Britain has a higher proportion of 'poor' bathing water sites than any other country in the EU, new rankings show.

Campaigners warned that the UK must take action to improve water quality at 31 beaches that failed to meet minimum standards in 2015 or risk regaining its reputation as the "Dirty Man of Europe".

The 31 beaches that were rated 'poor' under new standards account for 5 per cent of all bathing water sites in the UK, the EU rankings show - a higher proportion than in any other member state.

Only Albania, which is not in the EU, had worse rankings of all the European countries that were monitored.

The UK also had the third lowest proportion of bathing waters that met 'excellent' standards out of EU member states.

Just under 60 per cent of UK beaches were rated 'excellent', with only Romania and Slovakia having lower levels of top-quality bathing waters.

By contrast, the average across all EU nations was 85.5 per cent 'excellent'.