Britons believe fascism on rise post Trump’s win: Poll

London, Jan 1 (IANS) Majority of British people believe that fascist views are on the rise globally in the wake of Donald Trump's victory, Brexit and the spectre of the far-right in mainland Europe, according to a survey.

There were surges of hate crime in the US following Trump's victory and in Britain after the Brexit vote, not to mention the brutal murder of MP Jo Cox by a man with far-right links, said the study by BMG Research, conducted for the Independent newspaper.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd also recently proscribed a far-right organisation for the first time in Britain, making its membership a criminal offence.

BMG pollsters, who are members of the British Polling Council, asked participants whether they thought "the number of people with fascist views in the US is increasing, decreasing or about the same?"

A majority of 53 per cent said they believed it is growing, just three per cent said they thought the number of people is decreasing, while 20 per cent said it is about the same.

When the same question was put in relation to Britain, some 46 per cent said they believe the number of people with fascist views in Britain is growing, with three per cent saying it is decreasing and around a third believing it is about the same.

Looking at Europe, the figures were broadly similar, with 48 per cent saying they believe the number of people with fascist views is growing, the Independent reported on Sunday.

BMG Research Director Michael Turner said: "With age comes experience, which may explain why our polling shows that it's older Britons who are most likely to feel that fascist views are on the rise, particularly in Europe."

He added: "Remainers are much more likely than Leavers to feel that fascist views are increasing at home. Around six in ten, 59 per cent, of those who voted to stay in the European Union feel that fascism is on the rise in Britain, whereas just four in ten Leavers, 41 per cent, feel the same."

"However, both Remainers and Leavers are much more united on the view that fascism is rising on the continent, with some 57 per cent of Remainers and 52 per cent of Leavers saying so in the poll."

According to reports, some 900 incidents of hate crime occurred in the US in the 10 days following the Tump's shock victory.

Official Home Office statistics have, as in the US, revealed an equally worrying hate-crime spike in Britain since the vote to quit the EU.

In July, there was a 41 per cent increase in the number of racially or religiously aggravated crimes recorded by the police.

They correlated with earlier figures which showed the number of alleged racially or religiously aggravated offences rose by 58 per cent in the week following the June Brexit vote.