AROUND a third of residents in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole believe, children should be free to choose their gender identity, new research suggests.

A nationwide poll of 21,000 people was carried out by the publisher UnHerd in association with pollster FocalData. Unherd said the results showed the debate about gender was far from resolved.

Participants were asked, by parliamentary constituency, how much they agreed with the statement “it is acceptable for adolescent children to make their own decisions about their gender identity”.

Of the two constituencies that are in or cross over into Bournemouth, the most positive was Bournemouth West – 44 per cent said children should choose, compared with 30 per cent who did not, with the rest undecided.

Of these, 13 per cent strongly agreed with the statement, while 32 per cent said they simply agreed.

The constituencies were ranked based on how many agree versus disagree, with the top ranking being considered the most supportive of the statement.

Bournemouth West placed 104th out of 632 constituencies – not including the 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland. In Bournemouth East, 40 per cent of people were supportive, compared with 27 per cent who were not – placing it at 108th nationwide.

Elsewhere, in Poole 39 per cent were supportive, 32 per cent against. In Mid Dorset and North Poole, 33 per cent were supportive and 36 per cent were not.

In Christchurch, 30 per cent backed the statement, but 31 per cent did not, ranked at 532nd of 632 constituencies by the polling agency.

Across Britain as a whole, 37 per cent of people thought children should be able to make decisions about their gender, 30 per cent did not, and 33 per cent did not have an opinion either way.

James Kirkup, from Unherd, said the poll showed public opinion on the issue did not follow conventional party lines, with traditional Labour and Conservative areas both split.

“The politics of transgenderism are under-explored for several reasons,” he said. “Politicians’ timidity in the face of activists’ ferocity is one big factor.

“But there’s another – that it’s a fiendishly complex issue that doesn’t fit easily into the narratives and categories that structure so much of British political debate.

“This poll shows that the debate about gender in 21st-century Britain is not just unresolved. It has yet to even begin in earnest.”