A TWENTY-YEAR-OLD student reading Politics at the University of Sussex will contest the seat currently held by Green Party leader Caroline Lucas at the forthcoming General Election.

Solomon Curtis has been selected by the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party as their man for Brighton Pavilion, following the surprise resignation of their first choice.

Charity boss Michelle Thew had been named as the parliamentary candidate for the central Brighton seat, but withdrew for personal reasons, prompting the party to make the sudden change yesterday.

However not everyone was kept in the loop. Yesterday afternoon at 5pm the local Labour Party website still bore the banner: “Michelle Thew for MP!”

In 2015, Mr Solomon ran as the Labour candidate in the safe Tory seat of Wealden as an 18-year-old.

In his doomed fight against Nusrat Ghani, he increased the Labour share of the vote by 1.2 per cent when compared to the 2010 election.

That was less than the national swing to Labour of 1.5 per cent, in a year when crumbling Liberal Democrat support meant both Labour and the Tories increased their vote share.

The biography on Mr Solomon's Facebook campaign page states: “Grew up in Sussex, studied locally at Sussex University.

“Passionate about building a society and economy which works for the many and not the few.  Key passion for Education. Worked in Youth Engagement/Participation with belief that young people are our future and can change the world.”

His predecessor Ms Thew was named as the candidate for the constituency on May 1.

Upon her selection she said: “From now until polling day, I will be working hard to listen to the concerns of residents across Brighton Pavilion, in the city I love, and sharing Labour’s positive vision for the future of our country.”

She had previously been in the running for the Kemptown seat.

Read tomorrow's Argus for our exclusive interview with Mr Curtis.