Nearly 50 per cent of Britons want ties with Sudan's military-led government to be reduced or severed amid concern that it is influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, a new poll has found.
In the survey, commissioned by human rights charity Muslims against Anti-Semitism and Christianphobia (MAAS), 33 per cent of respondents said the UK should reduce engagement unless the Sudanese Armed Forces-aligned government demonstrably cuts links with Islamist networks, and 17 per cent said it should cut engagement entirely.
Polling company JL Partners asked respondents about UK ties with the Sudanese Armed Forces. The company said analysts and governments had raised concerns about Islamist influence within SAF ranks, including that of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Separately, the poll found there is scepticism about the UK’s asylum screening process with 52 per cent of respondents saying they have no confidence in its ability to identify applicants involved with armed groups or illegal activities. Only 5 per cent are very confident.
A majority (55 per cent) did not believe Sudanese asylum seekers shared British values, and of those respondents, 61 per cent believed this was a problem.
This pattern holds up across different political and demographic groups, suggesting a cross-partisan consensus.
“The polls demonstrate that the British public are not against the Sudanese people and in fact welcome Sudanese refugees suffering from persecution,” said MAAS chair Ghanem Nuseibeh.
“The problem the British public feels is how extremists like [the] Muslim Brotherhood exploit the immigration system to undermine Muslim communities in Britain. The government needs to act seriously against those who exploit the immigration system.
“Appeasing Islamists in the SAF is not the answer to dealing with what is a humanitarian disaster facing the Sudanese people. I hope the government takes the results of this poll seriously.”
The civil war in Sudan has killed more than 150,000 people, with the SAF and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) accused of atrocities. About 14 million people have been displaced by the conflict.
The conflict has also created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 25 million people – almost half the country's population – facing hunger.
The army-backed Sudanese government is based in Port Sudan on the Red Sea, while a parallel government formed by the RSF last year has its headquarters in Nyala, Darfur.
The war broke out in April 2023 when months of tension between army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and the RSF's commander, Gen Mohamed Dagalo, escalated into open warfare.
