A quarter of fans charged under the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act are cleared of any criminality.

New figures published on Tuesday have revealed a rise in prosecutions under the controversial legislation, in which three quarters of prosecutions were successful.

A total of 132 people were convicted out of 175 charged for under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act in 2015/16.

That is compared to 86 and 76 convictions in the previous two years, respectively.

The new statistics come after opposition parties united in November in a bid to repeal the act.

Scotland's opposition parties issued a joint statement endorsing the move Scottish Labour MSP James Kelly lodging his proposal for a private members' bill to replace the current law.

The legislation was passed in 2011 when the SNP had a majority of MSPs.

At the time, all opposition MSPs voted against the law when it was proposed. Following May's election, the SNP has been reduced to a minority administration.

The law bans behaviour which may incite public disorder, discriminates against racial groups as well as "other behaviour that a reasonable person would be likely to consider offensive".

The latest figures show the total number of people prosecuted by the Crown has almost doubled from 96 in 2014/15 to 175 in 2015/16, with a conviction rate of 75%.

That is a drop in the conviction rate of 82% in the previous years but an increase from 57% in 2013/14.

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Douglas Ross said: "This is bad legislation operating on borrowed time.

"All opposition parties agree it has to go, fans hate it and sheriffs repeatedly highlight its shortcomings in court.

"There was no need for the SNP to bring this in, as adequate legislation already existed to deal with those supporters who stepped out of line."

Labour MSP James Kelly said: "This is a humiliating blunder from the SNP. The figures show clearly that conviction rates have actually fallen in the last year, despite the increased number of proceedings on the Football Act.

"This desperate spin to protect a failed Act will fool no one. If SNP ministers are serious about tackling sectarianism they would be investing in education, rather than cutting £327 million from local authorities, which are at the forefront of tackling intolerance.

"The response to my public consultation on repealing the Act was the most popular in Holyrood history, and presented an overwhelming majority in favour of repeal. The SNP should show some humility, back my bid to scrap the Act and focus on tackling sectarianism in classrooms and communities."

SNP MSP James Dornan said: "These figures show that the Offensive Behaviour Act continues to be a valuable tool in tackling sectarianism - and the attempts to scrap the legislation show the opposition have staggeringly skewed priorities.

"It is absolutely extraordinary that the opposition parties consider scrapping an anti-sectarian law to be one of the biggest issues facing the country - a law which evidence shows the vast majority of people across Scotland as a whole support.

"At a time when the SNP Government is focused on education, health, jobs, the economy and protecting Scotland's place in Europe, other parties would rather see us remove legislation that tackles sectarianism, prejudice and discrimination whilst offering no alternative in its place.

"It is time that the opposition parties got their priorities in order, backed efforts to tackle sectarianism and other hate crimes, and focused on the other issues that really matter to people in Scotland."