Labour’s membership has changed since Corbyn

The Labour party that will choose their next leader is not the one that existed a decade ago. During the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn (2015-20) the party tripled in size, bringing in a wave of younger, cosmopolitan, strongly remain first-time members.

Since then, membership has declined by 55.7% to its present size of 250,000, with just one in five of those arriving with Corbyn still remaining. In fact, 47% of current members joined the party before 2010. Current membership now skews older – with average members aged between 50-53 – and fewer live in big cities than in 2016.

Members can only vote in the leadership election if they joined at least six months ago. In a hypothetical leadership contest posed to Labour Party members by Survation earlier this month, Andy Burnham beat Keir Starmer by 33 points and Wes Streeting by 53 points. Energy secretary Ed Miliband is popular, but this does not necessarily translate into members backing him as a possible leader, the survey noted. 

“Burnham’s advantage looks broader than factional positioning: he appears to combine name recognition, credibility with the membership and a sense that he could change Labour’s political direction,” Damian Lyons Lowe from Survation said. 

When asked to pick the most important issues facing the country, members are largely in line with the general public. Health, the economy and the cost of living rank as the top three concerns, followed by defence and security and housing. However, Europe continues to be particularly important to party members, with 65% endorsing a Labour manifesto pledging to rejoin the EU. 

The relative support for Burnham, who is considered to be the soft-left candidate, is perhaps underscored by the majority of party members who believe Labour should prioritise winning back voters who have turned to the Greens, rather than those who now back Reform. Polling data conducted in May 2026 by Survation reveals that the majority of Labour party members feel disillusioned with the direction of the party, and more than one third of polled members have considered leaving the party in the past six months.

Photograph Simon Dack/Alamy