Con: We do not provide these figures but we are constantly attracting new members.

Lib Dem: We currently have 281 active members in Guildford.

GGG: Membership of GGG is not clear cut since there are a number of different groups. As a result, unlike established parties, the number of actual members is not easy to provide.

Lab: We have over 800 members, in all parts of the constituency – and numbers are still going up.

(Latest national figures that could be found are: Conservative Party 150,000 (Sep 2014); Liberal Democrats 61,000 (Jun 2015); Labour Party reported 292,505 (full members – Aug 2015).

2. How many paid up members did you have this time last year?

Con: We do not provide these figures.

Lib Dem: This time last year we had around 190 active members, according to our online database.

GGG: Party did not exist.

Lab: There is a huge increase since last year, thanks to the national interest in the recent leadership contest.

3. How is your branch funded, please include all sources of funds received? Are you accounts made public? Are there additional funds provided for election costs?  (For answers, also see table, based on Electoral Commission data, below.)

Con: Our branches are funded by members’ subscriptions and fund-raising efforts. All donations are declared as required by the Electoral Commission.

Lib Dem: The figures are here: http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/English/Accounts/ST0010151

GGG: Our party is entirely funded by individual personal donations from local people. Our accounts will be made public within the Electoral Commission website. We haven’t yet been in existence as a party for a full year so there are no full year annual accounts yet.

Lab: All political parties have to register their annual accounts with the Electoral Commission so ours, for 2014, are there.

4. Who holds the following positions in your branch/association: chairman, vice- or deputy-chairmen, secretary and treasurer? Are there any other branch/association officers? If so, who/what appointments?

Con: Association officers are all elected every year at our annual general meeting by our membership.

Lib Dem: I (Sue Doughty) speak for the Guildford Local Party as chair and Caroline Reeves speaks for the group on Guildford Borough Council. In practice any questions directed to other officers would come back to me or Caroline.

GGG: The chair of the party is Susan Parker; the nominations officer and party secretary is Michael Bruton; other roles, as required, are taken by committee members.

Lab: Our current chair is Lynda MacDermott, secretary is Michael Hassell and I [Angela Gunning] am treasurer. Our vice-chairs for 2015 are George Dokimakis and Dominic Stone.

5. Where is your local party office? What are its contact details (phone number, email address, postal address)?

Con: Address: 17 Home Farm, Loseley Park, Guildford GU3 1HS – Tel: 01483 300300 – email: info@guildfordconservatives.com.

Lib Dem: Address: 96 London Road, Guildford, GU1 1TH – Tel: 01483 829305 – email: office@guildfordlibdems.org.uk

GGG: Our party office is in a member’s home, so it is easiest to contact us through the generic email: ggg@guildfordgreenbeltgroup.co.uk

Lab: Address: 9b Martyr Road GU1 4LF.

6. Where can your constitution be found?

Con: It is available by writing to the Conservative Party at 4 Matthew Parker Street, London SW1H 9HQ.

Lib Dem: No information provided initially. Subsequently informed constitution will be added to branch website in due course.

GGG: No information provided.

Lab: Information available on party website.

7. How much does it cost to join?

Con: The recommended membership is £25 or £5 for those aged under 25. However, this is not mandatory and we have members who pay more and less.

Lib Dem: You can choose your own membership fee. The minimum is £1 a year if you are a student or under the age of 26. Claimant rate is minimum of £6 a year. The minimum standard membership is £12 a year.

GGG: It costs £10 to join the party.

Lab: Information available on party website.

8. Have you suspended or expelled any members over the last 12 months, if so, why (names not required)?

Con: We do not provide this information.

Lib Dem: No information provided (but an offer was given to The Guildford Dragon NEWS to verify individual membership, on request).

GGG: We have not suspended any members from the party.

Lab: No comment.

The table below shows financial information for the local branches of the Conservative, Lib Dem and Labour parties as reported to the Electoral Commission for 2014. There is no listing for a Guildford branch of UKIP and GGG, officially registered in November 2014, have yet to file a return for a full year.

The Conservatives, probably unsurprisingly, received more in income, spent more and had far more reserves, a cool £250,000 described as “cash in hand or in the bank”. But nothing is listed as membership income, so presumably its membership fees are included under another heading. This prevents any extrapolation to determine the number of members, about which it remains determinedly silent.

Surely in such a Conservative stronghold as Guildford party membership should be strong and therefore nothing to be modest about? But a Conservative Party spokesperson told The Guardian in May this year (2015): “We have a long and very noble tradition of not publishing those figures.”

Of course, even if the branch will not admit it, its membership total was reduced by one, this year, with the suspension and presumed expulsion of Monika Juneja, following her conviction.

The Liberal Democrats while remaining the runners up in the Guildford political scene actually have less income and spend less than the Guildford Labour Party. It also has fewer members, last year 190, bringing in £498 in membership fees, if that is what that amount represents, and this year rising to 281 “active” members, presumably paid up. Perhaps noteworthy is that it spent more on campaigning in 2014 than the other two parties combined.

Guildford Labour Party with 800 members has a much larger membership than the Lib Dems, many recruits reportedly having joined during the recent leadership campaign. In 2014 it received and spent considerably more money than the Lib Dems, but it has not translated to significant electoral success. While it is true that its share of the vote increased at the last general election its representation on the borough council reduced from two to just one councillor. Interestingly, it is the only Guildford party branch to receive income from property, part of the building given to them in Martyr Road.

All three parties ran a small deficit but all within the level of their reserves.

The Guildford Greenbelt Group, like the Conservatives, refuses to give its membership numbers; but it is suspected of being a small number. It is a shame, but not its fault, that we cannot see its financial position. It might be that in terms of pounds per vote (it attracted more than 20,000 votes in the last borough elections) it is the most efficient of Guildford’s political parties.