Greens’ only MP Lucas to step down at next election to focus on environment

Caroline Lucas said she felt more optimistic about the environment than when she first joined the Green party in 1986, as she prepared to retire from parliament after 13 years as her party’s only MP.

Lucas said she felt “gratitude” for her career as the Greens’ first MP, adding that she took heart that many of the causes she long championed were now the policies of both Labour and the Conservatives.

“The threats to the environment are ever more immediate, and the nature of the climate emergency is unfolding before our eyes,” she said. “However, balancing and outweighing that, is that so much has changed [since she joined the party in 1986]. We have got a generation of young people who are so committed to the cause. Some businesses are taking an alternative approach. The economics of shifting to a green economy are becoming clearer.”

Lucas announced yesterday morning she would not stand for reelection in Brighton Pavilion, a seat she has represented since 2010, adding that serving as an MP meant she had “struggled” to spend time fighting for the environment.

“I have become ever more motivated to dedicate myself fully to climate and nature, whereas at the moment I have to be the frontbench spokesperson on everything from benefits to Brexit.”

Lucas has been the most highprofile member of the Green party of England and Wales for decades, both as an MEP and MP, and on two occasions, as its leader. She first won her seat with a majority of 1,252 and has increased it at the subsequent three elections, with voters returning her to parliament with a majority of almost 20,000 in 2019.

During her time at or near the top of the party she helped transform it into a serious electoral force. She led a change in strategy under which members elected leaders for the first time and focused their campaign efforts in parts of the country where they were most likely to win. That strategy bore fruit this year when the party achieved its best ever local election results, winning 241 council seats and for the first time gaining majority control of a council, Mid Suffolk. However, the party lost control of Lucas’s own local council in Brighton and Hove.

Natalie Bennett, who succeeded Lucas, becoming party leader from 2012 to 2016, said: “Caroline has been an absolute colossus for the Green party and for the country.”

Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, the party’s current co-leaders, described Lucas as a force of nature.

Lucas also earned tributes from other parties’ MPs. Labour’s Chris Bryant called her “a beacon in a dark time”. The Liberal Democrat Layla Moran said her departure would be a loss to parliament, and the SNP’s John Nicolson said Lucas had been “a fine constituency representative and a principled advocate for change”.

‘I have become ever more motivated to dedicate myself fully to climate and nature’ Caroline Lucas

Brighton Pavilion MP