After releasing data indicating they are only about 11,000 members short of the Tories, Reform UK hopes to surpass them in membership within a month.

According to an online membership tracker that Nigel Farage's party developed, as of Monday at noon, there were 120,549 members. There were 131,680 Conservative members as per the most recent publication.

Younger members drawn by a lower fee have contributed to the rise in Reform membership, and according to a spokesman, the party is predicted to overtake the Conservatives in January.

Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, said: “Reform has all the momentum in British politics, as our membership numbers show.We are growing at an unprecedented rate and will soon surpass the failed Tories, who are being abandoned after 14 years of deception and failure.”

Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK chairman, said: “History is being made as the century-long stranglehold the two old parties have had on Britain is finally broken. Nigel Farage will be the next prime minister, and will return Britain to greatness.”

The Conservatives do not regularly publish their membership numbers. The latest figure was released in November when activists elected Kemi Badenoch as leader.

Some Tories have criticised her for not announcing any policies on major issues such as immigration, leaving a void for Reform – formed in 2018 as a successor to the Brexit Party – to fill.

At the weekend, Mr Farage announced that 1,000 young people had joined the party in less than 48 hours.The party is offering £10 memberships to those aged 25 and under, as part of a strategy to attract younger voters.

Last week, Kieran Mishchuk, 18, was elected as a Reform councillor in a Swale borough by-election, securing more than a third of the vote.

Elon Musk, the US billionaire, is among those who have hinted that they will donate to Mr Farage’s party.

Nick Candy, the Reform treasurer, said he was among a “number of billionaires” interested in donating, promising “political disruption like we have never seen before”.

Mr Candy told the Financial Times the party would raise more funds than “any other political party” for grassroots campaigning, data and polling.

He said: “The Reform party is the disrupter – this is the seed round, the series A. This will be political disruption like we have never seen before.”

Labour Party membership, however, has dropped to its lowest level in a decade. The party lost 37,000 members last year, bringing its total membership at the end of 2023 to 370,450, according to Labour’s official accounts.

The figure marked a new low for Labour membership under Sir Keir Starmer, compared to 532,000 members recorded in 2019 when Jeremy Corbyn was leader.