Most students support a ban on people with “offensive” views speaking on campuses and back the removal of colonial monuments such as the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford, according to the first big survey of students’ attitudes towards free speech.

Critics said the research, by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) think tank, revealed deeply “illiberal” views among British undergraduates. They have already been called the “snowflake generation” because of their refusal to contemplate ideas they do not agree with.

The Hepi survey of 1,000 students in more than 100 British universities found that three-quarters (76%) would ban speakers who had views that offended them, while half (48%) wanted universities to be declared “safe spaces” where debate takes place only within strict rules to