Interview with Green Party leader, Caroline Lucas

"It has been a wonderful welcome here in Cardiff. It is important to lend support to the Welsh Assembly campaign. The signs are looking very good and there is a great upbeat mood in South Wales.

"I think it’s hugely important that people have a voice in the different arenas about the different developments happening on their own doorsteps.

"We are very much in favor of a yes vote in the referendum. Power should be accessible at a local level. It would be more effective. People get turned off policies when they think they cannot influence them and the closer we have government to people the better.

"What difference can just one Green make? In our experience we do punch above our weight. We put pressure on other parties to go in a direction that is green. An example was in Huddersfield when a green councillor implemented an insulation scheme for 60,000 homes. The effect of that has been to reduce emissions from homes and £150 saved on fuel bills per household. These are our sorts of policies.

"Our concern is that the economic crisis is pushing the environmental crisis off the agenda, but the two are linked. The environmental crisis is every bit as serious as it ever was. By letting it fall off the political agenda the other parties are being incredibly irresponsible."