Labour is to select its candidate to fight the seat of Dover and Deal at the next election from a four-strong all-women shortlist this weekend.

The constituency is among a number that party chiefs have been instructed to adopt an all-women shortlist as part of a drive to ensure the gender gap is closed at Westminster.

The four to battle it out for the selection include Michelle Dorrell, from Folkestone.

The hair salon owner hit the headlines when she confronted Amber Rudd during an episode of BBC’s “Question Time” in 2015 over cuts to tax credits.

She has since become the chairman of the South East branch of Momentum, the campaign group that backs Jeremy Corbyn.

The other three candidates are:

Charlotte Cornell, a former teacher from Whitstable, who is chief of staff to Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield and contested two Canterbury city council elections in 2011 and 2015;

Stacey Blair, who was the candidate in 2017 and works in adult care and was brought up in Dover;

Frances Rehal, a long-standing party activist who contested North Thanet at the last two general elections.

The seat was regarded as a possible Labour target in 2017 but the MP Charlie Elphicke increased the Conservative majority to 6,437.

It is one of 46 seats Labour intends to select a woman at the next election after the party’s better than expected performance in 2017.