Reform UK now has extra members than the Conservative Get together, its chief Nigel Farage has mentioned.
A digital tracker on Reform’s web site exhibits its membership numbers have overtaken the 131,680 determine declared by the Conservatives earlier this 12 months.
Nigel Farage thanked those that helped his get together “make historical past” and mentioned Reform is now the “actual opposition”.
A Conservative get together spokesperson mentioned Reform UK had helped to ship a Labour authorities.
Reacting to the rising tally on X, Farage mentioned: “The youngest political get together in British politics has simply overtaken the oldest political get together on the earth.”
Get together chairman Zia Yusuf mentioned Reform had damaged the “centuries-long stranglehold on the centre-right of British politics by the Tories”.
Earlier this 12 months, the Conservative Get together mentioned it had 131,680 members eligible to vote throughout its management contest to exchange Rishi Sunak.
It was the bottom recorded membership for the get together and a substantial drop from the 2022 management contest, when it boasted round 172,000 members.
A Conservative spokesman mentioned Reform had “delivered a Labour authorities that has cruelly reduce winter gasoline winter funds for 10 million pensioners, put the way forward for household farming and meals safety in danger, and launched a devastating raid on jobs which is able to go away working individuals paying the value.
“A vote for Reform this coming Might is a vote for a Labour council – solely the Conservatives can cease this”, he added.
The BBC has contacted Labour for remark.
Membership numbers to all most important political events fell final 12 months regardless of gearing up for this summer season’s Basic Election.
Though it nonetheless has probably the most members of any UK get together, Labour noticed its numbers dip under 400,000 for the primary time since 2015.
Evaluating get together membership numbers will be “tough”, in line with a analysis briefing revealed by the Home of Commons Library, as there isn’t a uniform definition of membership or technique to monitor it.
The director of suppose tank Extra in Frequent, Luke Tryl, instructed the PA information company that the metric is “opaque and murky”.
He mentioned Reform UK have “momentum”, however indicated that it isn’t assured whether or not its membership converts to campaigners.
