Membership of UK political parties

Standard Note: Last updated: Author: Section SN/SG/5125 14 June 2012 Feargal McGuinness Social and General Statistics

There has been a large decrease in reported membership of UK political parties over the post-war period. In 2010, only 1.0% of the electorate was a member of one of the three main political parties. Labour had approximately 194,000 members, the Conservatives 177,000 and the Liberal Democrats 65,000. However in the early 1950s, the Conservatives claimed nearly 3 million members while Labour claimed more than 1 million members. This note sets out available data on membership of the three main parties back to 1928, as well as more recent figures for smaller parties. It also looks at membership of other organisations, including trade unions and pressure groups, and the decline in party membership in other European countries.

Contents
1 2 Introduction Trends in UK party membership 2.1 Individual party membership, 1928-2010 Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats and predecessor parties Smaller parties 2.2 Broader membership of the Labour Party 2.3 Membership revenues 2.4 Membership of non-party groups 3 4 Other European countries Reference tables 2 2 2 3 3 3 5 6 7 7 9 11

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Introduction

Membership of UK political parties has been in steep decline over recent decades. In 2010, only 1.0% of the electorate was a member of one of the main parties, compared to an estimated 3.8% in 1983. The UK has one of the lowest rates of party membership in Europe, but most Western European countries have also seen large falls in party membership over the past fifty years. At the end of 2010, Labour had 194,000 members compared to reported Conservative Party membership of 177,000. However the Conservatives have historically had the largest individual membership base. Reported Conservative Party membership peaked at almost 3 million in the early 1950s, when Labour membership reached a peak of 1 million. The decline in membership numbers has not been uniform. Labour membership grew by about 50% between 1993 and 1997, and Conservative membership increased in 2005. Detailed analysis of trends is made difficult because parties are not obliged to publish membership figures. Furthermore, historical data are often patchy or unreliable which means the actual extent of the decline in membership is uncertain.

Trends in UK party membership

Political parties are not required to make membership figures publicly available and changing membership structures mean that the quality of available data varies considerably between parties. Following the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, all registered political parties have been required to submit annual financial statements to the Electoral Commission since 2002. Statements often include membership figures but some parties, including the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru, do not provide this information. In many cases the historical data are only rough estimates and are likely to overstate membership. Conservative membership prior to 1993 appears to have been significantly exaggerated, as does Labour membership up to the 1980s. Now that political parties are required to publish their accounts, the figures (where given) are likely to be more reliable. Labour has published figures for individual membership since 1928. Up to 2004 figures were provided in the annual Conference Report published by the partys National Executive Committee, and total membership is now recorded in Labours financial statements. Since the creation of the Liberal Democrats in 1988, membership data have been available from the partys internal leadership and presidential elections and more recently from its annual financial statements. The Conservative Party has never produced any systematic publication detailing its membership. 2.1 Individual party membership, 1928-2010

Table 1 at the end of this note shows membership numbers for the three main parties since 1928. There has been a large fall in party membership from a peak in the early 1950s to the present day. Membership of the three main parties as a percentage of the total UK electorate decreased from 3.8% in 1983 to 1.0% in 2010, although the decline in membership has not been uniform.

Conservatives Conservative Party membership climbed steeply after the Second World War, from about 910,000 in 1946 to a reported record high of 2.8 million in 1953. Andrew Thorpe suggests that the Conservatives heavy defeat by Labour in the 1945 General Election produced a huge fillip to Conservative membership recruitment. Faced with the reality of a socialist government, many lapsed members returned and new ones came in for the first time.1 The Conservatives had more individual members than any other party up to the mid-1990s, when there were about 400,000 Conservative Party members. Membership fell by more than half between 2000 and 2010, although the decline was temporarily reversed in 2005. Labour The Labour Party doubled its membership between 1928 (when membership figures were first reported) and 1937. Membership was down significantly during the Second World War but rose sharply in the immediate post-war period. In 1952 and 1953 the party claimed over a million members. Reported membership in 1980 was 348,000 compared with 666,000 in 1979, but the large decrease was probably due to a change in reporting standards and suggests Labours actual membership before 1980 was exaggerated. Andrew Thorpe comments that Labours figures for individual party membership have always been regarded as somewhat suspect, especially from 1956 when constituency Labour parties (CLPs) were forced to affiliate on a membership of at least 800, and still more from 1963 when that figure was raised to 1,000, at which point, in theory, an actual membership of zero would have been recorded as 618,000.2 Membership remained fairly constant throughout the 1980s before climbing in the mid-1990s as Tony Blair led a drive to recruit new members. There was a fall in membership during Labours time in office between 1997 and 2009, but it increased again in 2010. At December 2010 membership was about 194,000, compared to 156,000 at the end of 2009. Liberal Democrats and predecessor parties Patrick Seyd and Paul Whiteley have estimated that the Liberal Party had over 243,000 members in 1960.3 They estimate the combined membership of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party to have been approximately 145,000 in 1983 and 138,000 in 1987,4 although in 1988 the newly created Liberal Democrat party reported its membership to be much lower at about 80,000. The Liberal Democrats claimed about 100,000 members in the early 1990s, falling to around 70,000 members in the early 2000s. At December 2010, the party had 65,000 members.

Andrew Thorpe (2009), Reconstructing Conservative Party Membership in World War II Britain, Parliamentary Affairs, Vol 62 No 2, p236 2 Thorpe, p227 3 Paul Whiteley and Patrick Seyd (2002), High-Intensity Participation: The Dynamics of Party Activism in Britain, p10 4 Patrick Seyd and Paul Whiteley (2004), British Party Members: An Overview, Party Politics, Vol 10 No 4, p357

Chart 1: Party membership, 1928-2010

Conservative membership
Membership, 000s 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 1928

1938

1948

1958

1968

1978

1988

1998

2008

Labour membership
Membership, 000s 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0 1928

1938

1948

1958

1968

1978

1988

1998

2008

Liberal Democrat (and predecessors) membership

Membership, 000s 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1928

1938

1948

1958

1968

1978

1988

1998

2008

Membership of the three main parties fell from 3.8% of the UK electorate in 1983, to just 1.0% in 2010. Over this period the total electorate grew by 6.8%, or 2.9 million electors. Figures for party membership as a percentage of the electorate are provided in Table 2 at the end of this note.
Chart 2: Party membership as a proportion of UK electorate, 1964-2010
5.0%

4.0%
Main parties

3.0%
Conservative

2.0%
Labour

1.0%

Liberal Democrat

0.0% 1964

1966

1970

1974

1979

1983

1987

1992

1997

2001

2005

2010

Smaller parties There has been a growth in the membership of smaller parties over the past decade, as shown in Table 3. Increases in UK Independence Party (UKIP) and British National Party (BNP) membership coincided with European Parliament elections. UKIP membership jumped from 10,000 in 2002 to a peak of 26,000 in 2004, but by 2006 membership had fallen back to 16,000. Membership of the Green Party grew in both European Parliament and general election years. Green Party membership increased gradually over the ten years 1998 to 2008 before rising more sharply in 2009 and 2010. The Scottish National Party has seen its membership grow steadily since 2003. Plaid Cymru choose not to include membership figures in their annual financial statements.
Chart 3: Membership of smaller parties, 2002-2010
Membership, 000s

30 25 20 15
SNP UKIP

10 5 0 2002

BNP Green

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2.2

Broader membership of the Labour Party

The broader Labour movement comprises members of affiliated trade unions (ATUs) and the Socialist and Cooperative parties alongside official party members (members of constituency Labour parties). ATUs have a 50% share of the vote at the Labour Party Conference (although this has decreased from 90% in 19925) and contribute affiliation fees. In 2010, the party received 7.9 million from affiliated groups compared to membership income of 4.9 million.6 The Labour Party Conference Report included membership figures for the ATUs and the Socialist and Cooperative (Soc&Coop) parties up to 1992. The figures are set out in Table 4 at the end of this note. ATU membership rose rapidly in the years immediately following the Second World War. It peaked at 6.5 million in 1979 but then fell steadily over the 1980s. In 1992 ATU membership was 4.6 million. Individual party membership also increased in the immediate post-war period. In 1952, there were 1.0 million individual party members, representing about one sixth of broad Labour membership. The sudden decline in individual members as a proportion of broad membership after 1979 is attributable to the likely exaggeration of membership figures before 1980. Socialist and Cooperative party membership has generally comprised a far smaller proportion of the Labour movement. Membership was about 51,000 in 1992, or 1.0% of broad Labour membership.
Chart 5: Membership of broader Labour movement
Membership, 000s 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 1900 Soc&Coop 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Individual members ATUs

5 6

The Independent, Union leaders toe the line on block vote cut, 23 July 1992 The Labour Party, Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2010, page 9

2.3

Membership revenues

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 requires that all registered political parties submit their annual financial statements to the Electoral Commission. The table below shows revenues obtained from membership and subscription fees since 2002. These figures do not include donations or party affiliation fees. Labour membership income has been substantially larger than that received by other parties over most of this period. Labour received 4.9 million in 2010, compared to 1.0 million for the Conservatives and 1.0 million for the Liberal Democrats.
Membership and subscription fee revenues, 2001-2010 , 000s BNP 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 36 60 92 129 115 145 201 166 626 305 CON Green LAB 3,399 3,093 3,452 3,492 3,685 4,376 4,447 3,930 4,497 4,927 LD 590 680 680 710 769 832 804 808 890 1,028 PC 15 42 53 86 94 82 98 88 98 116 SNP UKIP
1

665 814 814 843 1,191 1,214 1,229 1,085 1,031

78 87 100 114 118 142 140 133 170

136 126 169 195 244 311 367 387 408

119 210 199 181 148 167 194 177 170

Notes: (1) UKIP revenues for 2002 refer to the sixteen month period 1 September 2001 to 31 December 2002. Source: Electoral Commission

2.4

Membership of non-party groups

The decline in party membership has been attributed both to a shortage of potential party members and to parties decreasing need for members. 7 The argument that there is a reduced supply of potential members is based upon the emergence of other political or campaigning organisations that are competing with parties for members; increased pressures on peoples time, whether from employment or leisure; or demographic changes including the decline of traditional working-class communities and growth of the suburbs. On the other hand, parties are less reliant on a wide membership network as mass communications allow them to reach voters directly. Funds gathered from wealthy donors and the state make parties less dependent on individual members subscriptions and small donations. Parties may even see a vocal membership as an electoral liability. Non-party groups like the National Trust and RSPB have increased their membership since the 1970s. The National Trust had about 3.8 million members in 2010.

A summary of explanations for decreasing party membership can be found in: Patrick Seyd and Paul Whiteley (2004), British Party Members: An Overview, Party Politics Vol 10 No 4, pp355-366

Chart 4: Large membership non-party organisations

Membership, 000s 4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991
RSPB Wildlife Trusts WWF National Trust

1996

2001

2006

2011

Note: WWF figures for 2002-04 are for number of members and supporters Sources: Organisations annual reports/reviews and websites

Trade union membership on the other hand peaked at 13.2 million in 1979 before declining during the 1980s and 1990s, to 7.8 million in 1997. There were 7.3 million trade union members in the UK in 2009/10.8
Chart 5: Trade union membership, 1892-2010
Membership, 000s 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Notes: Data for 1999 onwards are for financial years 1999/00 etc; new coding was introduced in 1974. Source: BIS, Trade union membership statistics 2011

BIS, Trade union membership statistics 2011, http://www.bis.gov.uk/analysis/statistics/trade-union/union-membership-2011

Other European countries

The decline in party membership levels is not just a UK phenomenon. Data gathered by Richard Katz, Peter Mair, Ingrid Van Biezen and other researchers show that there has been a marked decline in party membership since the 1980s in countries across Europe.9 About 1.1% of the UK electorate were party members in 2010, making membership levels in the UK among the lowest of Europe. Party membership as a percentage of the electorate is lower only in Poland and Latvia, where less than one percent of electors are party members.10 It is only slightly higher in France (1.9% in 2009) and Germany (2.3% in 2007). Membership as a percentage of the electorate is highest in Austria (17.3% in 2008) and Cyprus (16.3% in 2009) but these are outliers the next highest country is Finland, where party members comprised 8.1% of the electorate in 2006. The raw number of members is highest in Italy at about 2.6 million, about 5.6% of the electorate. Almost all European countries have seen a fall in party membership since the 1980s. The UK has seen one of the largest decreases in membership. There has also been a steep decline in membership in Scandinavian countries, which had some of the highest levels of membership in the 1960s and 1970s. Greece and Spain are exceptional in that membership (as a proportion of the electorate) has actually increased since 1980. Chart 6a shows the change in party membership in countries that have historically had high levels of membership. Chart 6b shows the trend in countries where membership has generally been low.11

Data presented in this section, as well as data for other European countries, are taken from: Richard Katz, Peter Mair et al (1992), The membership of political parties in European democracies, 19601990, European Journal of Political Research Vol 22 pp329-345 Ingrid Van Biezen, Peter Mair and Thomas Poguntke (2012), Going, going, ... gone? The decline of party membership in contemporary Europe, European Journal of Political Research Vol 51 pp24-56 10 In Poland, an estimated 0.99% of the electorate were party members in 2009. In Latvia, an estimated 0.74% of the electorate were party members in 2004. 11 Chart data are from Katz and Mair (1992) and Van Biezen, Mair and Poguntke (2012).

Chart 6a: Trends in party membership in Europe - high membership countries, 1960-2010
30%

25% Austria 20%

15%

Norway Italy

10%

Finland Denmark

5%

0% 1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

Chart 6b: Trends in party membership in Europe - low membership countries, 1960-2010
10%

8%

6% Netherlands 4% Germany 2% France UK 0% 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Spain

10

Reference tables

Table 1
Individual party membership: Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat 000s Conservative 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 Labour 215 228 277 297 372 366 381 419 431 447 429 409 304 227 219 236 266 487 645 608 629 730 908 876 1,015 1,005 934 843 845 913 889 845 790 751 767 830 830 817 776 734 701 681 680 700 703 Liberal Democrat

911 1,200 2,200

2,900 2,806

243

279 234

2,250

1,120 - 1,340 1,120 - 1,340

234

11

Conservative 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Labour 665 692 675 659 660 676 666 348 277 274 295 323 313 297 289 266 294 311 261 280 266 305 365 400 405 388 361 311 272 248 215 201 198 182 177 166 156 194

Liberal Democrat

190

1,120

145

1,200 1,200 1,200

2 1 2

145

1,000

1,000 500 400

1 1

400

401 311 272 248 215 258 290 250 177

138 80 81 77 91 101 101 101 94 99 87 89 83 69 73 73 71 73 73 72 65 60 59 65

Notes (1) Rough estimate; (2) Upper bound on membership figure; (3) Daily Telegraph estimate; (4) New s of the World estimate; (5) Includes Social Democratic Party; dotted line indicates w hen the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party merged. Sources David Butler and Gareth Butler (2010), British Political Facts; Paul Webb, David Farrell and Ian Holliday (2002), Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies ; Paul Whiteley and Patrick Seyd (2002), High-intensity participation: the dynamics of party activism in Britain ; Patrick Seyd and Paul Whiteley (2004), British Party Members: An Overview , Party Politics , Vol 10 No 4, pp355-366; Andrew Thorpe (2009), Reconstructing Conservative Party Membership in World War II Britain, Parliamentary Affairs , Vol 62 No 2, pp227-241; The Independent; Daily Telegraph; New s of the World; Electoral Commission; Liberal Democrat HQ; press reports from leadership contests.

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Table 2
Party membership as a proportion of the electorate Party membership, % of UK electorate Conservative Labour Liberal Main parties 1964 1966 1970 1974 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2.3% 2.2% 1.7% 1.7% 1.6% 0.7% 0.7% 0.6% 0.9% 0.6% 0.4% 0.4% 0.8% Electorate1 000s 35,894 35,957 39,615 40,256 41,573 42,704 43,666 43,719 43,846 44,403 44,246 45,610

3.1%

0.5% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1% 3.8% 3.3% 2.0% 2.0% 1.5% 1.3% 1.0%

2.8% 2.3% 1.1% 0.9% 0.7% 0.7% 0.4%

Notes: (1a) Electorate at general election; (2) Takes the centre of the range specified in Table 2 Sources: Party membership figures from Table 1; electorate figures from Rallings and Thrasher, British Electoral Facts 1832-2006 and House of Commons Library RP10/36 General Election 2010

Table 3
Individual party membership: BNP, Green, SNP and UKIP Thousands BNP 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Green 5.0 SNP1 UKIP2

2.2 3.1 5.5 7.9 6.5 6.3 9.8 9.8 12.6 10.3

5.9 5.3 6.3 7.1 7.0 7.4 7.5 9.6 12.8 9.5 10.9 11.0 12.6 13.9 15.1 15.6 16.2

10.0 16.0 26.0 19.0 16.0 15.9 14.6 16.3 15.5

Notes (1) The SNP introduced a centralised membership system in 2004. Membership as reported by the party's local branches w as 16,100 in 2002 and 13,400 in 2003. How ever sale of membership cards to branches by party headquarters totalled 9,500 in 2003, w hich suggests the figures from local branches over-estimated total membership. (2) UKIP figures are approximate for years up to 2007. Sources: Electoral Commission

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Table 4
Membership of Labour Party movement 000s
Individual members Members % of total 1900-01 1901-02 1902-03 1903-04 1904-05 1905-06 1906-07 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 215 228 277 297 372 366 381 419 431 447 429 409 304 227 219 236 266 487 645 608 629 730 908 876 1,015 1,005 9.4% 9.8% 11.8% 12.6% 15.7% 15.9% 16.7% 17.6% 17.6% 17.7% 16.3% 15.4% 11.8% 9.1% 8.9% 9.4% 10.0% 16.0% 19.4% 12.1% 11.6% 12.8% 15.3% 15.0% 16.6% 16.5% ATU Members % of total 353 455 847 956 855 904 975 1,050 1,127 1,451 1,394 1,502 1,858 1,572 2,054 2,171 2,415 2,960 3,464 4,318 3,974 3,279 2,120 3,158 3,338 3,352 3,239 2,025 2,044 2,011 2,024 1,960 1,899 1,858 1,913 1,969 2,037 2,158 2,214 2,227 2,231 2,206 2,237 2,375 2,510 2,635 4,386 4,751 4,946 4,972 4,937 5,072 5,057 93.9% 97.0% 98.4% 98.6% 98.3% 98.2% 97.9% 97.9% 97.7% 97.9% 97.8% 98.0% 98.4% 97.9% 98.4% 98.1% 98.1% 98.2% 98.7% 99.0% 99.1% 99.0% 98.3% 98.9% 98.9% 98.9% 98.3% 88.4% 87.7% 85.7% 85.8% 82.6% 82.4% 81.5% 80.5% 80.5% 80.6% 82.1% 83.1% 86.6% 89.7% 89.9% 89.4% 88.9% 82.6% 79.3% 87.0% 87.6% 86.5% 84.0% 84.4% 83.0% 83.0% Soc&Coop Members % of total 23 14 14 14 15 17 21 22 27 31 31 31 31 33 33 33 42 47 53 47 42 37 32 36 36 36 36 55 52 59 58 37 40 40 40 45 45 43 43 40 40 28 29 30 32 41 42 46 42 41 40 35 21 34 6.1% 3.0% 1.6% 1.4% 1.7% 1.8% 2.1% 2.1% 2.3% 2.1% 2.2% 2.0% 1.6% 2.1% 1.6% 1.9% 1.9% 1.8% 1.3% 1.0% 0.9% 1.0% 1.7% 1.1% 1.1% 1.1% 1.7% 2.3% 2.5% 2.5% 1.6% 1.7% 1.7% 1.8% 1.9% 1.8% 1.7% 1.6% 1.5% 1.6% 1.1% 1.2% 1.2% 1.2% 1.3% 1.3% 0.9% 0.8% 0.7% 0.7% 0.6% 0.3% 0.6% Total Members 376 469 861 970 870 921 996 1,072 1,154 1,482 1,425 1,533 1,889 1,605 2,087 2,213 2,462 3,013 3,511 4,360 4,011 3,311 2,156 3,194 3,374 3,388 3,294 2,292 2,331 2,346 2,358 2,372 2,305 2,279 2,377 2,445 2,527 2,630 2,663 2,571 2,486 2,454 2,503 2,673 3,038 3,322 5,040 5,422 5,717 5,920 5,848 6,108 6,096

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Individual members Members % of total 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 934 843 845 913 889 845 790 751 767 830 830 817 776 734 701 681 680 700 703 665 692 675 659 660 676 666 348 277 274 295 323 313 297 289 266 294 311 261 280 266 305 365 400 405 388 361 311 272 248 215 201 198 182 177 166 156 194 14.4% 13.0% 12.9% 13.9% 13.6% 13.1% 12.5% 11.9% 12.2% 13.1% 13.1% 12.7% 12.2% 11.7% 11.5% 11.0% 10.9% 11.1% 11.4% 11.0% 10.6% 10.4% 10.1% 10.0% 9.7% 9.2% 5.1% 4.2% 4.2% 4.6% 5.2% 5.0% 4.8% 4.9% 4.6% 5.2% 5.9% 5.1% 5.6%

ATU Members % of total 5,530 5,606 5,658 5,644 5,628 5,564 5,513 5,550 5,503 5,507 5,502 5,602 5,539 5,540 5,364 5,462 5,519 5,559 5,425 5,365 5,787 5,750 5,800 5,913 6,260 6,511 6,407 6,273 6,185 6,101 5,844 5,827 5,778 5,564 5,481 5,335 4,922 4,811 4,634 85.1% 86.5% 86.6% 85.7% 86.0% 86.5% 87.1% 87.7% 87.4% 86.6% 86.6% 87.0% 87.4% 88.0% 88.1% 88.6% 88.7% 88.5% 88.0% 88.4% 88.8% 88.9% 89.1% 89.4% 89.5% 90.0% 94.1% 94.9% 94.9% 94.5% 93.8% 94.0% 94.2% 94.2% 94.5% 93.9% 93.1% 93.9% 93.3%

Soc&Coop Members % of total 35 35 34 26 26 25 25 25 25 21 21 21 21 21 21 22 24 25 40 42 39 44 48 43 55 58 56 58 57 59 60 60 58 55 56 53 54 54 51 0.5% 0.5% 0.5% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.6% 0.7% 0.6% 0.7% 0.7% 0.6% 0.8% 0.8% 0.8% 0.9% 0.9% 0.9% 1.0% 1.0% 0.9% 0.9% 1.0% 0.9% 1.0% 1.1% 1.0%

Total Members 6,499 6,484 6,537 6,583 6,543 6,434 6,328 6,326 6,295 6,358 6,353 6,440 6,336 6,295 6,086 6,165 6,223 6,284 6,168 6,072 6,518 6,469 6,507 6,616 6,991 7,235 6,811 6,608 6,516 6,455 6,227 6,200 6,133 5,908 5,803 5,682 5,287 5,126 4,965 -

Note: From 1993, party conference reports no longer included membership figures for affiliated groups. Sources: Butler and Butler, Twentieth-Century British Political Facts , 2000; Electoral Commission.

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