Is 1p youth membership a wasted opportunity?

By Joe Anderson

Most members would agree that nobody should be excluded from the Labour Party because they can’t afford to join. Our party’s low youth rate (previously £1, and now a penny) is therefore to be praised, but questions should be raised as to whether this should be extended.

It is difficult to deny that high membership fees act as a barrier when trying to get people to join. It concerns me, therefore, that the party have only made their 1p rate available to those under 27 or in full-time education.

We pride ourselves on belonging to a party which fights for fairness. So how can believe it to be reasonable that a single parent, who is not even earning a living wage, should have to pay £39 a year to join us? It is a worry that with membership rates at such levels, we risk deterring many of our core supporters from becoming more involved in the party.

The sense of belonging and loyalty that membership brings is a greater priority than the income raised by it. Whilst the revenue is not unimportant, I would prefer the party to try to include everyone it can in our movement. Perhaps rather than charging what to some are relatively expensive basic membership rates, it should further urge those who can afford it to contribute more.

If we make it difficult for people to become members, we risk increasing the distance between ourselves and many of our key working and middle-class supporters. This can have disastrous results, as Redcar CLP witnessed as they lost a heartland seat, after years of declining membership, on a 22% swing. Whilst increasing membership alone will not fix such issues, if we continue to have a relatively small membership, we will struggle to find potential activists to try and engage.

If we want to reconnect with the voters and supporters who we have lost, we need to do everything we can to return to being a mass membership party, so that every CLP has more people telling their neighbours and friends to work with Labour in fighting for their communities.

We need to re-evaluate our membership structure. Whilst perhaps a universal, permanent 1p rate would not be wise, charging anybody who wants to join us at least £19.50 (unless they are in full-time education or under 27) does not foster the culture of participation with the party that we all want.