The financial and membership impact of the Labour leadership’s internal factional war on the Left became clear last week when Labour submitted its annual financial statement to the Electoral Commission. Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Philipson was given the unenviable task of putting a shine on the news from the Electoral Commission that Labour was £5m in the red and lost 91,000 members in 2021. Talking to Sky News she dismissed this catastrophic loss of membership with the throwaway line that ‘we will always see fluctuations in our membership’.
This ‘fluctuation’ is the biggest annual loss of membership since the modern (& relatively accurate) membership records system began in the 1980s. As you can see from the table and graphs, this is neither a normal situation nor evidence of the party being on a ‘much stronger and sustainable footing’ as claimed by Philipson.
Of course, Philipson knows the idea that this makes the party healthier is nonsense. Almost a 100,000 fewer people across the country arguing the case for Labour in their homes, workplaces, and communities, with family, workmates, friends and neighbours is hardly likely to make Labour either stronger or more sustainable. And a substantial amount of the £5m deficit hole would have been plugged by the approximately £3m of subscriptions now lost from these ex-members. (For an in-depth analysis of Labour’s financial problems see this excellent thread from Esther Giles, a former candidate for party treasurer).
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has previously gloated about the exodus of party members, saying that it was a ‘good thing’ that membership is down in her own local party. What the Right really mean is that the purge of the Left is worth the financial hit from the loss of income. They think that they can make up for this with donations from ‘high net worth’ individuals (i.e. rich people). There is no evidence, yet at least, that there is a huge queue of rich donors lining up to press cash into the hands of Starmer’s Labour party. And even if these appear, there are always conditions attached to rich people’s donations and it is not a stable form of income for the party. Another problem for this approach is that Labour has lost a large section of the membership just as it has also alienated many of the trade union affiliates. Even if they don’t want a lively, democratic, participative mass party – one of the Right’s ‘successes’, this strategy is a high risk one within a year or 18 months of a general election.
LP Membership 1989 – 2021
| Year | Membership | +/- change | % change | Labour Leader |
| 2021 | 432,213 | -91,119 | -17.4 | Keir Starmer |
| 2020 | 523,332 | -8,714 | -1.6 | Keir Starmer |
| 2019 | 532,046 | +13,387 | +2.6 | Jeremy Corbyn |
| 2018 | 518,659 | -45,784 | -8.1 | Jeremy Corbyn |
| 2017 | 564,443 | +20,798 | +3.8 | Jeremy Corbyn |
| 2016 | 543,645 | +155,383 | +40 | Jeremy Corbyn |
| 2015 | 388,262 | +194,508 | +100.4 | Jeremy Corbyn |
| 2014 | 193,754 | +4,223 | +2.2 | Ed Miliband |
| 2013 | 189,531 | +1,994 | +1.1 | Ed Miliband |
| 2012 | 187,537 | -5,763 | -3 | Ed Miliband |
| 2011 | 193,300 | +39 | +0.02 | Ed Miliband |
| 2010 | 193,261 | +37,056 | +23.7 | Gordon Brown |
| 2009 | 156,205 | -10,042 | -6 | Gordon Brown |
| 2008 | 166,247 | 10,644 | -6 | Gordon Brown |
| 2007 | 176,891 | -5,479 | -3 | Gordon Brown |
| 2006 | 182,370 | -15,656 | -7.9 | Tony Blair |
| 2005 | 198,026 | -3,348 | -1.7 | Tony Blair |
| 2004 | 201,374 | -13,578 | -6.3 | Tony Blair |
| 2003 | 214,952 | -33,342 | -13.4 | Tony Blair |
| 2002 | 248,294 | -23,706 | -8.7 | Tony Blair |
| 2001 | 272,000 | -39,000 | -12.5 | Tony Blair |
| 2000 | 311,000 | -50,000 | -13.9 | Tony Blair |
| 1999 | 361,000 | -26,776 | -6.9 | Tony Blair |
| 1998 | 387,776 | -17,462 | -4.3 | Tony Blair |
| 1997 | 405,238 | +4,773 | +1.2 | Tony Blair |
| 1996 | 400,465 | +35,355 | +9.7 | Tony Blair |
| 1995 | 365,110 | +59,921 | +19.6 | Tony Blair |
| 1994 | 305,189 | +38,919 | +14.6 | Tony Blair |
| 1993 | 266,270 | -13,260 | -4.7 | John Smith |
| 1992 | 279,530 | +18,297 | +7 | Neil Kinnock |
| 1991 | 261,233 | -49,919 | -16 | Neil Kinnock |
| 1990 | 311,152 | +17,429 | +5.9 | Neil Kinnock |
| 1989 | 293,723 | Neil Kinnock | ||
Bold is a general election year
Sources: Annual Financial Statements to Electoral Commission (to 31 December in each year) http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/Search/Accounts?currentPage=1&rows=10&query=Labour%20party%20&sort=PublishedDate&order=desc&open=filter&et=pp&year=2022&year=2021&year=2020&year=2019&year=2018&year=2017&year=2016&year=2015&year=2014&year=2013&year=2012&year=2011&year=2010&year=2009&year=2008&year=2007&year=2006&year=2005&year=2004&year=2003&year=2002&year=2001®ister=gb®Status=registered&rptBy=centralparty&optCols=PublishedDate&optCols=FinancialYearEnd&optCols=BandName&optCols=SoaType
Pemberton, H and Wickham-Jones, M (2013) ‘Labour’s lost grassroots: The rise and fall of party membership’. British Politics, Vol 8, pp. 181-206
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