MOMENTUM will vote to force MP Peter Kyle to battle for his own seat and support a candidate against him, an organiser has said.

It comes as the pro-Jeremy Corbyn group announces Operation Red Flag, a campaign to get Labour MPs elected in Sussex in the coming “life or death” election.

Mr Kyle, the Labour MP for Hove and Portslade, must endure five ballots of branch party members asking whether they want him to face a reselection battle.

If two of the five branches vote that he should, Mr Kyle will have to campaign against other party candidates to stand for the seat in the next election.

Johnbosco Nwogbo, an organiser at Brighton Momentum, said activists will vote to trigger a ballot as they believe in an “open selection”.

He said the group would “absolutely” support another candidate in a reselection battle – and said it should be the case with every candidate. He said: “It’s the principle that before any election, a sitting MP should receive a fresh mandate, which is very good for the MP.”

Talking about the selection of candidates, he said: “Labour has about an 18,000 majority and people will come out the woodwork.

“We could have the next Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Hove, we could have a charismatic, socialist, hard-working LGBT woman.

“That’s why we support open selection, to allow people with the right story and right politics to come through.

“That happens when we have the option of choosing from a wide array of people.”

Brighton and Hove Momentum members have launched Operation Red Flag to take over Sussex seats in “life or death” election.

Momentum organisers say it is a co-ordinated campaign to keep Labour MPs in Kemptown and Hove as well as campaigning to get new Labour MPs in East Worthing and Crawley.

The Brighton Pavilion seat, which is currently held by Green Caroline Lucas, is not mentioned.

Mr Nwogbo said: “We want to bring together Labour members to effectively channel our efforts where we currently have Labour MPs and areas where we could campaign and win.”

Responding to the announcement, Peter Kyle said: “I urge the residents in Hove and Portslade to ignore the pronouncements from Mr Nwogbo.

“Momentum is not the Labour Party nor affiliated to it. Mr Nwogbo lives in Brighton, not Hove.

“At the selection meetings every member will receive a vote to re-select me, so Mr Nwogbo is also incorrect when he says it needs to go to open selection as an exercise in democracy.

“I’m ready, willing and able to fight the next general election whenever it comes, so I hope Labour members will quickly show their support for me and then I can focus on the real job in hand – stopping Boris Johnson’s kamikaze Government and being an effective voice for local people.”