North Devon Labour Party Sees Rise in Membership Since the Referendum

On the 23rd of June the UK held a referendum to find out if  the population would like to remain or leave the European Union. 51.9% of votes cast were for Leave. In the South West people voting for leave was higher at 52.6% and in North Devon 57% of voters wanted to leave EU.

Since then there has been huge political upheaval with many leaders that were so vocal in the campaign deciding to shirk their responsibilities and leaving their posts. One person that remains in their position is the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and this may well be the reason that the Labour Party is seeing its membership grow so rapidly since the referendum. 

In North Devon we have welcomed 75 new members bringing our total up to 475, and increase of 18%. This may not sound a lot, but it is if you compare this to the Liberal Democrats who, in 2015, had 455 members in the whole of Devon and were the incumbent party until the general election.

Many of our members have said that they joined the party as a result of Jeremy Corbyn becoming the leader of the party. At our last meeting on the 2nd of June a statement of support for the existing leadership was agreed and sent to the party. Since then a poll conducted after the referendum, within our close members Facebook group of 119 members, showed continued support with 90% of the 40 people who responded saying "We should support Jeremy Corbyn".

It has also been reported in the North Devon Journal that the NDCLP are "unanimously" behind the Labour leader. The report also included this statement by our Vice Chair Mark Cann. 

Our next meeting will be on the 12th of July at the Castle Centre in Barnstaple. At the meeting we are hoping to affirm our support for Jeremy Corbyn once more when we will find out the results of further polling of North Devon members.