The former leader of the Free Church of Scotland has claimed that LGBT-inclusive education is a ‘Trojan horse’ for child abuse.

Church leader David Robertson, who is currently an associate director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity, made the claims after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon backed inclusive sex and relationship education.

The Scottish leader responded last week to the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign, committing to bring forward legislation in the Scottish Parliament to make LGBT-inclusive SRE a statutory requirement.

But in a column published by The Scotsman, Robertson attacked the TIE campaign, insisting that “telling five year olds that they can identify as whatever they want, is at best, unwise, and at worst, a form of state sponsored child abuse”.

He said: “The Time for Inclusive Education programme is a Trojan Horse that seeks to indoctrinate all children into this ideology and not allow any diversion from it.

“It’s inclusive only in the sense that it wants to make this compulsory for all children, whatever their families want.”

There are a string of inaccuracies and falsehoods in the piece, which cites already-debunked claims that 80 percent of trans people regret transitioning.

The number comes from a questionable 1995 study based on just 25 children who faced ‘cure’ treatments in Canada, which has been repeatedly debunked by subsequent research.

The piece also claims that the “gender agenda” is “is aimed at young children in a crass attempt to indoctrinate” them, and suggests sex education will result in “giving puberty blockers to primary children”.

The TIE Campaign said it did not want to dignify the comments with a response.

Robertson has previously warned that same-sex marriage will lead to “sexual confusion”.

He claimed: “As the social and economic consequences of this fundamental change to the way our society is structured become increasingly clear, the debate about what marriage is and how society should be governed will continue.”

He previously denied that he is homophobic, claiming he “objects to being called homophobic just because I continue to hold” views opposing same-sex marriage.