The report looked into the radicalisation of a small section of Polish migrants in Britain
Date: July 9 2026
Academics from London Metropolitan University have produced a major new report on transnational far-right activism among some Polish migrants in Britain.
Conducted between 2023 and 2026, Polish Transnational Far Right is based on a pioneering three-year study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
The report was produced using a rare form of research practice, known as “from within”, which incorporated ethnographic methods, in-depth interviews with activists, and participant observation in political events.
The project was carried out by a research team of Professor Michał P. Garapich (Principal Investigator), Professor Rafał Soborski, and Dr Anna Jochymek.
They carried out 75 in-depth biographical interviews with activists in the UK and Poland, as well as establishing contacts and informal conversations with 150 more in person and online.
The authors stress that the overwhelming majority of Polish migrants in Britain do not engage in far-right activism and remain politically diverse.
Instead, they identify a small minority promoting extremist ideologies that combine Polish and British narratives of national, ethnic, and white exclusivity.
Key findings
- The report highlighted growing concerns over political polarisation, online radicalisation, and cross-border extremist networks
- It identifies second- and third-generation Polish-British youth as particularly vulnerable to radicalisation processes
- Radicalisation among some Polish nationals is not “imported”, but emerges when combined with the British political context through what the researchers describe as “integration through racism”
The full report can be found on the Global Diversities and Inequalities Research Centre's dedicated page.
Michał, who led the study, said: “Many Polish migrants, having lived in the UK for decades, are now exposed to anti-immigrant messaging, and one reaction is to deflect this hostility by positioning themselves as the ‘good migrant’ – hardworking, but also white and European.
“This aligns strongly with the white supremacist ideas present within sections of the far right, both in the UK and Poland.”
“One of the key findings of our study is that the traditional understanding of the British far right as nationally bounded is no longer adequate,” adds Michał. “The British, Polish, and wider international far right increasingly operate as an interconnected political and economic ecosystem built around supremacist ideas of Western – and often explicitly white – superiority.”
Rafał added: “British far-right and national-populist actors – including Tommy Robinson, Britain First, and Reform UK supporters – engage some Polish migrants by recasting them as defenders of Christianity and Western civilisation. This narrative resonates with existing nationalist interpretations within parts of the Polish diaspora.”
Anna noted that gender politics formed an important part of the broader ideological landscape observed during the research.
“In some of the spaces we studied, hostility towards women, rigid ideas about gender roles, and the normalisation of violence against women existed alongside broader beliefs about power, hierarchy, and exclusion,” she explained. “If we want to understand radicalisation properly, we cannot treat misogyny as a separate issue.”
Recommendations for government and other stakeholders include:
- Recognising the transnational nature of modern far-right networks and viewing the British far right as increasingly globally connected
- Broadening the understanding of mobilisation strategies as far-right groups increasingly target people from migrant and minority backgrounds
- Young people of Polish origin - particularly young men - should be recognised as a potentially vulnerable group in specific contexts, such as online radicalisation
Further work
Researchers also produced two documentary films that explore extremism, far‑right ideology, childhood traumas, and life trajectory towards rejecting hate and de-radicalising.
‘The Extremist and Me’ is a dialogue between a former Polish neo-Nazi who converted to Christianity and a British former radical Islamist.
And ‘That Boy: A Conversation about Hate and Healing’ documents the encounter between a Roma activist, and refugee who fled Poland in early 1990s, and Mirek, a former neo-Nazi and football hooligan from Poland who is now a born-again Christian.
Professor Michał P. Garapich is a Professor of Sociology, Dr Rafał Soborski is a Senior Research Fellow, and Dr Anna Jochymek is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant - all at the School of Social Sciences and Professions