Caroline Lucas has reflected on how she has managed to shape the national conversation on issues, despite being the only MP for her party.

In an exclusive interview with The Argus, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, said that while she may not be able to single-handedly stop or pass legislation, she has been able to “say the unsayable”, for it later to become mainstream.

Ms Lucas said: “As one MP out of 650, I’m not going to be able to sway majorities, but what I am proud of is that I think I have been able to put things on the agenda that wouldn’t have otherwise been there. I’ve been able to hold the feet to the fire of successive Tory governments.

“I think it’s really significant that 13 years ago it would have been inconceivable that Parliament would have declared a climate emergency.

“I have been able to change the political conversation, saying things that were unsayable, only to become part of the mainstream.”

Ms Lucas reflected on her campaigning against fracking, which saw her arrested at a protest outside a drilling site in Balcombe in 2013 and found not guilty of obstructing a public highway.

She said: “When I first started campaigning on fracking, I was pretty much a lone voice in Parliament and now there is a majority view that it is not the right way forward.”

One of the issues Ms Lucas is most pleased to have worked on is her successful campaign to launch a new GCSE in natural history, which will be taught to 14 and 16-year-olds from September 2025.

She said: “I think it’s really important that young people in every part of the country get the chance to understand better and to be out in nature and to have the soil under their nails and really appreciate nature.

“In primary school, we know that young kids love being out in nature and we have all kinds of green projects, but when they get to secondary school, it’s like there is no time for that anymore.

“I think it’s massively important for mental and physical health, but also so that we are better able to protect nature in the future, so people actually know it and understand it.”

Caroline Lucas is standing down as an MP at the next election, with former Green Party co-leader Sian Berry selected as the party’s next candidate for Brighton Pavilion.