Sparked by a press release from the Isle of Wight Labour Group last week – which mentioned their rising membership – OnTheWight thought it would be interesting to see how membership levels within each of the political parties on the Isle of Wight compare.
With a population of 140,000 – and around 110,000 residents eligible to vote – the last election had a turnout of 64.7%. But how many are politically awake enough to join a party?
Labour
Ed Gouge, the Isle of Wight Labour Party’s Secretary, sparked our interest last week by saying,
“With over 500 members and over 300 registered supporters we are now the largest party on the Island and I look forward to our members being involved in discussing what Labour’s future policies should be.”
Labour have a total of 892 members/supporters on the Isle of Wight. There are 582 full members, 157 Affiliated Supporters (able to register as their union is affiliated to the Labour Party) and 153 Registered Supporters (those who paid the £3 to register).
Conservatives
The Isle of Wight has had a Conservative MP since Andrew Turner won the 2001 election with 39.7% of the vote. He succeeded in being re-elected in 2005 (48.9% of vote), 2010 (46.7% of vote) and 2015 (40.7% of vote).
It had been rumoured that following the fraught and very public dispute amongst the Isle of Wight Conservative Association (IWCA) members at the beginning of 2015 (over the choice of candidate), that membership had fallen significantly.
However, the IWCA confirmed to OnTheWight that at the beginning of November 2015, their current membership stood at 627 members.
Greens
This year’s General Election also resulted in a sharp increase in the number of Green party members on the Isle of Wight. The candidate, Vix Lowthion received a whopping 9,404 votes, compared to 931 in 2010.
Despite a relatively small election campaign budget, the Green Party on the Isle of Wight saw their member/supporter numbers rise to almost 500.
Membership secretary, Roger Bartrum, told OnTheWight,
“We currently have 205 members and 273 registered supporters (IOW supporters registered on the National database).”
Lib Dems
Attempting to get a clear answer from the Liberal Democrats proved a little difficult at first, with Bob Packham, Chair of the Isle of Wight Lib Dems, telling us,
“The number of Lib Dem members for the South Central Region which includes Isle of Wight on 1st September was 5,999.”
The South Central region is obviously a pretty large area, but at last Friday’s AGM, members agreed to let us have the IW specific figures.
Bob told OnTheWight this evening,
“There are 121 Lib Dem members on the Isle of Wight, which includes over 30% increase in members since the General Election.”
UKIP
UKIP HQ wouldn’t allow membership numbers for the Isle of Wight to be revealed, but Iain McKie, the party’s candidate in the general election told OnTheWight,
“I can confirm though that the branch is maintaining record strength.”
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