The Scottish Executive-backed Attitudes Towards Discrimination Survey found that 48 per cent of Scots think it is “always, mostly or sometimes wrong” for two men or two women to have a sexual relationship.

Fifty per cent said that moves on gay rights were already about right, had gone too far or much too far. Sixty per cent think giving money to groups that support gays and lesbians is “a waste of money”.

These findings would seem to undermine the accepted wisdom that Scotland, in the age of devolution, is beginning to throw off its strict Calvinist and Roman Catholic traditions. The figures emerged on the same day that the Executive published its consultation on legalising civil partnerships or “gay marriages”, prior to UK-wide legislation in Westminster. The survey found that only 41 per cent of Scots believe that gay or lesbian couples should be allowed to marry.

It provided a sharp reminder of the furore three years ago when the Executive’s moves to repeal Section 28, banning the teaching in schools of homosexuality, met opposition and hostility from churches and family welfare groups.

The survey of 1,600 Scots also found that 26 per cent of those questioned on their attitudes towards gays, ethnic minorities, women and disabled people, believed some form of prejudice was acceptable. Fifty-two per cent thought that most people in Scotland would mind “a little or a lot” if a close relation married someone from a different racial or ethnic background.

Only 5 per cent of the 1,600 who took part thought there was no discrimination in Scotland; 56 per cent considered there was a great deal of racial and homophobic prejudice. However, the report also showed that 68 per cent of Scots agreed that the country should do all it could to get rid of all kinds of prejudice.

The survey showed that older people with no qualifications were more likely to be intolerant and that knowing someone who was gay made people less likely to discriminate. The report said: “Those who say that there is sometimes good reason to be prejudiced are generally more likely to adopt a discriminatory viewpoint than are those who say that Scotland should get rid of all kinds of prejudice.”

John Curtice, of the National Centre for Social Research in Scotland, which carried out the survey, said it showed that Scotland was by and large a tolerant society, adding: “Discriminatory attitudes are held for the most part only by a minority of Scots, but in some cases that minority is not an inconsiderable one.”

In the survey 18 per cent said that they would not like to have a gay or lesbian MSP. About one in ten did not want to be represented by a black or Asian MSP, and 4 per cent did not want a female or disabled MSP.

Professor Curtice said that it was up to the Executive to decide whether it should continue to highlight the multi-cultural nature of modern Scotland or instead to focus on the things people from different backgrounds have in common.

The Executive said that the survey showed that its approach to ending discrimination was working.

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