A new public opinion poll has found that British people would vote to ban minarets, in the wake of the Swiss referendum on the issue.

Last month Swiss citizens voted to ban the construction of minarets in the country's mosques. The move provoked international outrage and, amid allegations of Islamophobia, was attacked by leaders of the Swiss Jewish community.

Today, the Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found that 37 per cent of Britons would also vote to ban minarets in the UK. The company asked respondents in Britain, Canada and America to answer questions about a similar scenario in their own countries. British readers and viewers had followed the story more closely than Americans or Canadians, and the pollsters concluded that "Britons clearly agree with the notion of a ban and would vote for it if a referendum took place".