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Membership and supporter status within political parties in the United Kingdom typically contain restrictions including:

• Age restrictions
• Citizenship restrictions
• A commitment to the party's principles
• Limiting holding membership of other political parties
• Limiting standing against officially endorsed candidates
• Membership of specifically prohibited political parties
• Personal conduct expectations and party rule compliance

Practically, involvement in a political party without membership may limit an individual's involvement. Parties that offer a lower level of affiliation, such as supporter status tend to have looser constraints.

History

Membership of political parties has been in decline in the UK since the 1950s, falling by over 65% from 1983 (4 per cent of the electorate) to 2005 (1.3 per cent). In 2022, 1.5% of the British electorate were members of the Conservative Party, Labour Party, or the Liberal Democrats. Typically party affiliation allows an individual to support only a single party. However, notable exceptions to this are: the Co-operative Party which permits its members to also have membership of the Labour Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP); and the Women's Equality Party which allows its members to also have membership of any other political party.

According to the UK Parliament website sourced from a report by Olympic Britain, during the 1950s there were 2.8 million members of the Conservative Party and 1 million Labour Party members. In the years after 1945 until the early 1990s, supporters of the Socialist and Cooperative parties and trade unions linked with the Labour Party increased the overall Labour Party movement by 5 to 6 million, from which point they began to fall and currently number about 3.5 million.

Despite being founded in 1900, the Labour Party didn't begin keeping track of its membership until 1928. On the other hand, the Conservative Party rarely releases their total membership statistics, additionally, there are no clear membership statistics for the Conservative party before 1945, although it is estimated that between WW1 and WW2, membership levels were around 1.5 million, however, exact numbers are unknown.

Current membership

1. 13,194 members plus subscribing co-operative societies

Labour Party

In the 2020 leadership election 490,731 people voted, of which 401,564 (81.8%) were full members, 76,161 (15.5%) had affiliated membership and 13,006 (2.6%) were registered supporters. The registered supporter class was abolished in 2021.

Conservative Party

The Conservative Party's membership was revealed as 131,680 at the end of the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election.

Liberal Democrats

Membership increased sharply after the confirmation on 18 April 2017 of the 8 June 2017 general election. Membership again increased sharply in the period before and after the two elections of May 2019, for the UK Councils and the European Parliament.

Scottish National Party

There was a huge surge in membership after the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, prior to which the SNP had just over 25,000 members. Membership peaked at over 125,000 in August 2018. Membership numbers then fell by tens of thousands in the final years of Nicola Sturgeon's leadership.

Reform UK

Membership doubled in the 8 days after Nigel Farage announced he would be returning to lead the party.

Green Party of England and Wales

On 31 December 2015, the Green Party of England and Wales announced its membership as 63,219, its highest known membership to date.

Co-operative Party

Though the Co-operative Party stands joint candidates with the Labour Party, their membership bases are independent (members have the option of joining both parties).

Enforcement

There are few high-profile cases of membership criteria enforcement and as such tend to happen under exceptional circumstances.

2015 Labour leadership election

During the 2015 Labour party leadership election it emerged that 260 former candidates from the Green Party, Left Unity and the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition had attempted to become registered supporters, but were subsequently blocked from voting. Shortly before this, it was revealed that Conservative MP and former junior minister Tim Loughton had been caught applying to become a registered Labour supporter, subsequently claiming that his intention was to "blow the gaff on what a complete farce the whole thing is". Veteran Labour MP Barry Sheerman also joined calls for the election to be "paused" over the fears of infiltration by other parties. The Labour Party told representatives of the four candidates at a meeting on 11 August that 1,200 members and supporters of other parties had been excluded and a further 800 were under investigation. Harriet Harman at the time admitted that as many as 100,000 people may be blocked from voting.

The number of those rejected eventually reached 56,000, around 9.1 per cent of the 610,753 considered eligible to vote at the start of the contest. According to the party, 45,000 of those were rejected for not being on the electoral register.

Labour also confirmed that it would cancel supporters' votes after they had been cast, if it was found that they were members of other parties. A number of high-profile individuals have been blocked from voting, including Marcus Chown, Jeremy Hardy, Douglas Henshall, Ken Loach, Francesca Martinez, Mark Serwotka, Pete Sinclair, Mark Steel, Luke Wright and Toby Young.

Andrew MacKinlay, a former Labour MP, further alleged that Labour was attempting to rig its own leadership election against Corbyn; a view shared by Jeremy Hardy. Such allegations became known to the media – and particularly Corbyn supporters – as the "Labour Purge", with #LabourPurge trending on Twitter. Claims of such a "purge" of Corbyn supporters were rejected by Harman who insisted that the exclusion processes were impartial to candidates. Scottish newspaper The National printed a page-long satirical cartoon speculating further vote-rigging by Labour's leadership.

Brexit

Political realignments in the Brexit process led to Ann Widdecombe being expelled from the Conservatives after she defected to the Brexit Party in the 2019 European elections to run for MEP. Michael Heseltine has the whip removed after expressing his intention to vote Liberal Democrat. Conservative policy appears to make such expulsions discretionary. despite threats from Conservative Campaign Headquarters.

Tony Blair's support from pro-remain parties led to questions why he had not been expelled from the Labour Party. Alastair Campbell was expelled from the Labour Party after saying he voted for the Liberal Democrats in the 2019 European election. Many Labour members came out in support of Campbell using the hashtag #expelmetoo reporting they had similar voted for the Liberal Democrats or other remain parties.

Criteria for membership

See also

• List of political parties in the United Kingdom
• List of elected British politicians who have changed party affiliation
• Politics of the United Kingdom

Notes and references

1. John Marshall: Membership of UK political parties; House of Commons, SN/SG/5125; 2009, page 6. www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snsg-05125.pdf Retrieved 5 January 2012
2. Burton, Matthew; Tunnicliffe, Richard (31 August 2022). "Membership of political parties in Great Britain". UK Parliament. House of Commons Library. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
3. Thompson, Gavin. "Partied Out". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
4. Helm, Toby (30 March 2024). "Labour membership falls by 23,000 over Gaza and green policies". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
5. "Tory leadership live: Kemi Badenoch wins Conservative Party leadership contest". BBC News. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
6. Whannel, Kate (28 November 2024). "Former Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns joins Reform UK". BBC News. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
7. Burton, Matthew; Tunnicliffe, Richard (29 April 2023). "Liberal Democrats website". UK Parliament House of Commons Library. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
8. "Registered supporters 2019". Liberal Democrats.
9. Paterson, Kirsteen (9 February 2024). "Exclusive: SNP membership numbers fall again, new figures reveal". Holyrood Magazine. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
10. "Green Party website". greenparty.org.uk. 16 July 2024. By joining the Green Party today, you are becoming part of a Green community of over 59,000 members working together to create a fairer, greener future.
11. "BOARD REPORT & ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2022". Co-operative Party.
12. Burton, Matthew; Tunnicliffe, Richard (30 August 2022). "Membership of political parties in Great Britain" (PDF). UK Parliament House of Commons Library. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
13. Conor Matchett (24 April 2023). "Scottish Greens state their membership stands at 7,646" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 April 2023 – via Twitter.
14. Robertson, Adam (13 May 2023). "Alba Party says they have more members than Scottish Tories or LibDems". The National. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
15. "United Kingdom Independence Party Limited (a company limited by guarantee) report and accounts 31 December 2020". The Electoral Commission. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
16. Liddle, Rod (24 January 2021). "My SDP has definitely caught the public mood. Now all we need is some votes". The Times. Archived from the original on 7 July 2021.
17. "Report And Accounts For The Year Ended 31 December 2022". Communist Party of Britain – via Electoral Commission.
18. "OFFICIAL MONSTER RAVING LOONY PARTY Statement of Accounts 1st Jan – 31st Dec 2023" (PDF).
19. Burton, Matthew; Tunnicliffe, Richard (30 August 2022). "Membership of political parties in Great Britain" (PDF). House of Commons Library. UK Parliament. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
20. "Lib Dem Membership tops 100,000 after snap election call". BBC News. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
21. "Scottish referendum: 'Yes' parties see surge in members". BBC News. 22 September 2014.
22. "UK political party membership figures: August 2018". House of Commons Library. 3 September 2018.
23. Meighan, Craig (16 March 2023). "SNP reveals huge membership losses as 30,000 people leave party". STV News. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
24. Horton, Harry (11 June 2024). "Reform UK membership grows 50% in week since Farage announces run for parliament". ITV News. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
25. "The Green Party of England and Wales – Report and Financial Statements – Year ended 31 December 2015". The Green Party of England and Wales. p. 5. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
26. Patrick Wintour and Frances Perraudin (7 August 2015). "Labour leadership election: 260 members of rival parties ask to vote". The Guardian.
27. Perraudin, Frances (5 August 2015). "Tory caught signing up as Labour supporter wanted to expose vote 'farce'". theguardian.com. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
28. Carole Walker (10 August 2015). "Labour contest should be 'paused', MP Barry Sheerman says". BBC News. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
29. Mason, Rowena (11 August 2015). "Labour leadership contest: campaign teams summoned over ballot concerns". The Guardian.
30. Nickerson, James (25 August 2015). "Labour leadership race: Acting leader Harriet Harman admits up to 100,000 members could be purged from vote". City A.M.
31. Blanchard, Jack (26 August 2015). "Labour Party rejects 56k bids to vote in leadership contest to calm fears of Tory infiltration". Daily Mirror.
32. "Over 600,000 people will be able to vote in the Labour leadership contest". LabourList. 12 August 2015.
33. "Number of voters in leadership contest revised down to 550,000". LabourList. 25 August 2015.
34. "Labour is going to cancel some supporters' leadership votes after they've been cast". The Independent. London.
35. ^ "The Labour Purge Is Underway, And They've Banned Me From Voting Corbyn (IMAGE)". Scriptonite Daily. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017.
36. ^ Glaze, Ben (20 August 2015). "Genuine Labour supporters barred from voting for leader due to 'robust' checks". Daily Mirror.
37. "Labour leadership: Mark Serwotka of PCS union has vote rejected". BBC News. 26 August 2015.
38. "Labour supporters claim leadership vote 'purge'". Channel 4 News. 20 August 2015.
39. Aubrey Allegretti (13 August 2015). "Mark Steel's Ban From Vote in Labour Leadership Election Prompts Raging 'Entryism' Debate". Huffington Post.
40. "Labour leadership race: Now Labour is blocking genuine party members from leadership vote". cityam.com. 20 August 2015.
41. Riley-Smith, Ben (21 August 2015). "'Labour purge' is deliberate attempt by party to stop Jeremy Corbyn winning, former MP claims". The Daily Telegraph. London.
42. "Jeremy Hardy: 'Labour trying to rig leadership election'". BBC News. 21 August 2015.
43. Riley-Smith, Ben (21 August 2015). "'Labour purge' is deliberate attempt by party to stop Jeremy Corbyn winning, former MP claims". The Daily Telegraph. London.
44. "#LabourPurge: Supporter's fury as they are stopped from voting for next Labour leader". Metro. 20 August 2015.
45. Sebastian Payne (25 August 2015). "Harriet Harman: we are not purging Corbyn supporters". The Spectator.
46. "Not Waving But Purging". thenational.scot. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015.
47. Hunt, Darren (24 April 2019). "Ann Widdecombe reveals she has been EXPELLED from Tories after defection to Brexit Party". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
48. BBC (20 May 2019). "European elections 2019: Heseltine loses Tory whip over Lib Dem vote". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
49. Peretz, George (1 May 2019). "Are Conservative members who endorse the Brexit Party at risk of expulsion?". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
50. Pearson, Allison (1 May 2019). "Why I will be voting for the Brexit Party". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
51. May, Josh (30 April 2017). "John Prescott questions why Tony Blair has not been expelled from Labour". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
52. Mason, Rowena (28 May 2019). "Labour expels Alastair Campbell from party". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
53. Tobin, Olivia (29 May 2019). "#expelmetoo: Furious members who voted against Labour in European elections dare party to kick them out after Alastair Campbell's expulsion". Evening Standard. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
54. "Constitution of the Conservative Party (Page 10)" (PDF). Retrieved 6 September 2014.
55. "Labour Party Rule Book (Page 9)" (PDF). Retrieved 6 September 2014.
56. "The Constitutions of the Liberal Democrats" (PDF). www.libdems.org.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
57. "CONSTITUTION OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY" (PDF). www.snp.org. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
58. "Join Sinn Féin". www.sinnfein.ie. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
59. "Join Plaid Cymru -The Party of Wales today". partyofwales.org. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
60. "The Rule Book – Co-operative Party". The Co-operative Party. 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
61. "Membership". www.greenparty.org.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
62. "Join the Scottish Green Party" (PDF). www.scottishgreens.org.uk. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
63. "Membership Form". www.greenpartyni.org. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
64. "Application for membership" (PDF). www.tuv.org.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
65. "The Constitution". www.ukip.org. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
66. "Join Online". join.ukip.org. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

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