Poll reveals young Muslims admire Al-Qaeda, Express claims

Shocking evidence of the radicalisation of young British Muslims emerged last night after a poll showed more than one- third want Islamic law imposed in the UK.

Three-quarters of Muslims aged 16-24 believe women should be forced to wear veils or headscarves and a third believe heretics who give up the Islamic faith deserve to be put to death, research also reveals. The survey also found more than one in eight young adult believers “admires” Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Think-tank Policy Exchange, which commissioned the poll, blamed Government-sponsored multi-cultural policies for encouraging the separation of ethnic and religious social groups that fuels fanaticism.

The findings provoked widespread concern last night. Tory MP Philip Davies said: “It is very alarming but it is completely correct to say that multi-cultural policies are the cause of these sorts of attitudes. Labour has done virtually anything possible to avoid getting Muslims to integrate into British society.”

Today, David Cameron will admit that “uncontrolled immigration” has undermined social harmony in Britain. “You can’t have proper integration if people are coming into Britain at a faster rate than we can cope with,” he will say in a speech in Birmingham.

Munira Mirza, the report’s author, said: “The emergence of a strong Muslim identity in Britain is, in part, a result of multicultural policies implemented since the 1980s which have emphasised difference at the expense of shared national identity and divided people along ethnic, religious and cultural lines.”

Daily Express, 29 January 2007