Over a quarter of trans people likely to leave the UK

A YouGov survey has revealed a devastating consequence of the UK’s hostile environment for trans people: an ongoing brain drain of trans talent.

A startling 26% of trans adults living in the UK said they were either fairly likely or very likely to be living abroad within the next 10 years. The latest estimates from the Office of National Statistics suggest that only 513,000 people left the UK in 2024 – less than 1%  of the population.

The proportion is even higher for trans people between the ages of 18 and 24 – who have grown up watching their rights challenged and their safety eroded – with 38% saying they were either very or fairly likely to leave the UK.

The YouGov poll, commissioned by Good Law Project, has revealed a shocking lack of trust by trans adults in the UK’s pillars of democracy, from the judiciary (31%) to the Labour Party (9%). Young people in particular have almost completely lost faith in the police, for example, with a striking 89% saying they trust the police either not very much or not at all.

Good Law Project is challenging the interim guidance rushed out by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on the definition of sex under the Equality Act. While the commission has now withdrawn its guidance, organisations across the country have already put policies in place that exclude trans people.

Within weeks of the Supreme Court’s judgment, Dutch NGO Trans Rescue said it had seen a 40-fold increase in British trans people seeking to flee the country.

The poll of 457 trans, non-binary and intersex adults in the UK indicates an overwhelming vote of no confidence in the UK government from the community, which is estimated to make up less than 1% of the UK population.

According to Victoria McCloud, a former judge and the founder of Trans Exile Network, this lack of trust is a pressing problem for the UK.

“We have a lot of scared people who are leaving the country,” McCloud said. “They’re scared, but they’re also highly talented because they’re the cream of the crop of our AI and computer programming sector.”

When Good Law Project reported on trans and intersex Brits leaving the UK, we heard from highly qualified people working in science, technology, law and finance. Many felt they had to leave because they feared being outed following the interim guidance, particularly at work. And last month, the Guardian reported that dozens of Labour MPs wrote to the business secretary, warning of chaos over the EHRC interim guidance and the economic impact of the current rollback of trans rights in the UK.

According to the Guardian, the MPs said that valued trans and non-binary staff at some larger UK companies have decided to move abroad, and that overseas firms are limiting travel to the UK for trans employees over fears they would be unable to use gendered facilities safely. Good Law Project’s YouGov poll found an alarming 84% of trans people said Britain is “fairly unsafe” or “very unsafe” for trans people.

For Good Law Project’s trans rights lead, Jess O’Thomson, the poll comes as no surprise.

“The UK is going backwards – and skilled young people can see it,” O’Thomson said “Why should trans people build their lives in a country which continues to demonstrate its hostility? Unless the government takes urgent action, the threat won’t just be to trans people’s human rights, but also to our economy as we make life harder for business, and drive talent away.”

• All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from an online survey conducted by YouGov Plc (PDF). The total sample size was 457 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 23 July and 11 August 2025. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all trans adults, including non-binary, intersex, other, aged 18+.