Wes Streeting, the shadow minister for health and social care, was in Workington to help Labour launch its campaign for the upcoming elections.
Mr Streeting joined members of the Labour group in the town centre.
Elections for the new Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council will take place on May 5 this year.
The new authorities will come into being in 2023 to replace the existing district councils and county council in the biggest shake-up of local government in the county in decades.
Cumberland Council will cover the area currently served by Allerdale, Copeland and Carlisle authorities and Westmorland and Furness will cover Eden, Barrow and South Lakeland. The county council will be dissolved and its functions taken on by the new councils.
