One week after Restore Britain relaunched as a political party, its leader says membership has passed 80,000.
"Important Restore Britain news - we hit 80,000 members earlier today," Rupert Lowe wrote on X on 20 February 2026. "One week of real progress, and I am feeling more determined than ever. We can do this."
The figure comes from the party and has not been independently verified. Five days earlier, on 15 February, Lowe had said the party passed 50,000 members. Membership costs £20 a year.
Putting it in context
Party membership figures come from different sources and dates. Even so, 80,000 would be a large membership for a party a week old. By comparison, BBC News reported in October 2025 that the Liberal Democrats had about 60,000 members.
What's driving the growth
Several factors appear to be behind the early surge:
- A promise of direct democracy. When the movement launched in June 2025, it said its policy platform would be ratified by the membership and that "every policy will be put to a vote by our members".
- International attention. On 14 February, Elon Musk urged his followers on X to "Join Rupert Lowe in Restore Britain".
- Reach on X. Lowe's launch post has been viewed more than 42 million times, according to X (as of September 2026).
- Councillors joining. On 17 February, eight councillors joined the party, seven of them on Kent County Council (our report).
- A hypothetical poll. Find Out Now asked people how they would vote if Restore Britain were on the ballot. In results published by The London Economic on 15 February, it put the party on 10%, level with the Liberal Democrats. This was a one-off hypothetical question, not a standard voting-intention poll.
What comes next
The party's next milestone is registration with the Electoral Commission. Until then, it cannot put its name on ballot papers.
Update (September 2026):
- 28 February 2026: Lowe said the party had reached 100,000 members, again a party claim.
- 20 March 2026: the party was registered with the Electoral Commission.
- 16 June 2026: The Times reported about 130,000 paying members (our report).
Polling has settled well below that early 10%. YouGov put the party on 4% in April 2026. PollCheck's average of recent polls was 4.4% on 26 September 2026. See the numbers and the timeline.
Sources
- Rupert Lowe on X: 80,000 members, 20 February 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Rupert Lowe on X: 50,000 members, 15 February 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Rupert Lowe on X: 100,000 members, 28 February 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Rupert Lowe on X: party launch, 13 February 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Elon Musk on X, 14 February 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Restore Britain launch FAQ, 30 June 2025 (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
- The London Economic: first poll featuring Rupert Lowe's party, 15 February 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- KentOnline: Kent councillors join Restore Britain (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia: Political party affiliation in the United Kingdom (opens in a new tab)
- Electoral Commission: registration PP18382 (opens in a new tab)
- YouGov voting intention, 12–13 April 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- PollCheck: Restore Britain polling average (opens in a new tab)