The Greens have criticised Labour and the Tories for prioritising internal party conflicts over the challenges facing Britain

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party’s sole MP, has lashed out at Labour and the Conservatives for infighting while the country burns.

‘Britain is in crisis and people are scared about the future,’ she said in in a statement issued this afternoon.

“Never have we had a greater need for calm leadership to be shown by politicians – yet instead both the Tories and Labour are engaging in civil wars. At such a key moment for this country the political establishment is utterly failing the British people. “We have a Government in chaos, an economy facing a crisis and people up and down the country facing serious hardship – yet the Labour Party is in utter turmoil, thanks mostly to some Shadow Cabinet Ministers trying to take their party back to 1997 but also partly because Jeremy Corbyn did fail to show the passion needed in the EU referendum. “Instead of indulging in months of introspection and infighting, this is an opportunity to recognise that a more plural politics is in both the left’s electoral and political interests. “And with the growing likelihood of an early General Election, the importance of progressive parties working together to prevent the formation of a Tory-UKIP-DUP government that would seek to enact an ultra-right Brexit scenario is ever more pressing.”

The Green Party has gained many new voters in recent days, according to Lucas, and will ‘stand against any austerity or slashing of environmental legislation that may come with Brexit.’

Lucas is currently standing for joint leadership of the Green Party with Jonathan Bartley, who wrote for Left Foot Forward yesterday on the need to create a more inclusive democracy following the leave vote.

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