CAMPAIGNERS have called for a boycott of Donald Trump’s Scottish hotels and golf courses and for the presidential hopeful to be barred from the UK after he said Muslims should be refused entry to the United States.

Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen also indicted that it could strip Mr Trump of his honorary degree, awarded in 2010, following international outcry over his comments.

Mr Trump, a leading contender in the race to become the Republican presidential nominee, attracted worldwide condemnation after claiming that Muslims nursed a "hatred" for Americans.

There was outrage when the business tycoon called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" after a couple, believed to have been radicalised, opened fire and killed 14 people at a health centre in San Bernardino, California.

Within hours Scottish ministers and SNP MPs had urged Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to consider banning Mr Trump from Britain.

Scottish International Development Minister Humza Yousaf said that Mr Trump's call, if implemented, would transform America into an "apartheid state".

SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, the party's trade and investment spokeswoman at Westminster, said she believed that he should be barred from the UK for "hate preaching".

Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Green MSP for Glasgow, also lodged a motion at Holyrood condemning Mr Trump and urging the public to consider boycotting his Scottish businesses, which include golf resorts at Balmedie, Aberdeenshire and Turnberry, Ayrshire.

Mr Harvie said the former The Apprentice US presenter’s comments appeared "increasingly fascist".

He added: "This bigoted blowhard of a man is being rightly condemned far and wide, and I'm confident that Scotland will reject his extremist rhetoric.”

In light of the latest remarks Mr Harvie could not imagine any “self-respecting person wanting to spend money in his hotels and at his golf courses,” he added.

“Trump is now more than just a vulgar attention-seeker; he represents truly dangerous ideas, and should not be tolerated."

Robert Gordon University said it was "considering" Mr Trump's honorary degree after a petition calling for it to be revoked attracted thousands of signatures.

Meanwhile, last night White House press secretary Josh Earnest suggested that Mr Trump’s comments should disqualify him from the presidential race.

In the last presidential election, in 2012, the then Republican candidate Mitt Romney visited London for a meeting with David Cameron at Downing Street just months before Americans went to the polls.

But Mr Cameron's government was last night under pressure to bar Mr Trump from the UK.

Last year, controversial French comedian Dieudonne was banned from entering Britain by the Home Office following accusations of anti-Semitism.

In August Mrs May also banned the US rapper Tyler, The Creator because some of his lyrics were judged to be homophobic and encouraging violence.

At the time the Home Office said: "Coming to the UK is a privilege and we expect those who do to respect our shared values.”

No 10 said that the Prime Minister believed Mr Trump’s comments were "divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong".

But Downing Street refused to comment on the prospect of barring Mr Trump from entering the UK, describing the question as "hypothetical", and playing down suggestions that he would visit the UK soon with the candidate race in full swing.

Mr Trump was in Scotland, however, as recently as July, when he visited his Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire.

He also owns the Trump International Golf Links at Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, which opened in 2012, following years of controversy.

Mr Yousaf said Mr Trump's comments were "divisive, hateful and designed to cause division between communities".

He added that in recent months the businessman had also suggested that Muslims should face increased surveillance, a register created so that they can be easily identified and Mosques closed down.

"This is hate speech that if implemented would undoubtedly lead to the US becoming an apartheid state," he said.

"I am aware of a petition to the Home Secretary asking her to consider banning Donald Trump from entering the UK.

"I hope she will give it due consideration as we should not allow hate speech which seeks to divide communities unfettered access to the UK."

Ms Ahmed-Sheikh, the MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, said: "It is within the gift of the UK Government to deny access to people who are hate preachers and not conducive to the public good.

"And so the test is does what Donald Trump has said amount to hate preaching? And I would suggest that it does, given that he has denounced an entire religion. And does it do the public good to have him preaching such things on our soil? I would say that on both he meets the test."

"I hope we can rely on the people of the US, when the time comes, to reject Mr Trump and all he stands for," she added.