According to Labour List, “Labour officials have seen a jump in party membership since Andy Burnham emerged as a possible contender in a future leadership contest”.

Probably the “jump” is small, since, from all accounts, the tone of CLP meetings since the 7 May 2026 has been depressed, with many members thinking that to go out to recruit is hopeless until democracy, policy, and leadership change nationally.

Since mid 2025 Labour Party head office has stopped giving membership figures even to the NEC, which means that the figures look very bad.

In December 2025, the Times claimed that leaked figures showed the membership below 250,000, less than half of what it was at the peaks of 2017 and then the 2020 leadership election.

Both Reform and the Greens claim bigger memberships than that.

However, very limited anecdotal evidence is that if activists go back to the doorsteps of voters who said during canvassing for 7 May that they were interested in joining Labour, they will get a response.