A 21-YEAR-OLD former Huntington School pupil is standing for the Labour party in York.

The party has confirmed Luke Charters-Reid will fight the Conservative held seat, becoming one of its youngest ever candidates.

Mr Charters-Reid, who lives in Osbaldwick, introduced Ed Miliband at the Labour conference after Miliband won the leadership in 2010.

He said: "I went to school in Huntington, lived in Heworth, and also have lived in Strensall and Haxby."

He took up political campaigning aged 14 and helped the York Outer Labour candidates in 2010 and 2015.

After leaving Huntington School, Mr Charters-Reid continued his studies at Oxford, reading philosophy, politics and economics at Mansfield College.

He was treasurer of Oxford University Labour Club and treasurer of York Young Labour Club.

He went on help in the then York Central MP Hugh Bayley’s office, and now works for his family’s chartered surveying company.

Growing up in a one-parent family – his mother was diagnosed with a neurological condition and needed major surgery – Mr Charters-Reid said the experience of going with her to claim housing benefit had taught his what it is like for people who struggle on a day-to-day basis.

He added: "The fact that it was my family that struggled meant that I can really relate to the hundreds of people I have spoken to on the doorstep."

He added: "We need to expose the callous nature of Theresa May’s Tory government. From the bedroom tax, to her anti-immigrant vans, to a harsh Brexit that could strip workers of their vital rights.

"In York Outer, it will be all about getting as many young people out on the doorstep as possible – as well as many of the members of York Labour that I have known for a decade.

"One of my grandparents was a coal miner, the other worked in a bacon factory his whole life. Both make me proud to call myself a proud Northerner and a life-long Labour activist."

In York Outer Mr Charters-Reid will take on Conservative incumbent Julian Sturdy, Lib Dem candidate James Blanchard, and the Green Party's Bethan Vincent.