Why is Labour membership falling - and does it matter?

There should be no surprise given declining opinion poll ratings and electoral performance that the Labour Party’s membership has experienced a marked drop since the Starmer administration was elected in July last year.

- SEAN O'GRADY

To be fair, members have left at a slower rate than Labour's voters, but a 10 per cent fall to 333,235 at the end of last year is still significant. Indeed, membership is now lower than immediately after the 2019 general election defeat, when it stood at 532,046 (all figures from the Electoral Commission). It's bad news.

Why the drop?

Much of it reflects Labour's dwindling vote share, albeit members probably aren't as agitated as the general public about immigration. But controversial moves on welfare, economic policy and Gaza would seem the obvious causes for disaffection.

Without hard data, it is also probably true that some Labour members and activists have defected to the new party co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, just as a minority of local councillors and MPs have. The Corbyn-Sultana “Your Party” isn't yet registered with the Electoral Commission so it's currently impossible to quantify its impact, though it claims to have received a remarkable 650,000 expressions of support. If fully converted to membership, that would make it about as big as Labour and Reform UK combined. Labour has probably also lost some members to the Greens, who are up by about 5,000 (England and Wales).