A Green councillor is to run for a national post within the party.

Alex Phillips, who represents Goldsmid ward on Brighton and Hove City Council, is the first person to announce that she will stand for deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales.

Party members nationwide will be voting in elections for both leader and deputy leader this summer, with results announced at the party’s conference in September.

Coun Phillips said: “Should I become deputy leader I will remain as committed as ever to serving as one of Goldsmid’s Green councillors.”

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas has announced that she will not seek a third two-year term when her current one ends this year.