SNP to 'redouble' efforts to attract members after numbers plummet to a new low

SNP membership numbers have fallen to a new low, hitting 64,525 at the beginning of June, the party’s accounts for 2023 have revealed.

Membership now stands close to half the 125,000 high achieved in 2019 and continues a downward trajectory seen in recent years. In 2021 membership stood at 104,000 but that had dropped to just over 69,000 by the end of 2023.

In his statement in the accounts party treasurer Stuart McDonald, who was the MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East until being ousted by Labour’s Katrina Murray at this year’s general election, said the number had fallen from “recent historic highs” and said that “cost of living pressures” were to blame.

“The party continues to seek to pre-emp cancellations by offering membership payment options such as skip, holiday or reduced giving,” he said.

“At all levels we need to redouble our efforts to recruit new members from the many supporters we identify every week.”

Despite the fall in membership, member income only dropped from £2.3m to £2.1m and the party, which the previous year posted a deficit of close to £1m, was able to generate a surplus for 2023 of £661,568.

McDonald said there were “important caveats” attached to the turnaround, noting that the party had implemented two branch levies during the year – to fund ultimately unsuccessful election campaigns in Rutherglen and Hamilton West and the general election – that together pulled in £670,000 for the party.

He also noted that, while legacies of close to £275,000 had been recorded in the accounts, that cash was yet to be received.

“Indeed, there remain significant outstanding sums from legacies notified in previous years, making up the large majority of the £557,137 accrued income showing as current assets,” he said.

It comes after Police Scotland chief constable Jo Farrell last week confirmed that the force's probe into the party's finances – Operation Branchform – is ongoing, with former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie MSP still under investigation.

Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and husband of Sturgeon, was charged with embezzlement earlier this year but the Crown Office has yet to decide whether the matter will go to court.

It is not unusual for the SNP to flip from deficit to surplus, with its accounts showing that, despite outspending its income in 11 of the 20 years up to 2022, the situation could be quickly reversed with an uptick in member income and one-off donations.

The party was, for example, running with a deficit of almost £306,000 at the end of 2010 – the year before former leader Alex Salmond won his historic majority at Holyrood – but the following year was gifted £1m from National Lottery winners Chris and Colin Weir, a legacy of £918,000 from former Makar Edwin Morgan and £570,000 from Stagecoach founder Brian Souter. 

However, figures from the Electoral Commission show that in the first six months of this year the SNP received no reportable donations.

Its short money – the funding handed out by the UK Parliament to help opposition parties hold the government to account – has also fallen significant as a result of it losing 39 seats and hundreds of thousands of votes at the general election.

Before the general election the party was entitled to £1.3m of short funds, but that has now been reduced to £360,000.

Scottish Conservative Chairman Craig Hoy said the accounts, which also show that the party still owes £60,000 to Murrell, who lent it more than £100,000 in 2021, “raise serious questions for the SNP”.

“They are astonishingly still in debt to the tune of £60,000 to their disgraced former chief executive Peter Murrell. It is now three years since they made any repayment on that loan,” he said.

“The SNP must explain why they have not severed all ties with him and when they are going to do the right thing and pay this money back.

“Auditors also again raised concerns over the party’s bookkeeping in relation to how they documented income that was received through membership and fundraisers, which is highly irregular and meant they could only provide a qualified audit.

“The SNP must be fully transparent over their finances as a matter of urgency, rather than typically keeping the public in the dark.”