Green Party MP Caroline Lucas to stand down at next election

Caroline Lucas became the first ever Green Party MP after being elected in 2010

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party's former leader and only MP, has announced she will stand down at the next general election.

Ms Lucas said the pressures of her role meant she had not been able to focus on "the challenges that drive me - the nature and climate emergencies".

She thanked her supporters, who she said had "put the politics of hope above the politics of fear".

She was elected for Brighton Pavilion in 2010, becoming the first Green MP.

Ms Lucas, who had two stints as Green leader, has increased her majority at every election since, winning by a margin of almost 20,000 votes in 2019.

The MP's decision comes a month after her party lost control of Brighton and Hove council, despite making record gains in May's local elections in England.

In an open letter, Ms Lucas said it had been the "privilege of my life to serve this extraordinary constituency and community".

She said: "I have always been a different kind of politician - as those who witnessed my arrest, court case and acquittal over peaceful protest at the fracking site in Balcombe nearly 10 years ago will recall.

"And the truth is, as these threats to our precious planet become ever more urgent, I have struggled to spend the time I want on these accelerating crises.

"I have therefore decided not to stand again as your MP at the next election."

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The Green Party's co-leader, Carla Denyer described Ms Lucas as a "force of nature" and said the party was "so proud of her achievements".

Ms Denyer - her party's candidate for the Bristol West constituency - said Ms Lucas's record "demonstrates how essential it is to have Green voices in UK politics".

The party's joint leader, Adrian Ramsay, said the Greens would be "striving to get more Green MPs elected at the next general election so that we can build on Caroline's achievements".

Green shoots

The party won its highest ever vote share of 3.8% in 2015's general election but Ms Lucas was the only Green candidate to win a seat.

Although Ms Lucas remains the only Green MP, the party has enjoyed success in recent local elections.

In England's local elections in May, the Green Party won more than 240 seats and made history in Mid-Suffolk, taking control of the council for the first time.

The Greens have traditionally performed best in urban areas, such as Brighton and Bristol, but the party concentrated its campaigning firepower on rural, traditional Tory areas.

Labour is now expected to focus efforts on trying to win the seat after taking control of Brighton and Hove Council from the Greens in May.

Labour sources point to the Greens facing anger locally over their management of the council and to their gains at the expense of the Greens in wards that map onto the parliamentary constituency.

One local party source said: "In May's local elections residents in Brighton delivered a damning and decisive verdict on the Green Party - with Labour winning nearly twice as many councillors as the Greens in Caroline Lucas' seat.

"Labour will continue to make the case to voters in Brighton Pavilion that we are the only party with the answers to the serious challenges facing the country."

Not retiring

Ms Lucas's first period as Green leader was between 2008 and 2012, before her second as co-leader with Jonathan Bartley for two years from September 2016.

The Brighton Pavilion MP said she came into politics "to change things".

She said she had put a universal basic income on the political agenda, secured the first parliamentary debate in a generation on drug law reform, and been involved in the addition of a natural history GCSE to the syllabus.

She told the BBC she was "definitely not quitting" politics, or "retiring with my knitting".

"I think right now, the Greens are at such as exciting stage," she said. "Working to get more Greens elected is my priority."

Ms Lucas is the latest senior MP to announce her departure from Parliament at the next election, which is expected to be held in 2024.

Dozens of MPs have stated their intention leave the Commons, including former health secretary Matt Hancock, the former deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, and former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford.