US Edition The collapse in Labour's grassroots membership numbers has contributed to its precarious financial position, with the party still £18 million in debt despite slashing its staff and spending.
In an official submission to the Electoral Commission, Labour admitted that its membership at the end of 2007 was 176,891.
That is scarcely 40 per cent of the 405,000 peak reached in 1997 when Tony Blair took office, and thought to be the lowest total since Labour was founded in 1900.
Total Labour membership fell by nearly 6,000 during 2007, the year Gordon Brown replaced Mr Blair as leader. It is believed to have gone on falling during the first half of this year too.
The Conservatives do not publish national membership figures, but two years ago the party estimated its total at 290,000.
During last year's Labour deputy leadership contest, Jon Cruddas, a left-wing candidate, said that the party was facing oblivion because of the collapse in its rank-and-file membership.
The accounts published by the Electoral Commission showed that Labour remains in dire financial straits.
While Labour cut its debt from nearly £25 million to £17.9 million over the course of the last year, it still owes more than £15 million to individual lenders.
More than £11 million of those loans is due to be repaid this year.
The party has run up interest payments of more than £2.2 million on money it borrowed from wealthy backers before the 2005 general election.
Jack Dromey, Labour treasurer, said that party had managed to record an operating surplus of £7.5 million in 2007 by what he described as "a new discipline of approach" and a determination to "live within its means".
That meant laying off staff. According to the commission records, Labour had 213 staff at the end of 2007, down from 302 in the election year of 2005.
Labour also recently announced that the party's annual spring conference would be cancelled next year as a money-saving measure.
The party is continuing to struggle in the wake of the cash for honours scandal, when it emerged that both Labour and the Conservatives had got around election rules by taking loans at preferential rates from wealthy backers.
Sir Christopher Evans, the biotech tycoon, has had a £854,000 loan repaid.
But with the exception of Lord Sainsbury, the supermarket heir and Science Minister, and Lakshmi Mittal, the steel magnate, Labour has failed to attract any big name donors, and the bulk of its funding came from the unions.
Conservative accounts showed a reduction in debt from £9 million to £7.75 million over the course of 2007, when the party recorded a surplus of around £1.5 million.
The party continues to draw in donations from wealthy backers, and received a cash injection from the sale of its lease at its former Smith Square headquarters.
Liberal Democrats remain in the black to the tune of nearly £1.3 million, partly due to a £2.4 million donation in 2005 from Michael Brown, a wealthy businessman who has gone on the run ahead of his scheduled trial on fraud charges.
The party refuses to return the money, which it says was accepted in good faith and registered with the Electoral Commission in line with funding rules.
A Labour spokesman said: "Our membership levels are stable and are published in our accounts annually.
"We continue to attract new members every week - in fact there has been a 15% increase in the number of 15 to 27-year-olds joining the party."