Hate crime reports in Scotland are on course to outnumber all other offences put together, figures show, as front-line officers warned they “can’t cope” with the surge.

Around 8,000 hate crime reports have been made in the first week of the new Scottish legislation coming into force, which, if replicated through the year, would surpass the entire annual total of 416,000 crimes reported to police, according to an analysis of official data by The Telegraph.

This would mean that hate crime reports would overtake overall crime within 36 weeks, or at least by the autumn, and dwarf the annual 58,000 reported assaults, the most common offence in Scotland, by a factor of 10.

David Threadgold, Chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, which represents front-line officers, told the BBC: “Police Scotland have gone public and said that on every occasion, reports of hate crime will be investigated.

TalkTV's Mike Graham is joined by nightclub owner Donald Macleod, who says the new laws are 'mental' and 'a disgrace'.

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