Labour lost almost 46,000 members under Jeremy Corbyn last year as the party battled criticism over its handling of anti-Semitism and its approach to Brexit, official figures have revealed.
At the end of 2018 the party had 518,659 members, a report from the Electoral Commission found. It represents an 8% drop in membership, down from 564,443 the year before.
However, Labour is still by far the largest British political party by membership, with general secretary Jennie Formby arguing that the fall in numbers was “in line with previous experience”.
The party also saw an almost £800,000 spike in membership income, totalling £16.9m.
Meanwhile, Labour raised the most income and spent the most funds in 2018, financial details showed, with the Tory Party coming in second.
Party income and expenditure:
- Labour Party
- Income – £45.6 million
- Expenditure – £46.3 million
- Conservative Party
- Income – £34.2 million
- Expenditure – £36.3 million
- Liberal Democrats
- Income – £6.2 million
- Expenditure – £6.5 million
- Scottish National Party
- Income – £4.7 million
- Expenditure – £3.6 million
- Green Party
- Income – £1.9 million
- Expenditure – £2.2 million
According to the Tory Party financial report, the party’s income was at the “highest level ... achieved in the last 40 years, outside a general election or European election year” under Theresa May’s leadership.
Membership income also increased from £835,000 to £1.47m, the pair added, although membership numbers were not provided for the period.
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party was not founded until 2019, so was not included in the report about 2018 spending.