In a dramatic shake-up of Britain’s political landscape, Reform UK has claimed the title of the country’s largest political party by membership, overtaking Labour after a sharp drop in the latter’s numbers. The development, confirmed on December 12, 2025, marks a significant milestone for Nigel Farage’s upstart party and signals a potential turning point in the nation’s long-standing two-party system.
Reform UK, led by the ever-controversial Farage, announced it had more than 268,000 paid-up members. This figure, tracked by a live online counter on the party’s website, only includes individuals who have paid an annual fee of £25, or £10 for those under 25. According to The Times, leaked internal figures revealed Labour’s membership had plunged below 250,000—a stunning fall from the heights it reached in recent years. Labour, for its part, refused to confirm the numbers, with a spokesperson stating, “Our membership figures are published in our annual report. We do not give a running commentary on them throughout the year.”
Farage wasted no time in seizing the moment. “As we have suspected for some time, Reform is now the largest political party in British politics—a huge milestone for us. The age of two-party politics is dead,” he declared, as reported by GB News and The Telegraph. For Farage, this is more than just a numbers game; it’s a sign that the British public is hungry for change, and that the old political order is being shaken to its core.
This shift comes amid a period of turmoil and introspection for Labour. When Keir Starmer took the reins in April 2020, Labour boasted more than 500,000 members, making it the largest party in Europe at the time. But the party’s annual accounts, published in August 2025, showed membership had already dipped to 333,235 by the end of the previous year. Since then, the exodus has only accelerated. Reports suggest Labour has lost one member every seven minutes since its landslide election victory 18 months ago—a staggering rate of attrition. The reasons behind this decline are manifold, but many point to Starmer’s shift toward the political center, leaving some traditional supporters feeling alienated.
The loss of members hasn’t just benefited Reform UK. The Green Party, under new leader Zack Polanski, has seen a surge in membership, skyrocketing from around 70,000 to more than 180,000 since September. Similarly, Jeremy Corbyn’s new left-wing venture, Your Party, claims 55,000 paid-up members. The Liberal Democrats, however, have not fared as well; their membership has nearly halved over the past five years, now standing at around 60,000. Meanwhile, the Conservatives—who do not routinely publish their membership figures—are believed to have seen their numbers fall to roughly 123,000, down from 131,680 eligible voters in last year’s leadership election.
For some, these shifting allegiances are a sign of a broader realignment in British politics. The Mainstream network, a Labour campaign group featuring supporters of Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, didn’t mince words: “To transform Britain and defeat the far-right, Labour needs a grassroots movement in every community. Our plummeting membership figures prove the top-down model has failed. The answer is to democratise, open up, and empower members.”
Yet, not everyone is convinced that Reform UK’s membership claims tell the whole story. The party has faced allegations that its online counter may not be entirely accurate—a charge Reform strongly denies. Still, the numbers have been enough to spark alarm within Labour’s ranks and prompt speculation about the future of Keir Starmer’s leadership. Downing Street has reportedly briefed journalists that Starmer will fight any leadership challenge, but the whispers of potential rivals—including Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham—are growing louder.
Reform UK’s rise has not come without controversy. The party’s fortunes remain closely tied to Farage himself, and efforts to “dig the dirt on him,” as polling expert Sir John Curtice put it, have had mixed effects. While allegations that Farage made racist remarks as a schoolboy haven’t dented Reform’s support among its base, they have deepened divisions within the party. The man expected to lead Reform in Scotland, Lord Offord, publicly distanced himself from Farage’s comments about English-speaking children in Glasgow, which Scottish First Minister John Swinney labeled “racist.” On BBC Question Time, Lord Offord remarked that he “wouldn’t use that type of language.”
Despite these internal rifts and external criticisms, Reform UK continues to ride high in national polls, averaging close to 30 percent—about 10 points ahead of both Labour and the Conservatives, according to The Telegraph. Sir John Curtice, Britain’s leading polling guru, observed that Reform’s surge represents the biggest challenge to the two-party system since the Second World War. “The Reform incursion, in terms of length of time being ahead of the polls, is now longer than that of the liberal SDP Alliance in late 1981-82—that’s the last significant [challenge],” he told The Independent. However, Curtice cautioned that Reform’s support may have plateaued. “I think my view for a long time has been that barring exceptional circumstances for Reform, 30 percent or just a little bit above seems to be the plateau, because they are very, very much pursuing a niche market. They are running at around 50 percent amongst those people who voted for Brexit, but no more than about 40 percent of the population is in favour of Brexit these days.”
Reform UK’s momentum has been further boosted by a record-breaking £9 million donation from Christopher Harborne, marking the largest single political donation in UK history from a living donor. Harborne, who previously donated millions to the Brexit Party and even contributed to the Conservatives, made the donation on August 1, 2025. Between July and September, UK political parties received over £24 million in donations and public funds, with nearly a third of that sum going to Reform UK. Jackie Killeen, Director of Electoral Administration and Regulation, remarked, “The UK political finance system has high levels of transparency, and we know that voters are interested in where parties get their money from.”
With Labour’s traditional base fragmenting and Reform UK’s populist message gaining traction, Britain’s political future looks anything but predictable. Whether this marks the beginning of a new era or a temporary upheaval remains to be seen, but for now, Nigel Farage and Reform UK have rewritten the rules of the game—and the old certainties of Westminster have never looked shakier.
