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Labour leader Ed Miliband cast off his Wallace and Gromit image when he was mobbed by a group of screaming young women on a hen night in Chester after his battle bus parked up outside their hotel.

One of the 25-strong group of hens from Knutsford spotted the Labour battle bus in City Road after she popped outside the Westminster Hotel for a crafty cigarette.

Within minutes the hen herself had been alerted along with the full entourage.

After some negotiations, Ed’s spin-doctors let the bride-to be on board for a brief one-to-one and a selfie. But after cries of ‘Ed, Ed, Ed!’ the man himself appeared at the door of the coach and waved for a group selfie.

The campaign trail

Ed and his officials were getting dropped off at Chester Railway Station to return home to London after a long day of campaigning in the hot sunshine which began in Wirral where he launched a hard stance on immigration.

Next stop was Chester Racecourse where Ed met Labour parliamentary candidate Chris Matheson, councillors and supporters on the roof-top terrace of the 1539 restaurant. Mr Matheson hopes to overturn the 2,583 majority of sitting MP Stephen Mosley when Britain goes to the polls on May 7.

(Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

To loud cheers, he told supporters: “It’s great to be here. I want to thank all of you for the incredible job that you’re doing. Secondly, I want to hear a very big Chester cheer for Chris Matheson and the brilliant campaign he’s running. Let’s hear it for Chris.

“Now I met a little boy called Aaron and it’s his sixth birthday at the beginning of May and he said to me as I left ’Are we going to get rid of David Cameron?’. What’s the answer to that? Are we going to get rid of David Cameron?!

When a loud collective response of ‘Yes!’ came back the Labour leader said in the party atmosphere: “That’s the answer I want to hear.”

Miliband's promises

He continued: “We know what we’re fighting for. We’re fighting for a country that doesn’t just work for the richest and most powerful but works for working people again and we know what the big choices are at this election. Are we going to raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour? (Yes!) Are we going to ban the exploitative zero hours contracts that mean insecurity for people? (Yes!) Are we going to have apprenticeships for our young people? (Yes!) Are we going to cut tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000? (Yes!) And, most of all, are we going to rescue our NHS from the hands of the Tories? (Yes!)

Mr Miliband then got back on his battle bus for a trip over the border to visit Asda at Queensferry but he wasn’t calling in for a cheap suit from George. He joined sitting MPs Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) and David Hanson (Delyn) as well as shadow Welsh secretary Owen Smith (Pontypridd) for a chat with Asda staff and customers about the issues facing them in their lives at the moment.

Later he told journalists: “It was really interesting talking with the Asda staff here. It’s what you hear in lots of parts of the nation in this election- cost of living. You know if David Cameron and George Osborne were here telling the staff the cost of living crisis is over, I think they’d get hollow laughs. One lady said she was doing four different jobs!”