The Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not legally women has been backed by a majority of Labour voters.
A poll of more than 2,500 people found that 42 per cent of Labour voters agreed with the Supreme Court judgement that transgender women are not legally women under the Equality Act.
A third – 32 per cent – disagreed with it, while 12 per cent did not know.
The findings, the first major polling since the ruling, suggest that Sir Keir Starmer’s previously equivocal statements on transgender women are out of touch with the majority of his party voters.
Some 48 per cent of Labour voters said it was acceptable to exclude transgender women from women’s sports, 41 per cent said the same for women’s prisons and 38 per cent agreed it should be the case for women’s toilets, according to the survey by pollsters Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now.
Labour voters were, however, concerned that the ruling would lead to an increase in discrimination against transgender people, with 57 per cent believing this would be a consequence. Only three per cent believed it would decline.
They were also split over JK Rowling’s efforts to help fund organisations that advocate for women-only spaces, with 33 per cent against while 32 per cent were in favour.
The Supreme Court ruled that when the term “woman” was used in the Equality Act, it meant a biological woman and “sex” meant biological sex.
Author JK Rowling has been a vocal supporter of For Women Scotland – an anti-trans campaign group – @jk_rowling/X
It also made it clear that if a space or service is designated as women-only, a person who was born male but identified as a woman did not have a right to use that space or service.
Overall, the public backed the Supreme Court ruling by 59 per cent in favour, against 18 per cent who disagreed – a three-to-one majority.
Tory voters and Reform voters had the biggest majorities in favour, at 83 per cent and 88 per cent in favour, respectively. Lib Dem and Green party voters were least likely to back the judgement at 31 per cent and 24 per cent in favour, respectively.
Support for the ruling also declined with age. While 41 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 supported, it rose to 68 per cent among those aged 55 to 64 and 76 per cent for those aged over 65.
More than half of voters backed exclusions on transgender women from women’s sports (58 per cent), women’s prisons (52 per cent) and women’s toilets (51 per cent). It fell to 44 per cent for women’s gyms and 41 per cent for rape crisis centres.
Lesbian groups were some of the biggest supporters of the Supreme Court ruling, with the LGB Alliance stating that the decision is a “landmark for lesbian rights in the UK”.
Yet, access to Lesbian social groups ranked significantly lower among the public, with only 27 per cent saying that trans women should be excluded from those groups.
Nearly half of voters believed that the ruling will have a positive impact on women’s rights and safety (47 per cent) with just 19 per cent disagreeing.
Reform UK and Conservative voters were most likely to believe it would have a positive impact, at 76 per cent and 67 per cent respectively.
The Supreme Court ruling was prompted by the Scottish Government’s bill on gender recognition. However, despite its calls for stronger transgender rights, more than half of Scots (53 per cent) believed the ruling would improve women’s rights.
When asked whether they approve or disapprove of Ms Rowling’s support towards women-only spaces, 47 per cent of the public said they backed her compared to just 18 per cent who disapproved.
Younger generations were split. Amongst voters aged 18 to 24, 32 per cent approved of her actions – exactly the same share as those who disapproved.
While most people agree with the ruling that trans women are not legally women, 41 per cent accepted that the outcome could increase discrimination towards transgender people compared with the 37 per cent who believed it would be unchanged or even reduced.
Voters from the Green party (74 per cent) and the Liberal Democrats (62 per cent) overwhelmingly believed that this could lead to an increase in discrimination. Labour voters come close behind at 57 per cent compared to 32 per cent of Conservative voters 27 per cent of Reform voters.
The Scottish government’s controversial bill on gender recognition was challenged by For Women Scotland. Despite support from the Scottish government for stronger transgender rights, over half (53 per cent) of Scottish respondents think the ruling will improve women’s rights.
On Tuesday, Alex Sobel, a Labour MP and former frontbencher, said he was “deeply concerned” by the implications of the Supreme Court decision.
In a break with the Government position, Mr Sobel wrote in a blog post that he was “a firm believer of self determination, self ID and allowing all to live their lives as long as they do not cause harm to others”.
He said: “Our manifesto was clear that we must protect the freedom for people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity.
“We need to stick to our manifesto commitment to modernise, simplify, and reform the intrusive and outdated gender recognition law to a new process. We must remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition and acceptance.”
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