Labour will have to choose its candidate for a key target seat in the county at the next election from an all-women shortlist.

Party chiefs have told the constituency association of Dover and Deal that it must have a female candidate in place as part of its drive to secure a gender balance in Parliament.

It is the only seat in the county and in Medway that has been told to choose a female candidate and the decision has not gone down well with local activists.

Sources have told the KM Group that at an association meeting, members voted by a significant margin for an open selection.

One member said the party wanted to select a candidate on merit rather than on gender and there was a resistance to be being told what to do.

However, the local vote has no bearing on the decision by Labour which has identified about 50 seats where it will field female candidates.

Party chiefs say they are aiming to boost the number of female MPs so that Parliament has an equal balance.

Simon Bannister, the secretary of the local association, said: “The local party is fully behind the plans to get more women elected to Parliament.

"We did have a meeting to discuss the issue and when we voted, the majority wanted us not to be on that list but the party has decided and we will work to get a good candidate in place.”

A former Labour county councillor in Dover has hit out at the edict, writing in a letter to the East Kent Mercury: “Once again the National Labour Party is to parachute people into a seat without everyone getting the choice of who to select.

"Many good candidates will be excluded by this silly move. The only winner will be Charlie Elphicke. When will Labour learn?”

At the general election, a record number of female MPs were elected - 208 - of which more than half - 119 - were Labour. However, the Conservatives had marginally fewer elected in 2017 - 67 compared to 70 at the election in 2015.

At the election in June, Labour fielded Stacey Blair as its candidate in the seat which was won by the Conservative Charlie Elphicke with a 6,437 majority. Both saw an increase in their share of the vote but Labour failed to dent the Conservative majority compared to 2015.

The Conservatives ruled out the use of all-women shortlists in 2016, with the party chairman Patrick McCloughlin saying the party preferred to give local associations the freedom to choose who they wanted.

In Kent, of the 17 MPs, five are women, four of which are Conservatives: Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford); Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood); Helen Whately (Faversham and Mid Kent); Helen Grant (Maidstone and the Weald); Rosie Duffield (Labour, Canterbury).