Poll finds 54 percent of Britons back banning Muslim Brotherhood while 10 percent oppose

A poll of 2,000 UK adults found 54 percent support proscribing the Muslim Brotherhood under UK terrorism laws, GB News reported. Ten percent opposed the step. Support rose to 66 percent after respondents reviewed the UK government’s 2015 findings, which noted aspects of the group’s ideology and activities were contrary to British values and linked some elements to extremist movements.

Opposition fell to 8 percent. Support varied by age, with 49 percent of those aged 18 to 34 in favor, 59 percent of those aged 55 to 74, and 66 percent of those aged 75 and over. When told that the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had designated or banned the group or affiliates, 64 percent backed UK proscription.

Sixty-five percent supported adding the Muslim Brotherhood to the UK’s existing list of proscribed groups that includes Al-Qaeda, Isis, Hamas, Boko Haram, the Wagner Group and Palestine Action. Seventy-eight percent said they were concerned about international terrorism and 74 percent about Islamist extremism.

Forty percent trusted UK ministers at least a fair amount on national-security decisions, while 54 percent trusted them not very much or not at all.

Thirty-nine percent said the government was too slow to proscribe terrorist groups. Fifty-one percent said the UK should probably or definitely follow the United States when designating terrorist organisations. Forty-eight percent said UK authorities should arrest, extradite or prosecute members of Muslim Brotherhood chapters already designated by the United States even if not proscribed in Britain.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not currently proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK. Ghanem Nuseibeh, chair of Muslims Against Antisemitism and Christianphobia, said the findings show the public views the group as a security threat rather than a religious matter and urged the government to act.