SNP membership falls - as Labour loses thousands more

SNP membership fell by 5,000 last year – while UK Labour has shed more than 13 times that number.

Reports released through the elections watchdog show both parties took membership hits in 2025.

A report to the Electoral Commission shows the SNP ended 2025 with “around 51,000” members, marking a drop on the previous year.

And, in a statement to the media, the party has confirmed a further decrease to 50,400 at the end of June this year.

Meanwhile, Labour ended 2025 with 264,750 individual members, compared with 333,235 in 2024.

The figures are included in annual accounts to the watchdog which cover donations and spending.

Parties are not required to state their membership numbers, and no figure is given for Scottish Labour, preventing a like-for-like comparison. However, Scottish Labour’s own paperwork shows that the amount taken in from “membership and subscriptions” increased by £2,800 over the period.

Cost-cutting and the absence of a national election saw the SNP end the year with a surplus of almost £510,000, compared with a shortfall of close to £384,000 in 2024.

Its staff team was reduced from 26 to 19 people over the period following the 2024 general election, in which it suffered major losses.

The party’s accounts – by treasurer Peter Grant, a former MP – say “very difficult cost-cutting decisions” have taken place but a “significant achievement” in its finances has been achieved.

The report states that the SNP will seek recovery of “the full amount embezzled” by former chief executive Peter Murrell. He was jailed after admitting to the embezzlement of £400,000 from the organisation and a Proceeds of Crime hearing is scheduled for next month.

The accounts list £60,000 of loans payable to Murrell, which dates back to a near-£108,000 sum he provided “to support working capital requirements” in 2021. Almost £48,000 of that money was repaid in the same year.

Meanwhile, the report states that an adjustment has been made to remove the cost of a camper van purchased by Murrell from the 2024 balance sheet “to reflect the fact that the vehicle did not belong to the party”.

During the course of Murrell’s court case, it emerged that Murrell was the registered keeper of the vehicle, which was insured for “social, domestic and pleasure” use.

It was purchased by Murrell using SNP funds and had previously been included in party accounts as an asset, and he falsified invoices and documents relating to its nature and ownership.

The accounts are amongst a raft of files published by the elections watchdog today covering parties and accounting units with an income of £250,000 or more.

They confirm the winding-up of the Alba Party, which folded before the Holyrood election.

However, the Scottish Greens’ accounts are not included after the party was granted an extension until October.

Scottish Labour ended the year with a surplus of £126,977, around a quarter of which – £37,000 – was provided by the national party. Scottish Labour membership numbers were not included in the accounts.

Approaching £10.2m, Reform UK ended the year with the largest surplus. This compares with £3.5m for the Conservatives and a £2.5m deficit for Labour.

While Labour took in substantially more income than Reform, outstripping Nigel Farage’s party by as much as £12.7m, it also spent significantly more – £25m.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems spent £962,000 more than they received.

Commenting on the SNP’s returns, Grant said: “The publication of our annual accounts, with an unmodified, clean audit opinion, shows that the SNP entered the election year in formidable financial strength. 
 
“Due to the sound stewardship of the party’s resources under the leadership of John Swinney we made a surplus of more than £500,000 in 2025, giving us the financial firepower to take our positive, hopeful message to every community, doorstep and device in Scotland, contributing to our historic win in May.
 
“Funded by overwhelmingly by the generous support from our membership, the SNP is by some margin Scotland’s largest political party. Following on from our election victory in May we will use the party’s strong financial position to put forward the positive case for independence and Scotland’s right to decide.”