Gay human rights activist Peter Tatchell is hoping to be picked as the Green Party parliamentary candidate to contest the Oxford East constituency.

Mr Tatchell, who stood as a Labour candidate in London more than 20 years ago, is up against local resident and campaigner Matt Morton for the seat, currently held by Labour MP Andrew Smith.

Green Party members are currently being asked to vote for one of the men and spoke at a party meeting in Oxford Town Hall on Thursday.

Mr Tatchell told the Oxford Mail he would move to London Road in the city if he were successful.

He said: "I believe that Oxford could make history by electing Britain's first Green MP.

"Already one in five of the electorate vote Green in the local elections so if we can persuade them, and a few more, to vote Green in the general election we'll get a Green MP for Oxford East.

"I have got a very long record of campaigning for human rights, green issues and social justice and a lot of Labour Party members are disillusioned with the direction the party has gone and I think my record in standing up for ordinary people to be a strong attraction to many disillusioned Labour voters."

He added: "The key issues I'll be campaigning on are saving Radley Lakes, the Jericho Boatyard, against the Westgate shopping centre expansion and to try and stop the upcoming 600 redundancies in the NHS.

"I'm looking forward to to fighting a very strong local based campaign, linking up with local community groups to push forward an agenda that will ensure that Oxford East people get the services they deserve."

Mr Morton, a prominent figure in the campaign to save a boatyard in Jericho, said he was eager to eject Andrew Smith from the seat.

He said: "Oxford for me is the brain of Britain and as such is the only place that can challenge the dominance of London and Westminster. Everybody comes through Oxford so if we can make a difference here, we can have a global effect.

"On a local level, I think it's important to look at all of the normal social issues such as housing, health and education and to go back to social principles on all those things.

"For Oxford East it's a case of looking at the harmony of the community and harmonising it because you have got a lot of different ethnic cultures living together, and since the "War on Terror" has begun I have noticed a 'disease' between the people on the street."

The result of the ballot will be announced next week.