Political party membership is on the decline
The UK has witnessed a steep decline in the membership of its political parties over the past few decades. The days are gone where joining a political party is a common life milestone: now just 1% of the electorate are party members. The extent of decline tells an important story about our changing attitudes to politics and society as a whole, and could have very real impacts on our future political outcomes.
The trend can be explained by a rise of individualism and a decline in civic participation
Collectivism is out and individualism is in. Social survey data shows our values are changing to support things like personal freedom and individual autonomy. But this is at odds with traditional broad-based political parties. The swing to individualist politics could explain this drop in membership, as people are now less inclined to commit to parties for life that do not reflect their nuanced preferences.
The way we now interact with the media and use technology is also likely to have had an impact. The rise of social media and online activism provides an alternative to traditional politics, offering people more immediate and engaging ways of engaging with issues, without having to commit to a political party.
These changes are echoed in other parts of society, for instance we’re seeing an overall decline in civic participation – such as signing a petition, or attending a public rally.
Overall attachment is falling, but there are notable exceptions
The rapid growth in the Labour Party membership during Jeremy Corbyn’s 2015 leadership campaign bucked the downward trend. While it was likely associated with a temporarily reduced fee, his personal leadership and the promise of a new style of politics mobilised new members who might otherwise have been apathetic or uninvolved. Just before the 2024 election, Labour membership stood at 366,000 after falling from the peak at the end of 2019 of 532,000, reflecting a subsequent change in leadership and recent controversies over its policy on Gaza and its U-turn on green investment.
Smaller parties not included in this chart are also bucking the wider trend, for example, Reform UK saw a rapid increase in membership when Nigel Farage became party leader, with 14,000 joining in a week, taking total membership to 45,000.
These changes are examples of specific events. Both Farage’s and Corbyn’s surges were about high-profile individuals rather than just the party or the ideas. This itself reflects a wider trend of focusing on the leader more than a whole party offer, which is potentially creating a conflict with the UK’s traditional Prime Ministerial system, and aligns more with a presidential political culture.
But the overall picture in the UK is the same as what we’re seeing elsewhere. In all established European democracies the average number of members of political parties has almost halved since 1980. And in the US, identification with the two main parties has fallen from 63 per cent to 51 per cent in the last 44 years.
A declining membership will have an impact on our politics
This trend presents a very practical problem for party funding, where parties will increasingly rely on (and be lobbied by) big donors rather than mass membership fees.
Less attachment to parties may also result in a greater proportion of swing voters, so political parties will increasingly have to fight for a wider pool of people in elections.
Low membership may also lead to a representation problem. Politicians are increasingly entering senior roles in government without a popular base, causing a disconnect from citizens. Recent Conservative leadership elections, for example, have been decided on by just 170,000 party members – 0.4% of the electorate. This is particularly challenging because the views of members often diverge substantially from the wider Conservative voting base, creating issues with legitimacy for a new leader.
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Time will tell whether generational and societal shifts lead to a further collapse in party membership and attachment. For political parties to remain relevant, they must adapt to by finding new ways to engage and resonate with an increasingly diverse and dynamic populace. Otherwise, it could lead to a crisis in representation and may result in traditional parties losing out to more niche or single-issue political parties. Whether this is a good thing for our democratic system remains to be seen.
BIT is a global research consultancy which combines a deep understanding of human behaviour with evidence-led problem solving to improve people’s lives. This blog is part of a series digging into how society’s changing, spotting the big trends hidden in the things we do every day. We’re going to be on the lookout for clues in the data that show us how culture, attitudes and behaviour are shifting around us.
