GREEN Party supporters from Malvern and beyond crowded into a venue in the town to hear party co-leader Caroline Lucas MP speak.

The visit was a return to familiar territory for Ms Lucas, as she was brought up and went to school in the town, and her parents still live here.

Organisers of the event were taken by surprise at the turn-out for the meeting on Friday, and were forced to turn people away from the venue, the Lyttelton Rooms in Church Street.

Inside, every seat was filled, and people stood in every available space to hear Ms Lucas speak and take part in a question-and-answer session.

Among the subjects she tackled in her speech was her co-leadership of the party with Jonathan Bartley, the possibility of a "progressive alliance" with Labour, the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru, Brexit and the prospects of climate change.

She said that the country should orient its industries towards greener economic model."

She said: "It's the green parts of the economy that are doing really well. The greatest heresy is the idea that we can keep growing indefinitely in a world of finite resources."

She also described Parliament as a "bubble", "a kind of Hogwarts, and proposed it should move out of the Palace of Westminster, which could then become a museum or other tourist attraction, and move into a new purpose-built headquarters away from London, perhaps in the North of England.

She said that she supported proportional representation, describing it as a "game-changer" for the Greens which would have resulted in 24 or 25 MPs for the party at the last election.

The meeting ended with Ms Lucas signing copies of her latest book The Alternative.

Jackie Smethurst, the chair of Malvern Hills Green Party, said she was surprised and delighted at the turnout for the meeting.

She said:"I can only apologise to those who weren't able to get in.

"If I'd know we would get such a good response, I would have found a larger venue"