” he said.

“We need to get back to doing things like this and that’s why I am here.”

He also praised Labour Councillor Joy Squires, the party’s parliamentary candidate, describing her as “brilliant”, and said he believed they could take the seat from Conservative Robin Walker, who has a majority of nearly 3,000.

He also said people “feel the country is getting worse” and that only his party “can turn things around”, but said it could not be done without people voting them in.

Before the visit Mr Walker took a swipe at him, saying Mr Miliband’s visit “is welcome news, but not for the Labour Party”.

It was his third trip to Worcester in less than a year - yet more evidence of the city’s national political importance.

Every General Election post-war, whichever party has won Worcester has formed the next Government, either in full or via a Coalition.