Two in five Britons think Muslims cannot integrate in UK, poll finds

Nick Tenconi, the leader of Ukip, addressing supporters at a far-right rally in London last October. The report says extremist views are being exploited by hostile states and malign domestic actors. Photograph: SOPA Images/Alamy View image in fullscreen Nick Tenconi, the leader of Ukip, addressing supporters at a far-right rally in London last October. The report says extremist views are being exploited by hostile states and malign domestic actors. Photograph: SOPA Images/Alamy Two in five Britons think Muslims cannot integrate in UK, poll finds Government’s former extremism adviser sounds alarm as idea that diversity is harmful becomes ‘mainstream view’ Two in five Britons believe Muslims cannot integrate into British society and more than half believe the country’s national identity is disappearing due to “diversity”, a report authored by a former government adviser on extremism has found. Sara Khan, who stood down in 2024 as the UK’s first counter-extremism commissioner, said such views contrasted sharply with accompanying findings that showed 85% of Muslims “favour integration”. Extremist views were being exploited and promoted by hostile states and malign domestic actors, it was said. Researchers logged 1,784 far-right offline events and 225 Islamist events over a 12-month period. At the launch of the report – titled Britain Under Strain: The Broken Social Contract, Democratic Distrust and the Mainstreaming of Extremism – Khan warned there was a “vanishingly small” window in which a new prime minister might act effectively to deal with the division and hate. View image in fullscreen Sara Khan. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian More in Common’s poll of 4,094 adults this spring found that 28% of those surveyed believed individuals should ignore rules and institutions that got in the way of change. Nearly two in three (61%) believed the “social contract” through which the public put trust in UK institutions and norms had broken down. Khan said: “The challenge now facing us is more serious, and more deeply rooted, than when I was counter-extremism commissioner. This is not a passing dip in confidence but a structural crisis as a result of a chronic erosion of trust in institutions. “The window to grip this is vanishingly small. The incoming prime minister must address these issues before our social contract anxieties shred away our democratic values.” Khan, who was also the government’s independent adviser for social cohesion and resilience between 2021 and 2024, added: “What it means to be British, and who that identity belongs to, has become a genuine fault line, not confined to any one political tribe, generation or region. Concern that diversity is eroding national identity is now a mainstream view, held by a majority of Britons.” According to the findings, 55% of people believe Britain’s national identity is disappearing because of diversity. Nearly a third (31%) of respondents described themselves as open to the view that non-white people