Green party leader Caroline Lucas steps down

Green party leader Caroline Lucas has announced she is standing down to help other members raise their profile.

Ms Lucas, 51, who will remain the party’s only MP, for Brighton Pavilion, hopes the move will give “other voices” a chance to become known before the European Parliament elections in 2014 and general election a year later.

She will not be replaced by London Assembly member and former mayoral candidate Jenny Jones, who told the Standard: “We have a lot of very talented young people in the party and I will vote for one of them.”

Ms Lucas will stand down as leader in September, at the end of her second two-year term at the helm. She said it was the “right time to step aside” as the party targets the beleaguered Lib-Dems in coming elections.

“I want to give other people the opportunity to get a bigger profile in the party, to hopefully use that to get themselves elected as well,” she said.

Leading contenders tipped to replace her include deputy leader Adrian Ramsay, London MEP Jean Lambert and South-East MEP Keith Taylor.