Labour membership numbers

I may be proven wrong on this - although people have been claiming on twitter for the last few weeks that member numbers are up - but I find it hard to believe.

When Tony Blair became leader of the party there was no huge influx of members, in fact after the Iraq war membership dropped from around 250,000 to 190,000. However, When Corbyn took over the leadership, the membership numbers quickly swelled to upwards of 550,000, the largest in Europe. Obviously this accounts for far more than the return of members who left due to the invasion, and I was one of these. No, so many people rushed to join the party because they were politically homeless and saw an opportunity for a different kind of politics. They were excited for change. Hence why the numbers didn't swell significantly during the Brown/Miliband tenures. It is excitement for change, from the politically homeless that causes large influxes of new and returning members. So you have to ask, what has inspired so many people in this passage from Miliband to Starmer to rush to join the party in such great numbers; greater than those who are leaving due to the treatment of Corbyn? And why did Blair himself, who i regard as a much better, more inspiring performer than Starmer, not enjoy the same groundswell of support right after the Thatcher/Major years?
 
Members leaving in droves. Many just cancel their direct debit, unfortunately they are still counted as lapsed members.
 
Members leaving in droves. Many just cancel their direct debit, unfortunately they are still counted as lapsed members.
When I left - due to Corbyn - I got an acknowledgement. Ive since rejoined, specifically to vote for Starmer and to keep Long Bailey out

Its difficult to know why the numbers have increase - they shot up after the election in December, presumably due to people like me wanting to ensure we didnt get another leftist leader.

But it could also be leftists joining to try and keep a curb on Starmer.

However as one of the other posters says, its not the 550k members that count, its the millions who voted Tory we have to persuade
 
Would it not be irrelevant to look at Labour party numbers prior to Milliband, as this is when changes were made to leadership elections, which lead to large numbers of people signing up?
 
Lapsed members will still be on them numbers, unless you resign you won't be off that list. Be able to check properly at the end of the year.
 
For Labour to win they need to form a Popular Front of anti Tories, because as a poster correctly said Scotland is not going to vote for what is seen as a English Labour Party anymore in anything like the numbers it used to.

Why I live incomes are the second lowest in the UK, but the Tory gets over 55% of the vote. My guess is that 75% to 80% of the electorate are on an income below the National average. The Labour vote has gone up in recent years by taking votes from the Liberals, but they are not taking votes from the Tories. In the Blair years the Tories only got 40% in my area. Some people are voting Tory, because those voters are mild racists and there was a large influx of foreign workers after 2004 and they see the Tories as restricting it in the future, some are voting Tory because they strongly want out of the EU, some are voting Tory because they detest and distrust the opposition, many are voting against their own economic interests such as voting for reduced tax credits, reduced state spending on health and education (per person), reduced spending on state social services.

The Labour Party is seen as too Metropolitan in my opinion and too liberal with a small l. Some of it policies are sensible, but 95% of people never read policies. They see the Labour Party run mainly by middle class people who live in London, Birmingham and Manchester. In past it was run by people to some extent from the South Wales Valleys, Shipyards of Glasgow, Docks of Liverpool and the industrial areas of the North East and Yorkshire.

If I voted on Teesside I want to vote for a party that states its main aim is to reignite the economies of the area and give simple concrete support actions to do it. If the Labour want to win it needs to realign itself more to areas of the country that have been left behind and what those areas need.
 
When I left i received an email of acknowledgement from my constituency secretary. I have seen many on twitter who have heard nothing and I believe it takes about 6 months to be removed from the membership list.
Bang. I left in January or early February and today I have just received an email:

BBG, you're about to lose your Labour Party membership. You still have time to save it, but you must act now - renew today.

So according to them I am still a member.








 
I rejoined a month ago because at last I believe a Labour Party is electable and there is a PM in waiting leading the Party. I fully understand why those who supported Corbyn’s leadership are quitting. Its sad as we need a strong opposition to this shower in Government.
 
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