ONE in five members of the SNP used to belong to another party – with more than half of “switchers” coming from Labour, according to new research.

The analysis also revealed that the party has had new members joining from the Conservatives and UKIP.

Researchers at the University of Sussex and Queen Mary University of London examined patterns of grassroots members switching parties in the wake of the 2019 general ­election.

Tim Bale, professor of ­politics at Queen Mary ­University of London, said the study began by looking at why people left political ­parties in the first instance.

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He said: “That naturally took us on to what they do when they do leave and it turns out that actually quite a lot end up joining other political parties – which in some ways is a little bit counter-intuitive.

“You have to be pretty ideological and committed to a set of values to join a party in the first place, so one would have thought if you leave it, it wouldn’t be that easy to then join ­another one.

“But what seems to be the case is that people leave parties in some ways for the same reason they join them – in the sense it is all about their values and how close a match there is between their own political values and the values of the party.”

The research, which has been published in the Journal of Elections, Public Opinions and Parties, found around 20% of the overall SNP ­membership used to belong to ­another party – with former Labour Party members accounting for 11% of that total.

Of those who had switched, around 57% came from Labour, 9% were ­formerly Liberal Democrats and 8.5% Greens. Former members of the ­Conservative party accounted for 6.5% of “switchers”, with ex-UKIP members accounting for 1%.

Bale said just under half – 43% – of those who switched to the SNP from another party did so between 2011 and 2015, highlighting the ­impact of the independence referendum.

Marie McNair, who was elected SNP MSP for ­Clydebank and Milngavie in May, is among those who left Labour and joined the SNP after the 2014 vote.

She said: “I am not surprised to see that many former Labour members have joined the SNP.

“I know many in my local party and beyond who like me were Labour but are now in the SNP.

“They have a similar feeling to me that the Labour Party turned their back on working class communities like Clydebank and expected them to accept a policy agenda that did not take their concerns seriously.

“As a working-class woman and trade union member that is definitely how I feel.”

She added: “Although I left the Labour Party, I did not immediately join the SNP. I didn’t do this until ­after the referendum in 2014. I am ­passionate that Scotland needs to be independent to see our country thrive.”

Bale said the numbers joining the SNP from the Tories could be seen as surprising, given it is a “classically ­Unionist party”.

But he added: “I guess that points again to the fact that 2014 in some ways mobilised and then in some ways changed quite a few people’s minds.

“The Conservatives have now ­really, really established themselves as this incredibly pro-Unionist party.

“Some people who were members of the Conservative Party because they quite liked the policies or maybe the leaders – who knows – perhaps decided that they couldn’t stomach them anymore.”

He said Labour would be concerned about the loss of members, as much as the loss of voters.

“Obviously political parties still feel they need members,” he said.

“The overall decline in political party membership over decades is more to do with people not wanting to join rather than parties not wanting them to join.

“In some ways, the number of people who switch from the Labour Party in terms of membership is just a reflection of the number of people who have swapped to the SNP as far as voters are concerned.”

Overall, a “remarkably high” ­proportion of party members in the UK had previously been affiliated to another party, at 23%.