Reform UK claims it has overtaken Labour as Britain's largest party [View all]

Nigel Farage’s party says it has more than 268,000 members amid reports Labour membership has fallen below 250,000

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/12/reform-uk-labour-britains-membership-politics



Reform UK says it is now the largest political party in Britain and has overtaken Labour, which has reportedly seen its membership fall below 250,000. Nigel Farage’s party says it has more than 268,000 members on the live tracker displayed on its website. Farage said: “As we have suspected for some time, Reform has overtaken Labour to become the largest political party in British politics – a huge milestone on our journey to win the next election. The age of two-party politics is dead.”

Meanwhile, the Times reported that, according to internal figures, the Labour party’s paid-up membership had fallen below 250,000. Mainstream, the centre-left group backed by Andy Burnham, said the Labour’s “plummeting membership” showed that its “top-down model has failed”.

Its interim council said in a statement: “To transform Britain and defeat the far-right, Labour needs a grassroots movement in every community. The answer is to democratise, open up, and empower members. A vibrant, member-powered Labour party is the only way to win – for our party and the country.”

Labour does not publish a running tally of its membership figures, disclosing them only once a year as part of its annual reporting. Party accounts published in August showed in the year ending December 2024 it had 333,235 members, down from 370,450 at the end of 2023. The numbers have fallen over consecutive years from a high of more than 500,000 under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

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