ANGRY parents have blasted a council that wants kids as young as four to choose the gender "they most identify with" before starting school.

It wrote to parents urging them to support their child's choice of "gender identity" in a letter confirming primary school places this week.

And it asked them to leave the gender section of a form blank if their child had "another gender identity" altogether. The letter was sent to thousands of parents preparing to send kids to new schools later this year.

Brighton and Hove City Council wrote: "We recognise that not all children and young people identify with the gender they were assigned at birth or may identify as a gender other than male or female, however the current systems (set nationally) only record gender as male or female.

"Please support your child to choose the gender they most identify with.