Caroline Lucas apologises for proposing all-white female emergency cabinet

‘I realise that I did not get this right,’ Green Party MP says

Caroline Lucas speaks in London (Getty)

Caroline Lucas has apologised for suggesting an “all-white list of women” for her proposed emergency cabinet.

The Green Party MP had earlier suggested a cross-party cabinet made up of women should be formed to block a no-deal Brexit and push for a second referendum.

In an extraordinary move Ms Lucas wrote to 10 other female politicians opposed to a no-deal break with the European Union, inviting them to form the temporary government.

Among the women she asked to join her are Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon and Labour's Yvette Cooper.

But she was quickly criticised over the list, which included no women of colour.

“An all-white list of women isn’t right,” Ms Lucas said.

“I should have reached out further and thought more deeply about who, and what kind of politics, an all-white list represents. I apologise.”

She said she had chosen the group by first inviting the leaders and deputy leaders of the main political parties.

“I wanted two representatives from the main opposition party to represent the diverse views within it.

“Emily Thornberry is the shadow foreign secretary, who most often deputises for Jeremy Corbyn. Yvette Cooper has led cross-party parliamentary attempts to stop a no deal Brexit from the backbenches.

“I realise that I did not get this right,” she added.

Ms Lucas also invited Heidi Allen, an independent MP who formerly led Change UK, to be part of the group.

Change UK, which is now called the Independent Group for Change, is currently polling at one per cent.

While Ms Lucas wrote to Ms Cooper, a Labour backbencher who has not explicitly supported a second Brexit referendum, she did not write to Diane Abbott, Labour’s shadow home secretary, who has previously expressed support for a second vote.

Ms Abbott said the emergency cabinet plan “won’t work now, whatever the gender of the participants,” in a Twitter post.

“There are women of colour colleagues who are standing up to this government’s reckless gamble with Britain’s future, and it was wrong to overlook them,” Ms Lucas said.

“I apologise to them and all who’ve been hurt by their exclusion. There are always lessons to be learnt, and I will do my utmost to support, value and uplift women of colour working in politics, particularly those with whom I share common ground.

Additional reporting by agencies