Josephine O’Carroll, who served in the air force for 25 years, will stand as a Conservative candidate in the newly created Kemptown ward.

Since retiring, she moved to Brighton in 2010, earned a degree from the University of Sussex, and currently serves as the city’s first trans leader of a political association, Kemptown and Peacehaven Conservatives.

If elected, she would join only a small number of trans women to hold public office.

The 69-year-old said such a feat would serve as a reminder of Brighton’s welcoming nature of the LGBTQ+ community.

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She said: “It would be good for the community to feel that, in the present climate, they get supported at least in Brighton and that it is a good safe place.”

However, Josephine said that trans issues are not driving her run as a candidate.

“I’m a Conservative that happens to be transgender,” she said.

During her time in the Armed Forces, Josephine was posted abroad in various locations, including Spain, the United States and the UAE.

She said when she lived in Alcala de Henares, near Madrid, it was “spotlessly clean and everybody took a lot of pride in the place”, which stands in sharp contrast to Brighton.

“When you look at what’s happening with the council, you get frustrated because it is a council which seems to be fighting political battles and doing unproductive things rather than doing the basics,” she said.

“I’ve been chasing the council about Madeira Terraces for the last decade as they have been gradually rotting and falling apart. They are the face of Brighton and are something that appears on postcards.

“I would have thought the council would be getting that fixed, rather than focusing on something like Valley Gardens.”

Josephine encouraged voters to look back at the last decade of Labour and Green-led administrations and how they have run the city and opt for change.

She said: “Look back at the last time the Conservatives last ran the city and look at the condition of the city now.

“You’ve had 12 years run by Labour or Labour and the Greens and the city has been gradually degenerating and falling apart.

“If you want somebody in who is going to spend money and concentrate on trying to keep the city right, then put the Conservatives back in again - otherwise you’re just going to see more of the same for the next four years.”

Full list of candidates for Kemptown ward

• Robert Brown, Liberal Democrats
• Ewan Clinch, Conservative Party
• Bharti Gajjar, Labour Party
• Dominique Hall, Liberal Democrats
• Lynn-Ora Knott, Green Party
• Josephine O’Carroll, Conservative Party
• Ben Simmonds, Green Party
• Alan Towler, Brighton and Hove Independents
• Gary Wilkinson, Labour Party

Voters will go to the polls across the city on May 4 to elect 54 councillors for the next four years.

The deadline to register to vote is April 17 - applications can be completed online at gov.uk/register-to-vote.