Most Brits back a ban on Muslim women covering their faces, a new survey has found.

The major study into Western European religion and attitudes towards immigration revealed that more than two thirds of those surveyed across 15 countries backed some form of restriction on Islamic clothing.

In most countries, people tended to say they know 'not too much' or 'nothing at all' about the Muslim religion and its practices. But most agree that either Muslim women 'should not be allowed to wear any religious clothing' (19 per cent of Brits) or that they 'should be allowed to wear religious clothing, as long as it does not cover their face' (52 per cent of Brits).

Only a quarter of Brits think Muslim women 'should be allowed to wear any religious clothing of their choosing'.

UKIP in their 2017 general election manifesto backed a ban on full face veils in a policy which was widely ridiculed, forcing the then leader Paul Nuttall to clarify the ban would not extend to bee keepers. However despite the party's near extinction in local elections earlier this month, the research suggests popular support for the policy.

The findings come in a wide ranging survey based on more than 24,000 interviews by the Washington-based Pew Research Center.

The study focused on Christianity and found that those who identify as Christians in Western Europe, whether practising or not, had higher levels of negative sentiment toward immigrants and religious minorities than religious 'nones'.

Among British Christians 45 per cent of those who attend church regularly say Islam is incompatible with their country's values, as do 47 per cent of non-practising Christians.

However among the religiously unaffiliated only 30 per cent say Islam is incompatible with British values and culture.

As well as holding more negative views of Muslims the survey found that Christians at all levels of religious observance are more likely than religiously unaffiliated adults to say they would not be willing to accept Jews in their family. They are also more likely to agree with highly negative statements about Jews, such as, 'Jews always pursue their own interests, and not the interest of the country they live in.'

However, although overall, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish opinions are more common among Christians than they are among Western Europeans with no religious affiliation, it is still only a minority who hold these views.