The Green Party has become the true champion of the Labour movement.

Caroline Lucas told delegates at the first Green Party Trade Union Group Conference, which took place in Brighton (Saturday, July 12th).

"The Green Party's record of championing Trade Union priorities, from defending public services from privatisation through to promoting a Living Wage, demonstrates that the Greens are the real party of social justice," Dr Lucas said.

The South-East region's Green Party MEP and Green parliamentary candidate for brighton pavilion constituency at the next general election made her comments at the first Green Party Trade Union conference.

Caroline made her address alongside Tony Kearns (Deputy General Secretary, Communication Workers' Union), Diana Leach and Dave Jones (UNISON Brighton), who will speak about the local government strike due to take place next week.

Caroline argued that there is no contradiction between policies to save the planet and policies to protect workers' rights - and she praised unionists worldwide for showing solidarity with the poorest families in the developing world, who will be hit hardest by the most devastating impacts of climate change.

"The stark reality is that climate change is not just an environmental issue: it's a social issue, and it's the world's poorest that will pay the heaviest price.

"It's vital that we don't just seek solutions to climate change here in the industrialised West - but that we adopt policies to tackle the problem globally in a way which is fair to everyone, and requires countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with both their responsibility for current emissions and their ability to do so without impacting on development.

"Such a policy is 'Contraction and Convergence', and the trade union movement can play a vital role in promoting it worldwide."

Taking steps to cut carbon emissions could create thousands of new jobs, the Euro-MP will also argue, citing a study by the European Trade Union Commission which found that job opportunities were likely to rise if government's cut emissions and that moves towards a zero carbon economy can be ones that enhance employment.

"A zero-carbon world is a labour-intensive world," she will say. "Some jobs would certainly be lost in some of the more carbon intensive industries, but these would more than be made up for by new jobs in an economy based on repairing, recycling, and re-use."

She added: "Greens and Trade Unions are working ever-more closely together as we realise we share strong principles of social justice, wealth redistribution, public services and sustainability - and that we are prepared to argue for them and to be prepared to stand up for them, clearly and strongly."