Labour voters more aligned with Tory policies on trans issues, poll shows

Labour voters are more aligned with Tory policies on trans issues, new polling shows.

The survey for gender-critical group Sex Matters found 48% of 2019 Labour backers support the Conservative Party's pledge to protect single-sex services, with just 20% against.

Meanwhile, 40% of Labour voters oppose a proposal by Sir Keir Starmer's party to amend the law to make it easier for people to change the sex on their birth certificates, compared to 35% in favour of the move.

Maya Forstater, CEO of Sex Matters, said: “This election campaign has proved that women’s sex-based rights can no longer be dismissed as a fringe issue.

"These results show firm support for policies that protect those rights.

“If parties putting themselves forward for government want to represent the mainstream, they should take serious note of the overwhelming support for sex-based rights across the political spectrum.”

Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, added that the "message from voters is clear".

She said: "People are sick of constantly hearing about bizarre and harmful policies based on the regressive idea of ‘gender identity’, and want an end to tedious debates that centre the tiny minority of people who deny the reality of biological sex and ignore the great majority.

“Whichever party forms the next government needs to understand that the public strongly supports protections for sex-based rights, and is increasingly concerned about the legal falsification of records about people’s sex.

"What some politicians refer to as a ‘toxic debate’ will only end when they clarify laws and policies to centre the biological reality of sex and to reject invented notions of ‘gender identity’.”

It comes as Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch took aim at Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for changing his position on trans issues.

She told GB News: "I think he is very conflicted, he is all over the place on this.

"People are all over the place when they don't have convictions and when they are just trying to tell people what they want to hear.

"That's what you see with Keir Starmer, that's why we call him flip-flop Starmer."

But Labour's national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden insisted his party is "in the right place now" when it comes to trans rights.

He said: "I think people have worked through this issue, I think we're in the right place now. We want to have a process for people who want to change their gender, we're not in favour of self-ID, we want to protect women-only spaces but let's be kind to people."

The PeoplePolling survey of 2,146 British adults was carried out on June 26.