According to this weekends Argus the number of paid up members of our political parties here in Brighton and Hove is rather smaller than some of us might have imagined. There is no reason to assume that these figures are disproportionate when compared to the nation as a whole although knowing that most of the political parties are facing something of a membership crisis there is certainly no sense that Brighton and Hove is bucking the trend. By comparison the census results in 2001 and 2011 revealed many things about our demography and for the first time the 10 year social measures of the country asked people questions about their religious beliefs. As was widely reported after the results were published, they showed that here in Brighton and Hove fewer people professed to be Christians than in any other location apart from Norwich for reasons that have never been fully explored to my knowledge. The results for the 2011 census show that 117,000 people here in the city describe themselves as Christians, which is 43% of the population whereas the figure across the UK as a whole is 59%.

Being a member of a local Church is measured in a number of ways, it presumes some level of regular attendance at events including regular services, usually held on a Sunday and some form of regular financial commitment in proportion to the wealth and income of the person concerned. The test for membership of a political party is to pay an annual subscription and the expectation that members will help to further the causes of the party concerned. In some cases this could extend to regular attendance at meetings and canvassing for candidates in anticipation of an election, although some who canvass at election time are not members of any party. The cost of a working adult to join a political party for a year varies.  Labour is the most expensive at £44.50 while the Conservatives charge £25 and the Liberal Democrats a minimum of £12.  The Greens charge £31 and UK Independence Party ask for £30

Just as more people vote in elections than are members of any party, so there are far more people who claim to be Christian in the census than who attend local churches, even at Christmas. Compared to the Census figures probably only 10-12% of these people are members of a local church and attend on a regular basis. Nevertheless this morning  many 1000’s of people will attend Mass, a Holy Eucharist or some other religious service that expresses their own faith tradition. There are at least two Churches in the city with memberships that exceed 1000 people and several more with a membership in the mid 100’s. In total there are around 100 churches in Brighton and Hove and while some of them are made up of ageing congregations with diminishing numbers, there are many that are growing in size and which have a wide age range.

The turnout in elections here in Brighton and Hove is not noticeably smaller than elsewhere and taking the three constituencies into account (which together extend beyond the city borders) 145,000 people voted in the 2010 election. The decision that each of us makes on election day is a secret known only to the ballot box. However our options are  ultimately determined by the members of the local political party and any influence from central party officers. These people are also able to influence the policies that each candidate supports if elected. This puts these people in a relatively powerful position regarding the future of our national democracy. According to the Argus report the actual membership of these parties are:

Liberal Democrat – 127

Conservative (does not include Brighton Kemptown) – 356

Labour – 1447

UKIP – no figures given

Green – no figures published

Nationally it is known that membership of a political party is around 1% of the population. Based on these figures and making a guess for the missing numbers the parties in Brighton & Hove fall a little bit short of the national proportions. Or put another way this morning  there will be around five or six times as many people attending a church service as are members of these parties. Yesterday one and a half times as many people attended Synagogue as are members of any party in the city, and probably twice as many people attended Friday Prayers as are members of any Political Party. Whilst Brighton and Hove may be claimed by some as being a Godless city, the state of our Political Parties is a great deal less strong than any of our major faith communities.