IT IS no surprise Caroline Lucas has stepped down as leader of the Green Party (The Argus, May 15).

The Greens won just a handful of local council seats across the country, fewer even than the 15 to 20 they were gaining in previous years, and insignificant compared with Labour’s 824 gains across the UK, including a dozen in Sussex alone.

The Greens did not do as well as expected in London and other target councils following their “breakthrough” in Brighton and Hove last year.

In Cambridge, their only councillor defected to Labour recently, as did their Parliamentary candidate in Chatham.

With the Green administration on Brighton and Hove City Council increasingly under fire over local issues, Dr Lucas must be looking at Labour’s 43% poll rating, her narrow 2.4% Parliamentary majority and wondering if she has any hope of preventing Brighton Pavilion returning to Labour in three years.

Harris Fitch, St Paul’s Street, Brighton