Labour membership falls by 200,000 in five years

BBC News ^ | August 21, 2025 | Becky Morton

[MinorityRepublican]

Labour has lost almost 200,000 members in the past five years, according to the party's latest annual accounts.

The party's membership has been steadily falling since Sir Keir Starmer became leader in April 2020, from a peak of 532,046 at the end of 2019.

Despite the party's landslide election victory last summer, it shed another 37,215 members over the course of 2024, around 10% of its total membership at the start of the year.

However, it is still the largest political party in the UK, with 333,235 members at the end of last year.

Labour sources said membership numbers tend to fluctuate between elections and the party was proud to still be the biggest in the country.

Meanwhile, Reform UK, which saw success in last year's general election and May's local elections, says its membership has surged.

Nigel Farage's party did not include a membership figure in its own annual accounts, published by the Electoral Commission on Thursday, but a ticker on Reform's website claims it has more than 234,000 members.

The Liberal Democrats suffered a slight fall in membership from 86,599 to 83,174, despite the party achieving its best ever election results last year.

The Green Party of England and Wales, which won a record four seats in the general election, gained around 5,000 new members in 2024.

The Conservative Party does not routinely publish its membership figures in its annual accounts, but did record an increase in income from membership fees of around £500,000.

Around 131,680 people were eligible to vote in last year's Tory leadership election, 40,000 fewer than in the 2022 contest.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said more than 650,000 people have signed up to his new party - which does not yet have an official name - following its launch in July.

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TOPICS: United Kingdom
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