Nicola Sturgeon strips Donald Trump of Scottish ambassador role

US Republican presidential candidate has close links to Scotland - he owns a luxury golf resort in Aberdeenshire and his mother was Scottish immigrant from the Isle of Lewis

Nicola Sturgeon withdrew Trump's membership of GlobalScot with immediate effect (AFP/Getty)

Nicola Sturgeon has stripped Donald Trump from his role as a business ambassador for Scotland after he called for Muslims to be banned from the United States.

The UK political established has united in condemnation of the Republican presidential idea to bar Muslims from the US until authorities "can figure out" Muslim attitudes to the US as “obnoxious and offensive” but the First Minister of Scotland has gone one step further.

The billionaire businessman, whose mother was a Scottish immigrant from the Isle of Lewis, has had his membership of the GlobalScot business network withdrawn with immediate effect.

A spokeswoman for Ms Sturgeon said his comments showed he was “no longer fit to be a business ambassador for Scotland”.

Mr Trump owns a luxury golf resort in Aberdeenshire but has courted controversy in Scotland over his on-going battle to try to block the construction of wind farms in view of his golf course.

He has been a member of GlobalScot – a network of business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives with a connection to Scotland – since being invited to in 2006. The organisation was set up by Scottish Enterprise in 2001.

Ms Sturgeon has said his views on Muslims "do not represent the mainstream views of people across America."

The development comes as more than 200,000 people in the UK signed a petition calling on the UK to use anti-extremism legislation to ban Mr Trump from entering the UK.

However, despite describing his comments as "nonsense" and breaching the "founding princple of the United States, George Osborne rejected the proposal and said his views must instead be beaten through "robust democratic debate".