Sian Berry has said she won’t stand down as a Highgate councillor or member of the London Assembly if she wins her bid to lead the Green Party.

The Camden councillor, who topped the Highgate ballot in May’s local elections, told the Ham&High she wasn’t considering stepping down if elected on her joint ticket with current co-leader Jonathan Bartley.

“We want elected people to be leaders,” she said, “so that’s not something I’d be looking to do, if we both win.

“Both the jobs as councillor and as assembly member are very similar and fit together very well.”

The Green Party re-elects its leaders every two years. Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas announced earlier this week she would not be running again.

Ms Lucas visited Highgate during a campaign visit in April, and praised Cllr Berry.

“She’s been such an amazing councillor for Camden,” she said. “She has put things on the political agenda that nobody else has.”

Cllr Berry was the face of the party’s local election campaign party political broadcast, with Camden featuring heavily, and ran for Mayor of London in 2016.

The 43-year-old was also the Greens’ “principal speaker” in 2007. The post was the predecessor of the current co-leadership role.

She said: “That experience from before will help, especially being used to being in the public eye.

“I’m really happy to put myself forward. It wasn’t a shock that Caroline was going, so we sat down and discussed what we were going to do.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while.”

In a statement announcing her candidacy, Cllr Berry said: “I know that Caroline will be a hard act to follow but I’m ready for the challenge. We have the most organised and talented set of people in this party that I’ve ever seen, and hard-working local parties everywhere getting people elected.

“It will be my job to make sure they get the best leadership and policies to talk about on the doorstep, and to grow the support they get from the party too.”