A born and bred Brighton girl has been named Baroness of Moulsecoomb as she takes her place in the House of Lords. 

Six decades ago, she was playing on the streets of the council estate there. But Green party politician Jenny Jones has now completed a remarkable rise up the social ladder to take her place among bishops and wealthy landowners in Parliament.

Speaking to The Argus yesterday, the London Assembly member admitted it had been a “long journey” but the more she thought about it, there was no other place she would want to represent on Westminster's red benches.

Baroness Jones, who currently lives in Camberwell, London, said: “I could have picked anywhere in Britain but, although I have lived in other places for longer, Moulsecoomb just had that pull for me as the time was associated with the most wonderful time of my life.

“Quite honestly there was no alternative for me.”

Baroness Jones was born in December 1949 and grew up in Newick Road on the then relatively new council estate to the north east of Brighton centre.

Among her memories include running through the woods in Wild Park, playing in traffic-free streets outside her home and going to Moulsecoomb Primary School.

Her great-grandfather Will Evans, who lived in Elm Grove, was a Labour councillor on the town's borough council.

Baroness Jones admitted these childhood memories were brought back when she recently visited the area at the opening of the new Lewes Road bus and cycle lane.

She joked she will become the city's third peer - after Labour's Lord Bassam of Brighton and the Palace Pier.

Dave Murtagh, chairman of East Moulsecoomb Tenants and Residents' Association, said this would “certainly put Moulsecoomb on the map”.

Before entering politics, she worked in London before studying archaeology at University College London as a mature student.

Baroness Jones then spent about ten years in the Middle East studying carbonised plant remains before becoming involved in the Green party.

After winning a place on the inaugural London Assembly in 2000, she was appointed deputy mayor of London in 2003 by Labour's Ken Livingstone.

Baroness Jones was appointed to the Lords as a life peer in September after a vote by party members.

She was introduced to the second chamber yesterday by Baroness Grey-Thompson and Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws.