Caroline Lucas, the Green party’s first and only MP, has announced that 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 sent to her Brighton Pavilion constituents, Ms Lucas said the “threats to our precious planet” had become “ever more urgent”, but that her role in parliament as the Green Party’s only MP meant she was “ironically” unable to devote more attention to “accelerating crises” facing climate and nature.
“I have therefore decided not to stand again as your MP at the next election”, she said.
Ms Lucas served as Green party leader between 2008 and 2012 before returning as co-leader with Jonathan Bartley for two years from September 2016.
She joins a growing band of senior elected politicians who have declared that they will step down at the next election.
Ms Lucas successfully stood for the constituency of Brighton Pavilion at the 2010 General Election with a majority of 1,252, becoming the Green party’s first ever MP. She has increased that majority at every subsequent election and in 2019 it stood at 19,940.
Lucas has won many awards for her work as an MP. She was named the Most Influential MP in 2012 by the Political Studies Association and “Newcomer of the Year” in the Spectator’s 2010 Parliamentarian awards.
In her 13 years in Parliament, Ms Lucas, 62, said her achievements included putting issues such as a universal basic income and a legal right to access nature on the political agenda, as well as introducing a Natural History GCSE on the school syllabus which she said was “thanks to my work in Parliament”.
Ms Lucas was an influential member of the “People’s Vote” organisation which campaigned for a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. Lucas told attendees at the organisation’s launch: “[Brexit is] not inevitable … We’ll do everything we can in Parliament for a people’s vote. This issue is far too important to leave to the politicians”.
She has also campaigned for parliamentary reform and has been a prominent campaigner for animal rights.
In a letter to constituents, obtained by The Argus newspaper, Ms Lucas said she was looking forward to having more time to explore ways to make a “liveable future a reality.”
She wrote: “I love this city and its people, and I know how incredibly blessed I’ve been to have been given the opportunity to represent you, and to work alongside you.
“I have always prided myself on being, first and foremost, a good constituency MP. I’ve done everything possible to help wherever I can and always worked to ensure that people feel heard, that their concerns matter, and that they are not alone.
“But the intensity of these constituency commitments, together with the particular responsibilities of being my party’s sole MP, mean that, ironically, I’ve not been able to focus as much as I would like on the existential challenges that drive me – the nature and climate emergencies.
“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.”
The deadline for the next election to be held is January 28, 2025, with prime minister Rishi Sunak widely expected to trigger a poll sometime in autumn 2024.
