The Liberal Democrats will give Caroline Lucas a free run in her bid to retain her Brighton Pavilion seat at the general election, it emerged on Thursday 27 April. The Green co-leader is defending a majority of more than 7,900 votes against Labour and the Conservatives.

The decision was made by the local Liberal Democrat party in Brighton Pavilion, with Lucas praising the move as "people putting aside party allegiances and working together so we have the best possible chance of delivering a fairer voting system and beating the Tories at the next election".

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But despite Lucas' comments and her call for an anti-Tory "progressive alliance", Green candidates will be contesting the Liberal Democrat marginal of Richmond Park and the Conservative marginal of Twickenham, where former Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable is hoping to win back his seat.

The decision, by the respective local Green parties, may come as a surprise since Sarah Olney was given a free run in her successful bid to unseat former Tory MP Zac Goldsmith at a by-election in December 2016.

However, despite Goldsmith being selected as a Conservative candidate, journalist Andrée Frieze will fight for the London constituency, where Olney is defending a majority of more than 1,800 votes. Caroline Wren, who runs a market research business, will contest the Twickenham seat for the Greens.

Conservative MP Maria Caulfield, member of the Exiting the European Union Select Committee, said: "We now know the truth: the Liberal Democrats are prepared to cut deals to create a coalition of chaos that would disrupt our Brexit negotiations and put our growing economy at risk.

"The choice facing Britain on 8 June is clear – the strong and stable leadership of Theresa May and her Conservative candidate in your local area or a coalition of chaos and instability led by a floundering, weak and nonsensical Jeremy Corbyn that will put our nation's future at risk."

UPDATE: 16:30, 27 April.

A senior Green source told IBTimes UK that "selecting a candidate now doesn't mean we'll stand in the election". But the press release from the local Greens said otherwise. "This is the first time [Wren] has stood for election," the release read.