Caroline Lucas officially launched her bid last night to become the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, at a special event held at Brighton's Fabrica Gallery.
Lucas, who is also leader of the Green Party and a Green MEP, used a speech at the event - hosted by BBC Radio 4's Marcus Brigstocke - to unveil core Green Party campaigning themes around the economy and public services.
In a stinging attack on the Government, the speech highlighted Labour's poor handling of the current economic crisis and its systematic failure to regulate the activities of banks and other financial institutions.
Highlighting issues of concern both at a national level and specific to Brighton and Hove, Lucas also used the speech to reinforce the Green Party's commitment to building a fairer society and to tackling a spiralling inequality that sees as many as one in five UK children living in poverty.
Caroline Lucas said: "In recent years the Green Party has gone from strength to strength, securing unprecedented victories in both the European Elections and local by-elections, and now we intend to secure the first Green seat in Westminster for Brighton Pavilion.
She added: "Greens are about delivering a dynamic economy, and one that benefits people waiting tables at restaurants in Preston Street, or those working in Brighton and Hove's unique digital media sector - not just a handful of people in the Square Mile.
"Greens are also about defending the Royal Sussex hospital as a local, free-at-the-point-of-delivery public service - so that everyone can access decent healthcare, and so that we aren't paying extortionate fees to private shareholders."
She continued: "With the economy and public services in crisis, and traditional Westminster politics perpetually mired in sleaze, only the Green Party offers the people of Brighton and Hove - and beyond - a future built around honest politics and common sense policies."