Green MP says emotional case for remaining in Europe needs to be made to prevent UK ‘sleepwalking out of the EU’

The EU referendum campaign is in danger of becoming a debate between “white men in grey suits”, the Green party’s only MP, Caroline Lucas, has said, arguing that the emotional case for Europe needs to be made.

Lucas sits on the board of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign, which has been criticised in recent weeks for the performance of its head, the former chief executive of Marks and Spencer, Stuart Rose.

The MP for Brighton Pavilion argued that the campaign – which is likely to be named as the official pro-Europe campaign by the Electoral Commission – had an important role to play in the upcoming referendum, but that other groups needed to make a values-based case for staying in the EU.

“I’m deeply worried that we could be sleepwalking our way out of the EU,” said Lucas. “I think the Stronger In campaign, of which I am a board member, is speaking very effectively to the group of undecided voters about the economic arguments for staying in.

“But we need more voices talking to those people who are broadly in favour of remaining, but need to be given real motivation to actually go and vote – and that economic arguments alone won’t do that,” she said.

Lucas is also involved in a number of alternative in campaigns to be launched in the coming weeks, including Environmentalists for Europe and Another Europe is Possible, which will be campaigning for the “radical ‘in’ vote”.

“I think the real challenge for us is to complement the very strong economic messages – which are important – with a more positive emotional, values-based proposition that speaks to people’s sense of identity, about who we think we are, what kind of people British people are.”

Lucas argued that pro-Europe campaigners needed to make a case that didn’t rely on facts and figures, but was instead based on “inspiring stories”, in order to counter the Eurosceptic narrative of “plucky little Britain going it alone”.

“A debate dominated on both sides by white men in grey suits talking about big business only gets you so far,” said the former Green party leader. “The bottom line is that I don’t think people are really going to be motivated to vote for the EU on the basis that their mobile phone charges are lower now. They want to feel inspired by the EU as something positive – exciting, dynamic, open minded and gregarious.”

Different groups are competing to be designated the official in and out campaigns by the Electoral Commission, entitling them to higher spending limits, campaign broadcasts, free mail shots and public funding of up to £600,000.

Whereas there are multiple groups vying to be the official out campaign, Britain Stronger in Europe is practically unopposed as the only major cross-party pro-Europe campaign.

Conservative peer Stuart Rose was criticised on Monday when he four times failed to correctly say the name of the campaign he was leading. Speaking on the Today programme, he also admitted to being “a bit of a Eurosceptic”, but said that “by and large [the EU] serves us well”.