Air travel "as bad as stabbing person in the street", says Green Party leader

12.15.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 21st Apr 2009

Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, is reported in the Daily Mail as suggesting that travellers who regularly jet off to the Costas are threatening the lives of others - and do as much damage as thugs who stab people in the street. When asked if flying to Spain was as bad as knifing a person in the street, Ms Lucas said: "Yes - because they are dying from climate change."

Ms Lucas, who is also a Member of the European Parliament, made the controversial comment during a televised ITV debate about plans for a proposed third runway at Heathrow. She also hit out 'binge flying' and people who have second homes abroad.

Ms Lucas began her career as an activist in the anti-nuclear movement with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and was an Oxfordshire County Councillor before becoming one of the Green Party's first MEPs. She has been a staunch critic of the proposed third runway at Heathrow and has fiercely opposed the government's aviation policy.

A Green Party spokesman said the comments have been taken out of context.