"I put Brighton first," Green MP tells students

This is an article from the University of Sussex website about the Politics Society's talk from Caroline Lucas on the 21st October 2011.

"I really try to prioritise the people of Brighton Pavilion," said the UK's only Green MP Caroline Lucas on campus today (Friday 21 October).

She was answering a question about how she balances the role of constituency MP with being leader of the Green Party, during an hour-long question-and-answer session in Fulton A lecture theatre this afternoon (Friday 21 October).

Around 80 students and staff listened to the MP for Brighton Pavilion - the constituency that includes the University of Sussex - answer questions on a wide range of issues.

The leader of the Green Party talked about:

-The (lack of) green credentials of the coalition government

- Tax avoidance

- A Robin Hood tax

- The Trident nuclear weapons programme

- Housing issues in Brighton and Hove, with 11,000 households on the waiting list

- Drugs and alcohol in Brighton, including the possibility of decriminalising recreational drug use

- Her experience of being a lone voice as the only Green MP in Westminster

She then moved on to take questions from the floor, which covered topics such as Parliamentary reform, a referendum on EU membership, recycling, the alternative Higher Education White Paper, protests, and constituency boundary changes.

On the EU, Ms Lucas said: "I will be supporting the referendum [on whether the UK should withdraw from the EU], not because I'm anti-EU but because I'm pro-democracy. I will be suggesting that we should stay in the EU but that it should be radically reformed."

Answering a question about the government's education policies, Ms Lucas was unequivocal. She said that the changes need to be fought: "Education isn't just about training people for the latest hole in the economy that needs to be filled."

She also had a simple message for those currently demonstrating outside St Paul's Cathedral as part of the 'Occupy' protest camp: "Go for it," she said. "What [you] are doing is really exciting and a really positive counter-weight to the sense in the country that there is nothing that we can do [about government cuts]".

The discussion was organised by the Politics Society."