Labour Party membership continued to slide last year even as the party enjoyed one of its most financially successful years in recent history.

Annual accounts published by the Electoral Commission on Thursday show Labour had 407,445 members at the end of 2022, down almost 25,000 compared with 2021.

This was well below the recent membership peak recorded at the end of 2019, when there were 532,046 Labour members.

But Labour still achieved some of its highest income levels outside an election year, raising £47.2 million and returning a £2.7 million surplus after losing £5.2 million in 2021.

A report from party treasurer David Evans said “difficult decisions” on reducing costs had contributed to returning Labour to surplus, while membership income “exceeded targets” thanks to new members and “an improved rate of retention”.

Those difficult decisions are likely to have included making several staff members redundant in 2021, with staff costs falling by around £6 million last year.

Labour also enjoyed an increase of around £500,000 in income from donations, while income from fundraising dinners rose from £10,000 in 2021 to £323,000 a year later.

Responding to the figures, a spokesman for left-wing pressure group Momentum said: “It is both saddening and worrying to see Labour’s membership decline for the third consecutive year.

“When Keir Starmer ran for leader he celebrated Labour’s mass membership and pledged to build on the people-powered party built after 2015. Yet since then he has turned Labour back towards corporate donors and interests, rejecting member and union demands for popular, urgent policies like public ownership, while undermining their rights by stitching up parliamentary selections for loyalists.

“Britain already has a party funded by the few and serving the few: the Tories. We need a Labour Party funded by and run for the many, one that is true to its trade union roots and its founding mission.”

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: “Thanks to Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour Party saw significant financial growth throughout 2022, and our finances have gone from strength to strength this year as we set out our five missions to transform Britain.

“The Labour Party is a changed party that is serious about getting into government and building a better Britain.”

Meanwhile, the Conservatives recorded a loss of £2.3 million in what the party described as a “turbulent year”.

Income from donations fell by £2.4 million compared with 2021, with party officials saying this was partly due to “donor pledges moving into 2023”.

The party does not publish its total membership figure, but income from membership fees fell slightly from £1.99 million to £1.97 million. Around 170,000 people were eligible to vote in the summer leadership election last year.

The Liberal Democrats recorded a deficit of £753,789 in 2022, including a £185,839 loss incurred due to cancelling the party’s annual conference following the death of Elizabeth II.

The party did, however, record a slight increase in membership from 94,706 to 97,493.

The SNP recorded a deficit of £804,000 during 2022, which it said was not “out of keeping with other years in which nationwide elections were fought”.

The party’s accounts also show a significant decline in membership since the end of 2021, when there had been 103,884 SNP members.

By the end of 2022, that figure had fallen to 82,598, while the accounts show that number had fallen even further by the end of June 2023, reaching 73,936.