Caroline Lucas opts for pressure from outside of Parliament
In the nineteenth century, when those who had the vote were limited even after the 1867 Reform Act (and nearly all men) those who wanted to reform or otherwise change things pursued a strategy of pressure from without.
The view was that campaigning outside of Parliament through meetings, petitions and campaigning was likely to be more effective than trying to get radical MPs elected. Some were elected and even Chartist leader Feargus O’Connor had a seat at Nottingham in the 1840s, but in reality change whether on the Corn Laws (which kept the price of bread high)or Ten Hours on working conditions was something that originated from and was successfully pursued from outside of Parliament.
Caroline Lucas decision to step down as the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion at the next Election seems to be determined by Tony Benn’s view that doing so will allow her to spend more time on politics. She has mentioned in particular the need for campaigning on climate change and cited the tactics of Just Stop Oil as an example where protest can have at least as much impact as plugging away on the Parliamentary back benches.
Caroline Lucas was a stalwart of the stop the War Coalition in opposing the Iraq War and was often to be found amongst the small minority who backed radical measures in the Common. While there was some common ground with the Labour left, in reality, Green politics often have a rather different trajectory. Sometimes this was unpredictable as Lucas joined various centrists on Brexit when it might have been thought that a Europe wide focus on climate politics might have worked better.
Still these are issues of tactics and it will be interesting to see how Caroline Lucas pursues pressure from without
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