Almost half of Muslims living in Britain believe that prejudice against Islam makes it difficult for them to follow their faith in the country, a survey found.

A poll of British Muslims for the BBC suggests that 46% believe that the nation is becoming less tolerant of Muslims.

Despite their unease almost all, 95%, said they felt a loyalty to the country, with a similar number (93%) saying Muslims in Britain should always obey British laws.

Around three million Muslims live in Britain, but instances of extremist ideology have led to growing unease among many and fears of rising prejudice.

The ComRes survey found that the vast majority (85%) of British Muslims feel no sympathy for those who want to fight against Western interests, against 11% who do.

Almost half (49%) believe Muslim clerics who preach that violence against the West can be justified are out of touch with mainstream Muslim opinion, but 45% disagree.

The survey found that most British Muslims oppose violence against people who publish images depicting the Prophet Mohammed, while one in four (27%) said they had some sympathy for the motives behind the attacks in Paris on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

However, more than two thirds (68%) say acts of violence against those publishing images of the Prophet can never be justified, with a quarter (24%) disagreeing.

Muslim women were more likely than men to feel unsafe in Britain.

The survey also found that almost one in 10 knew other Muslims who had strong sympathies with those fighting for al Qaida or Islamic State.

But 94% would tell the police if they knew someone from the Muslim community who was planning an act of violence.

More than a third (35%) felt that most Britons do not trust Muslims.

Only half (55%) of those polled felt the Muslim Council of Britain adequately represented the views of Muslims in the country, while more than three in 10 (31%) said they would want their children to go to a Muslim state school if they had the choice.

One in five British Muslims said they felt a liberal Western society can never be compatible with Islam. Older generations felt this more than younger people, with 23% of those over 45 agreeing compared with 19% of those aged 18 to 24.

Former faith and communities minister Baroness Warsi said the level of sympathy for the motives behind the Charlie Hebdo attack - and that 11% thought those who published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed deserved to be attacked - was "worrying".

But the Tory peer, who was the first female Muslim in the Cabinet, said there needed to be far greater such research carried out by government to avoid "headline-driven" policy.

She said the decision to abandon an annual survey of different communities across the UK as part of cost-cutting had left Whitehall without the comparative detail needed to understand sentiment.

In the past, for example, the survey had showed high levels of support across other parts of the population for the use of violence in response to religious and political issues, she suggested.

And that UK Muslims felt more loyal to Britain and its institutions than the white majority, she added.

"We just don't have definitive statistics and data that we work to and that's why, I think, we get much of our policy wrong," she told Today.

"These are, as far as I'm concerned worrying statistics. What I would have liked to have done is then unpicked that further and looked at the reasoning why they came to these decisions.

"One of the problems we have had in relation to good policy-making around our minority communities is that it has become headline-driven, it has become sensationalist and it is therefore not dealing with the long-term problem in a calm way."

:: ComRes polled 1,000 Muslims in Britain for the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.