More than half of Scotland’s most popular beaches for wild swimming have been polluted with unsafe levels of sewage this summer, with one tourist hotspot 50 times higher than the safe limit.

Analysis by The Ferret has revealed that, since the start of May, 50 of the country’s 89 designated bathing waters have breached European safety limits for faecal bacteria at least once when they were tested.

Campaigners told The Ferret it was “disgusting that the majority of Scotland’s most precious blue spaces are being blighted” by sewage pollution. They called for better monitoring and reduction targets to stop sewage being released into bathing waters “for good”.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters