The Greens have chosen Siân Berry as their candidate to try to hold Caroline Lucas’s Brighton Pavilion seat at the next general election.
This evening (Wednesday 19 July) the party announced that the London Assembly member had been elected in a ballot of local party members.
Britain’s only Green MP announced her intention to stand down last month although she said that she would still be campaigning on the environmental issues.
And Ms Berry said: “Caroline’s impact on politics in this country cannot be overstated.
“She truly is a force of nature and has been an extraordinary servant of the people of Brighton Pavilion as well as the Green Party. We are so proud of her achievements.”
Ms Berry, 49, was one of three candidates to run for the candidacy. With 71 per cent of the vote, she beat the two local contenders Emily O’Brien and Daniel Rue.
Earlier today, Ms Berry said on Twitter: “I just wanted to send huge thanks to Daniel and Emily for being excellent campaign rivals and great colleagues too.”
Ms Lucas said: “I am delighted that Sian Berry has been chosen by Brighton and Hove Green Party to run in the general election as our candidate in Brighton Pavilion.
“Sian is passionate, principled and experienced – she would be an absolutely brilliant MP and a powerful Green voice in Parliament.
“That Green voice is needed now more than ever. This decade we are making the political decisions that will determine the live-ability of our future.
“As your Green MP, Sian would demand climate and nature action equal to the size and scale of the emergency. She’d stand up for ambitious action on tackling inequality and on running our public services for the common good, not private profit.”
Voting started on Monday 3 July and closed at 5pm this afternoon.
Ms Berry is a former co-leader and principal speaker of the Green Party of England and Wales and has been their candidate for mayor of London three times, coming third in 2016 and 2021.
She has been a member of the London Assembly since 2016 and a councillor for the Highgate ward in Camden since 2014.
In her work she focuses on preserving and securing new council housing and renters’ rights, trying to make sure that young people can thrive and promoting equality.
She worked mainly in the policy area of transport before joining the assembly. She was a founder of the campaign group Alliance against Urban 4x4s in the early 2000s.
And she worked as a roads and sustainable transport campaigner for the charity Campaign for Better Transport for five years. She is also the author of a number of books on green issues.
Caroline Lucas, 62, became Britain’s first ever Green MP at the 2010 general election, with a majority of 1,252.
She has increased her total vote and her majority at each general election since and last time, in 2019, she won with 33,151 votes and a majority of 19.940.
She was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South East England constituency for 11 years, stepping down when she was elected to the Commons.
Ms Berry said: “I’ve learnt so much from her. She is an inspiration to me and to many people inside and outside the Green Party who want to see positive change in politics.”
Can’t imagine someone who failed to be elected in London three times and someone who jumped ship from Highgate is going to be well received, as this is clearly someone who wants to climb the political ladder and has very little concern for Brighton or it’s residents.
Failure to get elected is relative though, isn’t it? It’s almost impossible to get voted in as a Green MP anywhere else but Brighton Pav under our antiquated voting system.
And Labour and Tories parachute senior people into seats all the time, all over the place. ‘Your not from round here’ is a very shallow criticism and ought to be beneath you.
To be fair no one other than a Labour or Tory is going to be elected as Mayor of London.
But those 3 loses will stand her in good stead when the fails to retain the seat in the general election.
The local election results shows the Greens are no longer liked here.
She might have more chance of winning if she stood in Lewes where the Greens became the largest party and (and it should be a warning to Caufield) the Tories lost every seat they had.
I think she’s got a decent shot of winning. The local elections were exactly that, and were lost owing to a number of local factors, culminating in a near-suicidal announcement of public toilet closures.
By the time the general election comes next year the Labour council will be well into a programme of shutting public libraries and other cutbacks, and Kid Starver will be standing on a right wing manifesto designed to appeal to the ‘red wall’ seats. This will go down like a cup of cold sick in Brighton Pavilion.
“Kid Starver” is that the best you can do.
Why call him that when it’s a Tory policy.
Given his seniority I’m surprised Phelim wasn’t selected. Oh he didn’t stand 🤣 Pity we can’t clone Peter Kyle.
Great news to have Sean Berry in Brighton Pavilion she was great as job share Leader with Jonathan Bartley, before Carla Denyer & Adrian Ramsey. I am sure Sean has learnt a lot from Caroline & the fact that Caroline is happy with Sean taking over is absolutely good enough for me. Argus giving bad press about the Greens.
Argus support of Labour & Conservative is very evident by their reporting/slagging of the Green Party & Councillors. Does the nastiness from Labour & Conservative ever end, they do not give facts they just give bad press all the time. The Green Party is certainly not “the nasty party”.
‘Sean’ ? We don’t want to start a terf war, do we?
How could she be local MP and represent me when she lives in London. She seems to be some who is chasing political power for her own needs. Unfortunately it looks like we’ll loose the UKs only Green MP and I’ll have to vote for someone else for the first time in as long as I can remember
Independent survey shows that Brighton and Hove is one of the least “green” Cities. Says it all about the poor record of the “Green” party administration of the Council and the “Green” M.P.!