LEADER of the Labour Party Ed Miliband took a stroll down a Stockton street to chat to shopkeepers and small businessmen about how the high price of gas and electricity was affecting their businesses today, Friday, October 11.

Mr Miliband, who has promised to freeze energy prices for 20 months if he wins the election in 2015, ended up sipping a diet coke in The Oxbridge, discussing with drinkers what he would in the event of a Labour victory.

Earlier he arrived in a Ford Focus to the Nisa shop at a petrol station on Oxbridge Lane where he met shop owner Ian Stevenson.

Mr Stevenson said his electricity costs in 2010 were £12,141 but last year they were £28,836 and he expects the bill to top £30,000 by the end of this year.

He also pointed out that the first tanker of petrol he bought as a petrol station owner in 1978 cost under £4,000, but the last one cost £51,000.

After seeing Mr Stevenson’s electricity figures, Mr Miliband said: “It’s unbelieveable, crippling...profits have gone up but investment is actually going down.”

Mr Stevenson said he thought Mr Miliband was on to a good policy in his attempt to cut back on energy bills, but he was also concerned with other issues like immigration and Britain’s membership of the European Union.

Drinker at The Oxbridge, tool-maker Andy Hill, who had just finished his shift, had his picture taken with the Labour leader and listened to Mr Miliband talking about costs on business in the pub. “He did all right, I’ll probably vote for him,” he said.