Nigel Farage has demanded the number of Labour members be released as Reform UK edges closer to overtaking Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

Mr Farage noted that “only 160,000 Labour Party members” voted in the Deputy Leadership race, which saw Lucy Powell elected to replace Angela Rayner.

The Reform UK leader wrote: “As only 160,000 Labour Party members vote in the Deputy Leadership context today, the question must now be… How many members do they actually have?”

Ms Powell won the Deputy Leadership contest with 87,407 votes, nearly 14,000 votes ahead of Bridget Phillipson, with a turnout of 16.6 per cent.

Mr Farage has been calling for months for the release of the figures following the result, with member numbers expected to be just over 330,000.

He said back in February: “The Labour Party have 309,000 members, and when we overtake them, we will be the biggest political party in this country.

“That’s our goal. That’s our aim. That’s our target.”

There has been a steady drop off since Sir Keir Starmer became leader, with members leaving in the absence of Jeremy Corbyn from March 2020.

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It is believed some 200,000 members have left the party, falling from a peak in 2019 of 532,046.

Despite Labour’s landslide victory at the previous election, it shed another 37,215 members over the course of 2024.

Reform UK’s membership figures have skyrocketed as the party’s momentum grows.

Over 263,000 people have signed up to Reform UK, with Mr Farage eyeing up overtaking Labour’s membership, as the party moves closer.

Speculation around Labour’s figure prompted the Reform UK leader to ask: “Why won’t Labour release their membership figures to the public?”

A well-placed Labour source told GB News that while Mr Farage’s party continues to do well in the polls, “we’re definitely still ahead of Reform”.

The Green Party of England and Wales overtook the Tories to become the third largest party with 130,000 members.

Kemi Badenoch’s party currently sits on 123,000 members, according to the most recent figures posted in July.

As part of the figures published in August, both Labour and the Tories recorded losses after last year’s most expensive general election in British history.

Labour recorded a loss of £3.8million after spending £94.5million over the course of the year.

Labour general secretary Hollie Ridley and treasurer Mike Payne said last year’s loss reflected “the need to respond at pace to shifting circumstances in the general election campaign”.

The Tories spent £52million and recorded a loss of £1.9million.

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