The proportion of Britons who think trans rights have “gone too far” has more than doubled in the past five years, new polling suggests.

According to the survey, carried out by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Ipsos, 39% of the public think trans rights have gone too far, up by 22 points in the last five years. This trend was evident even among 16-24-year-olds, whose agreement rose from 9% to 19%.

The proportion of those who said that trans rights have “not gone far enough” dropped dramatically from 31% in 2020 to 17% in 2025, while those who said trans rights have “gone as far as they should” decreased slightly from 31% to 27%. Among all age groups, men were most likely to say that trans rights had gone too far. But there has also been a sharp increase in female respondents saying the same, rising from 14% to 35%.

Twice as many Britons think trans rights have gone too far as five years ago

Share of respondents who agreed with each statement in 2020 and 2025

The news comes after the UK Supreme Court ruled in April that the terms “man”, “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex. This means that a person’s sex is determined at birth and that obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate would not change their legal status. Gender-critical campaigners celebrated the move, with author J.K. Rowling facing backlash for posting a photo of herself smoking a cigar in response.

In recent weeks, the Government has faced calls to speed up the implementation of advice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), after the commission claimed that there was no legally accurate advice on the Supreme Court ruling. However, earlier this week Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson called for “less public debate” from the EHRC, prompting concerns that the Labour Party is not committed to implementing the advice.

Shortly before last year’s general election, Keir Starmer stated that he believed trans women do not have the right to use female toilets. Earlier this year, Labour shelved plans to make it easier for people to legally change their gender, after suggesting that it was no longer a priority for the Government.

Among all major political parties in the KCL survey, supporters of the Green Party were most likely to say trans rights had not gone far enough, with 57% agreeing with the statement. Meanwhile, 70% of Reform voters said that trans rights had gone too far.

The study also found that the proportion of the population who say that the UK feels divided has risen to 84%, up from 74% in 2020. The proportion who said that the nation is divided by “culture wars” also jumped to 67%, whereas five years ago the number was 46%.

Reacting to the findings, Professor Bobby Duffy, Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, stated that the study shows a “frightening increase in the sense of national division and decline in the UK in just a few years”.