Voting Green 'will send Blair a message on Iraq'

At the launch of its European election campaign, sitting MEP Caroline Lucas said it was "legitimate" to use the polls to get that message across.

"His illegal war on Iraq was not only wrong but was utterly counterproductive," she told reporters.

The Greens, who have two Euro MPs, hope to win six seats next month.

Outlining their policies, the Greens said they also opposed the euro, GM food, tuition fees and nuclear energy.

The coalition must withdraw entirely from the governance of Iraq in favour of Iraqi democracy under UN auspices Dr Caroline Lucas Greens look for Euro gains

Dr Lucas, MEP for the south east of England and vice president for the Stop the War Coalition, said her party was the only one to "have consistently opposed" the Iraq war.

"We want an end to the occupation. We would like to see a transitional UN force, including troops in the region, who would oversee a handover to real democracy in Iraq in as short a time as possible," she told the central London news conference.

"I believe it is legitimate to use these elections to send a very clear message to Tony Blair and his government that his illegal war on Iraq was not only wrong, but was utterly counterproductive.

"There were no weapons of mass destruction. The humanitarian rhetoric has now been undermined with stories of torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

"The world is certainly not a safer place - it's infinitely less safe as a result of the invasion."

Optimistic

She said the murder of Ezzedine Salim, the head of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council on Monday, "illustrates that continued coalition involvement in Iraq leads to more chaos, not less".

Outlining her call for withdrawal from Iraq by coalition troops as soon as possible, Dr Lucas insisted that the 10 June polls provided a "very clear opportunity to ensure that Blair knows that that this is the will of the British people".

Dr Lucas said the Greens were going into the European elections with a "good deal of optimism" and a "proven track record".

"I think we're a party that people can trust and trust increasingly counts for a lot in today's world of spin and deception and lies," she said.

"We also have a government that's left so many people angry and disillusioned and increasingly they're finding a home with the Greens."

Anti euro

Dr Lucas said voting Green would mean voting for peace, social justice and the environment.

The party, whose campaign slogan is "Real Progress", also has MEP Jean Lambert in London and hopes to win a further four or more seats at the elections.

It is campaigning on a platform of opposing the euro, which Dr Lucas says is a "fundamentally anti-democratic project".

She says it takes power away from national governments and gives it to the European Central Bank.

Dr Lucas is also opposed to the EU constitution, although the issue has yet to be debated by the party as a whole.

GM food

The Greens are critical of the growth and stability pact and single interest rates for all member states.

The party says it defends public services from privatisation, the right to strike and in preventing race discrimination.

It claims to be at the forefront of efforts to ban GM foods and crops from Europe, and is behind campaigns on climate change and is anti nuclear energy.

Dr Lucas said this did not mean the Greens were anti progress. "It means we're in favour of better alternatives."