Early political career After being "utterly inspired" by
Jonathon Porritt's book
Seeing Green, Lucas joined the
Green Party in 1986. She noticed that the Green Party office was in
Clapham, where she was living at the time, so thought: "Right! I'm going there now, I'm just going to dedicate the rest of my life to this party". When the Green Party became three separate parties in 1990 for the constituent parts of the United Kingdom, she joined the
Green Party of England and Wales. Lucas served as their General Election Speaker from 1991 (for the following year's general election) and a Regional Council Member from 1997. Lucas's first success in an election came when she gained the Green Party's second council seat in the UK on
Oxfordshire County Council, which she held between 1993 and 1997.
European Parliament Lucas was first elected as a
Member of the European Parliament for the
South East England Region at the
1999 elections, the first year the election was by proportional representation. In that year, the Green Party gained 7.4% of the vote (110,571 votes). In November 2001, she was convicted of a
breach of the peace at the
Faslane nuclear base in Scotland the previous February, and was fined £150 for her participation in a CND sit-down protest. Conducting her own defence at the trial, she pleaded not guilty. Lucas argued that she had a right under the
Human Rights Act to peaceful protest following on from her firm
anti-nuclear attitudes. Faslane is the base used for Britain's
Trident nuclear programme. She was arrested for a protest at the same location in January 2007. "It still seems ironic that it is a
non-violent demonstration that is judged to be a breach of the peace, rather than Britain's illegal and immoral possession of nuclear weapons", she wrote at the time. Lucas was
re-elected in 2004, gaining 173,351 votes (8% share), and again in the
2009 election when the party's vote under the
list system rose to 271,506, or 11.6%. In the
European Parliament, she was a member of the Committee for Trade, Industry, Energy and Research; the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy;
First period as leader (2008–2012) " report, in 2009 Lucas
was elected as the Green Party's first leader on 5 September 2008, gaining 92% of the vote (against one other candidate,
Ashley Gunstock) on a turnout of 38%. Previously, the party had operated under a collective leadership. She said the change "was about having a face the country recognises, or hopefully comes to recognise. It was in recognition of the fact that people don't really relate to abstract ideas, they relate more to the people who embody them". Lucas was elected as the Green Party's first-ever MP (for
Brighton Pavilion) at the
general election of 2010. In July 2010, Lucas expressed her support for seven campaigners of the
Smash EDO campaign who had caused approximately £180,000 damage to the local
EDO MBM arms factory and were acquitted of conspiring to cause criminal damage. The jury accepted their defence of
lawful excuse – action undertaken to prevent a much worse crime – because the company manufactured and sold certain components used by the
Israeli military, notably in its
assault on Gaza. Lucas stated that she was "absolutely delighted the jury has recognised that the actions of the decommissioners were a legitimate response to the atrocities being committed in Gaza. I do not advocate non-violent direct action lightly [but] their actions were driven by the responsibility to prevent further suffering in Gaza". In 2011, she voted against the
military intervention in Libya. On 14 May 2012, Lucas announced she would be standing down as leader as of September 2012.
Brighton Pavilion Brighton Pavilion had the highest vote in the
2005 general election for a Green Party candidate when
Keith Taylor, a former Green Party
Principal Speaker, gained 22% of the vote. In 2007, Lucas declared her intention to stand for the Green Party's nomination for the
prospective parliamentary candidate in the Brighton Pavilion constituency for the next general election. In a letter to party members, she indicated that she would only stand if she won the internal party selection election by more than 10%, to avoid internal division. On 18 July 2007, it was announced that Lucas had been selected by the Brighton Green Party. Lucas won with 55% of the party ballot against Keith Taylor's 45%. (
Cynog Dafis sat as a '
joint ticket'
Plaid Cymru-Green MP from 1992 to 1997). She was also the first woman to be elected as an MP for Brighton. Lucas opposed the presentation of bare-breasted models on
page 3 in
The Sun and in 2013 was reprimanded for transgressing the Westminster dress code by wearing a T-shirt with the logo "
No More Page Three" to protest against the feature during a Commons debate. On 19 August 2013, Lucas was arrested at a non-violent protest against
Cuadrilla Resources fracking operations in Sussex. She was subsequently charged with
obstructing a public highway, but was found not guilty on 17 April 2014 at Brighton Magistrates' Court. Following the hearing, Lucas said: "This judgement is right but this is not a victory or cause for celebration. We will continue to campaign to end
fracking and only celebrate when our world is on the path to a clean energy future". In the
2015 general election, Lucas was re-elected with a much increased majority of 7,967 and vote share. In the
2017 general election Lucas increased her majority to 14,689, elected on 52.3% of the vote. In accord with long-standing Green Party policy, Lucas voted in 2015 for holding the
European Union Referendum, but campaigning to stay in the EU with major reform. On 8 June 2023, Lucas announced she would not be standing at the
2024 general election.
Co-leader with Jonathan Bartley On 31 May 2016, it was announced that Lucas would run for the position of the Leader of the
Green Party in a job share arrangement with the welfare spokesman
Jonathan Bartley in the forthcoming
2016 Green Party leadership election. , in 2017 On 2 September, it was announced that Lucas and Bartley had been elected with 86% of first-preference votes. Lucas said the party would strive to preserve the rights of EU nationals living in Britain, and EU rules on workers' rights and the environment, among other policies. In an article for
The Guardian, Lucas wrote that "it's now time for me to show the power of letting go".
Other roles and views Lucas is a supporter of
animal rights and
welfare and an advocate for major reform to the food and agricultural system. She served as vice-president of the
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but resigned in December 2024 following investigations showing
animal cruelty at
RSPCA Assured farms. She has encouraged policymakers to consider a
meat tax to promote more humane farming methods and incentivise the adoption of
plant-based diets to reduce food-related
greenhouse gas emissions. In 2021, she expressed support for the
Plant Based Treaty and urged the Government to include food system reform in its climate agenda. Lucas was on the National Council of the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament since 2004, and is currently a Vice-President. She was Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas. A former Vice-President of the
Stop the War Coalition, she resigned from the post in December 2015; stating that her "busy parliamentary and constituency schedule means that she doesn't have time to fully engage with the role and, in light of some recent StWC positions that she didn't support, she felt standing down was the responsible thing to do". Lucas is an advocate for
reform of UK drug laws. She has called for the law to have an evidence-based approach to drugs that treats drug abuse as a health matter, rather than a criminal one. In early 2013, Lucas co-signed a letter that was published in
The Guardian newspaper and officially marked her support for the
People's Assembly Against Austerity movement. She also gave a speech at the People's Assembly conference, held at
Westminster Central Hall on 22 June 2013. In August 2015, Lucas endorsed
Jeremy Corbyn's
campaign in the
Labour Party leadership election. She wrote in
The Independent: "I've never felt so optimistic about a potential leader of the
Labour Party. For the first time in my memory, the party of
Keir Hardie and
Clement Attlee looks likely to be led again by someone who dares to stand up for the radical changes demanded by the challenges we face". Lucas is a supporter of a permanent
universal basic income. In January 2016, Lucas tabled a motion in the British Parliament, calling on the Government to commission research into the effects of a universal basic income and examine its feasibility to replace the UK's existing social security system. In 2016, she criticised the Government's decision to move ahead with construction of the
Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. On 15 April 2018, she attended the launch event of the
People's Vote, a campaign group calling for a public vote on the final
Brexit deal between the UK and the
European Union. In August 2019, Lucas was subject to criticism for suggesting the creation of an all-female cabinet, who happened to be all white, as part of a
national unity government, to try to stop a
no-deal Brexit. Later that year, she criticised the
Leader of the House of Commons,
Jacob Rees-Mogg, for appearing to recline on a
front bench asleep while she was delivering a speech. In February 2020, she was investigated by the
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, following a complaint by
Michael Fabricant that she had offered a tour of the Commons in exchange for £150, as part of a fundraising drive. Lucas said she did not believe she had done anything wrong. An investigation found she had breached the
House of Commons Code of Conduct in offering and giving the tour. The Standards Commissioner also found that it gave her an "unfair advantage over other election candidates". Lucas acknowledged that she had breached the rules and promised not to repeat the breach. The Green Party returned the donation to the supporter who received the tour. In 2021, Lucas was one of three MPs who successfully took legal action against the
Department of Health and Social Care over contracts awarded during the
COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Lucas criticised the
HS2 high-speed project, saying it was a "vanity project" and that the construction of the
high-speed rail project would "emit more carbon than could be saved over decades". Lucas supports
ecocide being made a crime at the
International Criminal Court. She also led the campaign for the
Climate and Nature Bill, tabling the bill twice over the
2019–24 Parliament, and stated that though "Labour
backed its ambition in 2023,
whips blocked [its progress] in January 2025". In October 2025, Lucas was appointed as Professor of Practice in Environmental Sustainability at
University of Sussex, based at the newly established Sussex School for Progressive Futures.
Writing Lucas is a prolific writer of reports, articles, and books on the subjects of
trade justice,
localisation,
globalisation,
animal welfare, and food, in which she criticises
free trade, a
single European currency, trade-led development policies,
genetically modified food, and a lack of attention to environmental and social issues. Her most substantial work is
Green Alternatives to Globalisation: A Manifesto (co-authored with
Mike Woodin in 2004), which advocates localisation of economies based on minimal trade and greater social and environmental concern, in opposition to
neo-liberal, market-led forces of globalisation. A book by Lucas on her time in
Parliament,
Honourable Friends: Parliament and the Fight for Change, was published in 2015. In April 2024, via
Hutchinson Heinemann, Lucas published a book titled
Another England: How to Reclaim Our National Story. ==Awards==