In a year marked by political turbulence and economic anxiety, the Liberal Democrats find themselves at a crossroads. On one hand, their electoral fortunes have soared, with the party achieving its best-ever general election result in terms of seats won just last year. On the other, the party’s grassroots membership has shrunk dramatically, raising questions about the depth and durability of its revival. According to a BBC analysis published on October 9, 2025, the number of paid-up Liberal Democrat members has almost halved over the last five years, plummeting from just under 118,000 in 2020 to 60,000 today.
This sharp decline comes despite the party’s high-profile presence on the national stage and a series of bold policy initiatives, most notably a plan to halve household energy bills by 2035. Yet, as the party’s annual accounts make clear, the headline membership figures have been somewhat opaque, often combining paid-up members with “registered supporters”—free sign-ups who can attend briefings and events but have no say in leadership elections or party policy. In December 2024, the annual accounts reported a combined figure of 83,174, but a closer look reveals that only 60,000 were actually paid-up members, with 55,000 residing in England and supporter levels holding steady at over 20,000.
Party membership figures are notoriously tricky to pin down. There’s no legal requirement for UK political parties to publish them, and the numbers are often only revealed during leadership contests or in annual reports. The Liberal Democrats are not alone in facing membership woes. Labour, currently the UK’s largest political party by public figures, has seen its own numbers drop by 37% since 2020, falling from their pandemic-era peak to 333,235 at the end of last year—and possibly lower now. The Conservatives, meanwhile, had 131,680 eligible voters in their 2024 leadership election, a drop of 40,000 from the previous contest. Reform UK claims nearly 260,000 members, while the Green Party of England and Wales stands out as a rare exception to the downward trend, boasting 90,000 members—a staggering 91% increase since 2020.
So what’s behind the Liberal Democrats’ declining membership, even as their political stock rises? Professor Tim Bale, who leads the Party Membership Project at Queen Mary University of London and Sussex University, finds it surprising. “You’d think a party on the up would attract more ambitious people wanting to join it,” he told the BBC. He points to the importance of a party’s public profile in driving surges in membership, but notes that the Lib Dems “don’t seem to have much chance of getting into government at the moment.”
Yet, there’s a silver lining for the party’s activists. Research after the 2024 general election found that Liberal Democrat members were the most active of any UK party, with 19% canvassing voters face-to-face or by phone—higher than Labour, the Conservatives, or even the surging Greens. “There’s all sorts of research over time that, certainly in very close races, contact with the voters, whether that be face to face or just leafletting does seem to make a difference,” Prof Bale explained.
The party itself is keen to emphasize its recent successes. A spokesperson told the BBC, “We have a record number of MPs, the most popular party leader in the country, and elected more councillors than Labour or the Conservatives for the first time ever in May’s local elections. When it comes to actual elections, more and more people are backing the Liberal Democrats as the only party that can stop Reform turning Trump’s America into Farage’s Britain.”
But with the cost-of-living crisis biting hard, the Liberal Democrats are betting that bold, practical policies can help them win over not just voters, but new members as well. On October 8, 2025, the Scottish Liberal Democrats outlined a sweeping plan to slash household energy bills in half by 2035—a proposal that could resonate with millions of families struggling to make ends meet. At present, a typical UK family pays £50 more per month for energy than five years ago, and average annual bills stand at a daunting £1,720.
What’s driving these costs? Despite half of the UK’s electricity now coming from renewables, the wholesale price of electricity is still set by the price of gas—by far the most expensive fuel in the mix. In 2021, gas determined the price 97% of the time. This means households haven’t seen the financial benefits of the country’s green energy revolution. The Liberal Democrats argue that the solution is to break the link between gas prices and electricity costs by investing more in renewables and reforming the market.
“Cutting energy bills comes down to the right policies,” the party declared, taking aim at critics like Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, who have blamed high bills on renewable energy investments. “They say that we’re investing too much in solar panels and wind turbines and that our bills will magically come down if we rely more on oil and gas. It’s nothing short of utter nonsense.” The party also points out that oil and gas prices soared after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, with consumers still feeling the effects in their monthly bills.
To tackle the crisis, the Scottish Liberal Democrats propose a national insulation scheme to make homes warmer and cheaper to heat, targeting fuel poverty exacerbated by the SNP’s policies in Scotland. They also want to move older renewable projects off expensive Renewable Obligation Certificates and onto cheaper Contracts for Difference—a system the party helped introduce while in government. Three major energy sector bodies have already backed these proposals, lending them significant credibility.
But the plan doesn’t stop there. The party is calling for the adoption of new technologies that allow consumers to use electricity when it’s cheapest, and for stronger energy trade connections with the European Union to cut costs and reduce reliance on gas. If implemented, the Liberal Democrats claim these policies could reduce typical household bills from £1,720 today to just £850 by 2035.
While the party’s membership numbers may be down, its activists remain among the most engaged in the country, and its policy platform is ambitious. The coming months will test whether these strengths can translate into a renewed grassroots movement—or if the Lib Dems’ recent electoral success will prove to be a high-water mark. For now, the party is betting that practical solutions to everyday problems, like sky-high energy bills, will resonate with voters and help rebuild its base from the ground up.
