The Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, is to stand down at the next general election.
She became Britain’s first Green MP in 2010, having previously served as an MEP (Member of the European Parliament).
In a letter to constituents, tweeted at 6.15am today, she said: “When I first stood to be your Member of Parliament back in 2010, I knew I was asking a lot of you.
“It was the closest election for a generation, in the midst of the worst recession since the war, and after people’s faith in politics had been trampled into the mud of the expenses scandal.
“Not the best time to come to people and ask them to take a risk and put their trust in a new kind of politics.
“But on the day of the general election in 2010, 16,238 people in Brighton did exactly that – and with the election of Britain’s first ever Green MP, together we made history.
“It has been the privilege of my life to serve this extraordinary constituency and community, both those who voted for me, and those who did not, ever since – and to see my majority increase at each of the subsequent three general elections.
“And when I think back over the past 13 years, my strongest emotion is deep gratitude. Thank you so much to all those who put your faith in me and put the politics of hope above the politics of fear.
“To every person who has stopped me on the bus and in the street to ask how I am and to share your personal stories and who has offered encouragement as I have stood up in Parliament to champion your concerns and to hold this government to account, thank you.
“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. The people who have come to me in my regular surgeries are often desperate, feeling like they have nowhere else to turn.
“They’re looking for care and compassion not the tangled bureaucratic web that passes for a safety net and that all too often just causes confusion and complication.
“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.
“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.
In 2010 #Brighton Pavilion made history by electing me UK’s 1st Green MP & it’s been the honour of my life. My open letter to residents & friends explains why I’m not standing at next General Election. With love & gratitude, I hope I’ve done you proud 👇https://t.co/H3QwRffE2x pic.twitter.com/GEavTgkgqJ
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) June 8, 2023
“The reason I came into politics was to change things. Thirteen years ago it’s inconceivable that Parliament would have declared a climate emergency.
“And I’ve put issues like a universal basic income and a legal right to access nature on the political agenda, secured the first parliamentary debate in a generation on drug law reform and, thanks to my work in Parliament, a natural history GCSE will soon be on the syllabus.
“I have said the previously unsayable, only to see it become part of the mainstream, on coal, on the myth that endless economic growth makes us happier, on a Green New Deal.
“My determination to try to make change is stronger than ever. I look forward to having the time to explore ever more imaginative and creative ways of helping to make a liveable future a reality. Watch this space!
“My heart will always be in this most special city and with the inspiring communities and individuals I’ve been privileged to get to know.
“On election night 2010, I pledged that I would do my very best to do you proud. I can only hope that – whether you voted for me or not – you will judge that that is what I have done.”
Whatever service and distinction she brought to the job she was also the vehicle which allowed the most incompetent local council in the country to be elected.
Her role in facilitating the election of some of the most unsuitable and ridiculous individuals to become councillors must never be allowed to be forgotten.
MPs have nothing to do with the council.
In any case, I’d suggest you Google Woking council or Croydon council if you want to see real incompetence and get a sense of perspective.
Tory led Woking council managed to build up over £1bn of debt and has just had to declare itself bankrupt. That’s much worse than a few missed bin collections.
Thank you so much Caroline. I admire your commitment, fortitude and courage. I look forward to see what comes next.
Who ??????????????????????
bad riddance = mind you, Labour has been infected by her potty schemes too : god save Pavilion
‘5 Homes’ Lucas
Every other party is now wedded to this insane “Net Zero” policy to drive us all into poverty under the guise of “saving the planet”. That’s her legacy.
And so yet again, we have the sorry spectacle of such people as Mr. Stains trotting out the lie of “5 Homes” (the other one favoured by Argus readers is that Caroline Lucas’s husband runs a haulage company when in fact, a former cricketer, he teaches English literature).
As for the fact that Caroline Lucas, like David Lepper before her, has decided to step down as MP after fourteen years, lo and behold one finds people presuming to tell others how to structure the course of their lives.
A little reflection would show that to serve another term would make almost twenty years. That is half a working a lifetime. How many regret staying in the same job longer than that?
It is surely inspiring that Caroline Lucas has decided that now is the time to address matters from another perspective.
Millionaire Lucas doesn’t even live in Brighton. She will receive a massive MPs pension on top of her £80,000 MEP’s pension and the rent from her properties abroad, and a seat in the House of Lords not bad for a communist. Lucas even supported the development of Patcham Court Farm. I remember Lucas turning up to Patcham Court Farm because she was told fracking was to happen there. She was was going to chain herself to the gate but was then told it was only a joke.
Some of the comments above are unfortunately very Argus-like (not you, Christopher, although I am absolutely not a Green supporter or fan). However, whatever one thinks about Caroline Lucas – she’s not my MP, so I offer no comment – she has at least shown very much more honesty and grace in her words to constituents about her impending departure than a certain pair of departed Green council ‘leaders’, one of whom seemed to take defeat as a totally unjustified affront to a personal agenda/crusade and responded in foul-mouthed fashion, and the other one, who was more comprehensively defeated and apparently has said nothing at all, even if anyone would want to hear it, which is doubtful.
To you only, Christopher, because nobody else would understand it, Macbeth Act 1, Scene 4, 1 – 8, with ‘her’ substituted for ‘him’.
Thanks!
I am just writing something which incorporates references to Shakespeare, so shall save these for that!
Wodehouse read him every year to fuel his own inspiration.
Though, that said, I must say that on the Council I did quote from King Lear the reference early on by Cordelia to “that glib and oily art, / To speak but purpose not” as being a perfect definition of spin. I forget what prompted it!
Lucas certainly has a lot of accolades to her name. Seems like a good time to step down though. And if she gets to continue what she is passionate about, then good for her. Wish her all the best in her future endeavours.