GREENS will be “shut out” of national politics if Caroline Lucas loses a “savage” general election scrap with Labour, the party’s campaign manager warned at the weekend.

The party’s membership has soared by 42,000 in the last year, seeing the Greens outgrow the Lib Dems to become the third largest party in England and Wales.

And new members made up almost half of the 1,500 activists attending the party’s biggest ever conference, which concludes today in Liverpool.

But there are fears the “Green surge” will stall if Ms Lucas, Britain’s first Green MP, loses her Brighton Pavilion seat on May 7.

Adam McGibbon, who is co-ordinating the Green campaign in Brighton and across Britain, admitted “the stakes are incredibly high.

“If we win, we’ll secure a place in our national debate for years to come and open the door to many more Green seats in the future,” he said.

“But if we lose we’ll find ourselves increasingly shut out of that national debate.”

Labour strategists have put Brighton Pavillion at number 19 on its list of 106 target seats.

A swing of just 1.6 per cent to Labour is enough to unseat Ms Lucas, whose slim 1,252 majority is vulnerable amid a national move back to Labour.

Mr McGibbon issued a call to members on Saturday, saying they were needed in Brighton to repel “savage” Labour attacks.

“Instead of targeting the two Tory seats at either end of Brighton pavillion, they’re channelling huge resources to try and get rid of Caroline,” he told them.

“This is going to be a close election, it’s not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination.”

Speaking to the Star yesterday, Ms Lucas said it is an “odd” feeling to be in such a bitter fight with Labour after working closely with many of the party’s left MPs over the last five years.

Ms Lucas is however preparing to negotiate with Ed Miliband over Green support for a minority Labour government in the event of a hung Parliament.

She said the Greens, SNP and Plaid would not form a coalition or even do a formal confidence and supply deal with

Labour, but support them on a “case by case basis.”
Setting out their conditions, she said: “We’d want to see something serious on climate change and the rolling back of austerity.”
lukejames@peoples-press.com