Caroline Lucas and Sian Berry

Highgate councillor Sian Berry has set her sights on the House of Commons after putting herself up for parliamentary selection in the Brighton Pavilion constituency.

She has told members that she wants to stand after Caroline Lucas – the party’s only MP – announced she would be stepping down at the next general election.

The party will face a tough challenge from Labour in Brighton after the Greens suffered heavy losses at recent local elections and may feel they need a high-profile member to follow in Ms Lucas’s footsteps.

“In the coming weeks of that process, I will be based in Brighton and Hove, aiming to meet and talk with as many local members as possible to listen, answer questions, and secure nominations and support for adding me to your team,” Ms Berry said in her letter to the local constituency party.

Ms Berry is also a London Assembly member and former co-leader of the party nationally.

Her letter added: “In more than two decades of working in the Green Party, I have been in awe of the achievements of you all. I believe that the energy, focus, and determination of your members, combined with support from the South East region and the Green Party of England and Wales, with the addition of my long experience as an elected Green, leader, and candidate in the highest-pressure elections, can together forge the winning team we need.

“The choice of the right approach to the next election lies 100 percent with you as a local party, and I will be offering you a choice and a promise of commitment that I hope you will take up as the selection continues.”

The ruling Labour Party at the Town Hall also has a councillor with eyes on a place in parliament, with members urged to spend their weekends supporting Danny Beales – Camden’s regeneration chief – in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election triggered by Boris Johnson’s resignation from the Commons last week.