WORCESTER'S Green Party parliamentary candidate says the stakes for June 8 could hardly be higher - and not just with Brexit looming.

Councillor Louis Stephen is making his third attempt to become Worcester's MP, saying he wants to be considered the official opposition to the Conservatives.

The 50-year-old former King's School pupil is aiming to build on his fourth-place finish in 2015, when he got 2,024 votes behind the Conservatives, Labour and UKIP.

He says the aim this time round will be to rise again - with the hopeful eyeing the third-place slot in front of UKIP.

"Our aim is to do better than last time - in 2010 we were sixth and in 2015, we came fourth," he said.

"If you look at the recent county council elections we got 15.4 per cent of the vote, more than twice as much as the Lib Dems and triple UKIP.

"So it is significant, we've got two city councillors, one county councillor, so we're after a good third place - that's our launching pad for the future."

He also says despite the General Election being framed by Brexit, domestic issues like the NHS are even more critical.

"Staying in the Single Market is crucial - if we're not in it there's quite a high chance we'll have a lot of restrictions on trade and commerce which will be quite damaging for our country.

"So people are worried about Brexit, but they are telling us 'this isn't the only thing' - they are also worried about things like the NHS and so on.

"When they hear about people dying on hospital trolleys, it really hits home.

"Then you've got people paying really high rents, and people in Worcester still talk about congestion."

He also said his main hope is that people vote for the policies they believe in, rather than tick a box for tactical reasons.

"I just want people to vote for who they believe in," he said.

Councillor Stephen also told the Worcester News he’d be pushing hard for rent controls if he became the city’s MP.

The Green Party’s General Election manifesto includes a pledge to intervene in the marketplace by forcing landlords to effectively cap the amount they charge tenants under a strict control system.

The party has promised to introduce a so-called ‘living rent’ and give every British citizen a ‘universal basic income’ - a cash payment from the state - to top-up whatever they earn.

Cllr Stephen said: "We’re not frightened of new ideas - 10 years ago people said the Living Wage was ‘bonkers’, and now it’s not bonkers.

"The rent controls is another idea where you basically help people by guaranteeing them the rates will be affordable and giving people longer term tenancy agreements.”

The Greens also want to move towards a four-day working week, scrap Trident, increase overseas aid from 0.7 per cent of GDP to one per cent and scrap zero hour contracts.

It also wants tougher environmental protections and fracking to be replaced with clean energy.

Like the Lib Dems, they want a referendum on the final Brexit deal, but free movement to be retained.

It follows an appearance by Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley in Worcester two weeks ago, where he unveiled a policy guaranteeing anyone referred for mental health therapy an appointment within 28 days.