RICH donors raced to Labour’s rescue last year as the party’s membership continued to drop, figures revealed today.

Claimed membership of Labour in 2023 fell by nearly 10 per cent to 370,450, according to accounts for all the main political parties.

But the party’s finances held up better than expected, with a deficit for the year of £851,000 — around a third of the anticipated total.

The drop in membership income was plugged by “an increase in high-value donations,” according to general secretary David Evans — code for cash from the wealthy, attracted by Labour’s aversion to radicalism and pledges not to raise taxes on the rich.

While figures for 2024 and the immediate run-up to the general election are yet to be released, it is believed that the trade union share of Labour’s funding — traditionally its mainstay — has been reduced to around one third of the total.

Other parties also saw their membership drop, confirming the well-established trend for political parties seeing their roots in wider society shrivel.

The Liberal Democrats lost about 11,000 members. The Tories do not publish membership figures — the total is believed to be around 150,000 — but the party’s membership income dropped from nearly £2 million to £1.5m.

The Conservatives depend even more than Labour on donations from big business and the wealthy — in 2023 this included a single bequest of £10m from Lord Sainsbury, helping it to a surplus of nearly £18m for the year.

But these reserves were not enough come the election when set against their dismal record in government.

Membership of the Scottish National Party almost halved between 2019 and 2023. Its figure of 64,525 members has likely dropped further since.

Bucking the trend, the Green Party grew slightly to around 53,000 members. Reform UK also claimed “significant“ membership growth, but did not release figures.

Reform is run as a company owned by its leader, Nigel Farage. 

It reported increased donations in 2023, but only to a total of £1.3m. Its electoral successes in 2024 have most likely led to a further rise in membership and funds.

Labour’s 21st century membership peaked during the years of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, reaching 550,000 at one point after more than 400,000 new members joined.