Greens MP Caroline Lucas will stand down at the next election
Caroline Lucas, the first and only Green Party MP, has announced she will stand down at the next general election.
Ms Lucas, who has represented Brighton Pavilion since 2010, said it had been “the privilege of my life to serve this extraordinary constituency and community”.
In a letter to her constituents at Brighton Pavilion, Ms Lucas said “threats to our precious planet” have become “increasingly urgent” but her role in parliament as the only Green MP means she is “ironically” not can devote more attention to “accelerating crises” of climate and nature.
“That’s why I decided not to run as your MP again in the next election,” she said.
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Ms Lucas served as leader of the Green Party between 2008 and 2012 before returning as co-leader with Jonathan Bartley for two years from September 2016.
She joins a growing group of senior elected politicians who have announced they will stand down at the next election.
Ms Lucas successfully stood for the Brighton Pavilion constituency in the 2010 general election with a majority of 1,252 votes, becoming the first ever Green Party MP. She increased this majority in each subsequent election, and in 2019 it stood at 19,940.
Lucas has received many awards for her work as an MP. She was named the Most Influential MP in 2012 by the Political Research Association and Rookie of the Year in spectator’Parliamentary awards of 2010.
During her 13 years in parliament, Ms Lucas, 62, said her achievements included putting issues such as a universal basic income and the legal right of access to nature on the political agenda, and introducing GCSE natural history into the school curriculum, which she “thanks to my work in parliament”.
Ms Lucas was an influential member of People’s Vote, which campaigned for a second referendum on Britain’s EU membership. Lucas told those present at the organization’s launch: “[Brexit is] not inevitable … We will do everything possible in parliament for the people’s vote. This issue is too important to leave it to politicians.”
She also advocated for parliamentary reform and was a prominent animal rights activist.
In a letter to voters received by Argus newspaper, Ms Lucas said she was looking forward to having more time to research ways to make a “livable future a reality”.
She wrote: “I love this city and its people and I know how incredibly lucky I am to have been given the opportunity to represent you and work alongside you.
“I have always been proud of the fact that I am, first of all, a good district deputy. I did my best to help wherever I could and always worked to make sure people felt heard, that their issues mattered and that they weren’t alone.
“But the intensity of these constituency commitments, along with the particular responsibilities of being my party’s only MP, mean that, ironically, I have not been able to focus as much as I would like on the existential issues that drive me – nature and the climate emergency .
“The truth is that these threats to our precious planet are becoming more pressing, and I’m struggling to spend the time I want on these accelerating crises.
“Therefore, I have decided not to run as your MP again in the next election.”
The deadline for the next election is January 28, 2025, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to initiate the poll in the fall of 2024.
