A Kirklees councillor is bidding to join the top ranks of the Green Party.

Kirklees Green leader, Clr Andrew Cooper, is to stand as a candidate for the Deputy Leadership of the national Green Party.

The post was put up for election following the resignation of Green leader Natalie Bennett.

Her predecessor, Caroline Lucas, the party’s only MP, has announced she will stand for co-leadership with the party’s pensions spokesman Jonathan Bartley.

Clr Cooper, a Green Party member since 1988 who has represented Newsome since 1999, said: “I am keen to see the Green Party grow as a more effective electoral and campaigning force.

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“I have the experience and ability to help make that happen.

“Never has this been more necessary than now with both our local and global environments increasingly threatened by inaction by governments in the UK and around the world.

“The experience I have as a long standing councillor in one of the largest councils in the country will be a useful asset to the Green Party leadership team.

“We need more Greens elected with the skills and knowledge to get Green policies implemented at the local and national level.

“I am looking forward to the campaign and to meeting as many Green Party members as possible over the next few months. ”

Nominations close on June 30 and the results will be announced at Green Party Conference in Birmingham on September 2.