A TRANSGENDER politician who won more than 20,000 votes at the last general election has been dropped by her party.

Sophie Cook picked up 20,882 votes as a Labour candidate in the Worthing East and Shoreham constituency in 2017.

But now the radio presenter and Premier League photographer has failed to be selected after a local ballot.

Ms Cook, from Lancing, says her defeat has set transgender representation in politics back years.

She said: “This doesn’t bode well for the chances of a trans candidate getting selected and winning in the future.

“It’s highly unlikely this sort of opportunity will come along again [for some time].”

The 2017 election saw a 20 per cent swing to Labour in the constituency and Ms Cook won an award for being the party's candidate of the year.

She was just 5,000 votes away from beating Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who retained his seat.

Ms Cook would have been the country’s first transgender MP.

She said: “Other [transgender] candidates have stood before, but I was the one that got the closest.

“Nothing can ever take away those 21,000 people who voted for me and how that makes you feel when you’ve spent your life hating yourself.

“It would have been great to carry on fighting for them, but alas, it wasn’t to be.”

Ms Cook finished third in the reselection process despite having the backing of the Unite union and Momentum, the hard-left wing of the Labour party that supports Jeremy Corbyn.

Shoreham councillor Lavinia O’Connor will now be the party's parliamentary candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham.

Ms Cook said: “I came in to politics to help people and I will continue to do that.

“I have no roles at the moment but I’m open to offers.”

The public speaker and author is now releasing a book titled Not Today: How I Chose Life.

In it she describes her own battle with mental health and a “political manifesto”.

“I am now travelling across the country speaking to audiences.

“It is that one-to-one communication which makes a difference in people’s lives that matters to me.”