The roles and realities of party membership at the 2019 General Election

Members are a vital resource for political parties - particularly at election time. By surveying members of six political parties we explore just what they do for their parties during campaigns and whether that is changing over time, particularly as new forms (often online forms) of campaigning replace (or at least supplement) the old way of doing things. We also find out how members feel about something that has proved particularly controversial at this election owing to story-upon-story of parties having to suspend people from standing - namely the selection (and vetting) of candidates. And we look at the demographic characteristics and attitudes of party members: how much do they vary and change over time, and how representative (or unrepresentative) are members of their parties' voters? Finally, we investigate whether there has been much movement of members between parties, and in particular whether 'Remainers' have moved from the Tories and Labour to parties like the Lib Dems and whether Leavers who might previously have belonged to UKIP (and perhaps support the Brexit Party) have switched to membership of the Conservatives.

This research, via a characteristically proactive communications strategy and high-profile broadcast/print/web presence, will generate greater public (and media) understanding and debate about grassroots members' campaigning, their concerns about candidate selection, their changing characteristics and attitudes, and their movement between parties. It will, like the Party Members Project's research to date, also help parties - both staffers and politicians - better understand their own members. And, just as importantly, it will help getting on for a million party members in the UK better understand themselves and their counterparts in other parties.