Labour has selected Dr Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt as its prospective parliamentary candidate for South Thanet at the next General Election.

Party members voted at a selection meeting held in Broadstairs on Saturday.

Dr Gordon-Nesbitt joined the Labour Party in 2015 having been inspired by the leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Her campaign website says: “For the first time in my lifetime, I felt a potential party leader represented my views.”

She says her Iranian background “makes me sensitive to the plight of migrants, which will be particularly relevant during the Brexit discussions in an area with a 64% leave vote.”

She works as a researcher to Lord Howarth of Newport, a Labour peer and former MP.

She edged out other hopefuls including the Thanet county councillor Karen Constantine, who had been an early favourite to win the nomination.

She said she sought the nomination as she was “committed to eradicating economic, social

and health inequalities in this area and beyond.”

Originally from Sheffield, she moved to Ramsgate in 2014 from Glasgow where she worked as a curator of contemporary art. She studied Art History at The Courtauld Institute of Art and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at University of Leeds.

She was involved in drafting a report for the all-party committee on Arts, Health and Wellbeing which said doctors should be encouraged to refer patients to art classes and poetry workshops in an effort to boost their health and wellbeing.

Outside politics she lists and interests football and Persian food.

South Thanet is among 94th of 100 target seats for Labour where it needs a swing of 6.4% to overcome the Conservative majority of 6,387.