What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Lib Dem membership has been soaring since the Brexit vote and has now hit around 80,000, the party announced today.

Officials say the party's ranks have grown by a third since the EU referendum with 20,000 people signing up.

The new figure means membership is higher than it was at the heart of the party's protests against the Iraq War.

And it means despite being decimated to just eight MPs, Tim Farron's party has more than half the membership of the Tories.

Conservative HQ does not routinely reveal its membership numbers, but they are thought to be between 130,000 and 150,000.

Lib Dem membership by year Liberal Democrats

The Lib Dem figures will rally the party's troops as it insists it is mounting a 'fightback'.

Some 65,038 people were party members in 2010, but support plummeted when the party went into coalition with the Tories and hiked tuition fees.

It fell to 48,932 in 2011 and a low of 42,501 in 2012.

Membership then rose slightly to 43,451 in 2013 and 45,771 in 2014 before rising sharply to 61,456 in June last year.

Lib Dem President Sal Brinton hailed the figures, claiming: “With Labour throwing in the towel and the Tories veering towards a hard Brexit , we are now the UK’s only truly pro-European party."

But Labour is still far ahead - with its ranks swelling to 515,000 by July this year amid a surge of sign-ups for Jeremy Corbyn .