The Scottish Government will come under pressure to scrap laws aimed at tackling sectarianism in football as MSPs vote on whether to repeal the act.

Opposition parties expected to unite against them in Holyrood's chamber on Wednesday.

The Scottish Conservatives have lodged a motion calling for the repeal of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act "as a matter of priority".

Scottish Labour's James Kelly has brought forward a Members' Bill aimed at axing the legislation. The Liberal Democrats and the Greens also want to see the Act ditched.

The laws, which came into force in 2012, criminalised offensive and threatening behaviour, including sectarian behaviour, related to football matches and any communications containing threats or incitement to religious hatred.

The SNP used its majority in the last Scottish Parliament to pass the Act despite a lack of opposition support. Critics say it is flawed and has damaged trust between police and football fans.

The Tories' motion, to be debated and voted on by MSPs on Wednesday, says there are laws in place to prosecute acts of hatred in addition to the Act and highlights "widespread criticism" of the "hastily pushed through" legislation.

The party's justice spokesman Douglas Ross said: "It's high time the SNP read the writing on the wall and repealed this deeply unpopular and unnecessary piece of legislation."

Labour said it would use the debate to urge the Government to invest more in education to challenge attitudes to intolerance.

Mr Kelly said funding cuts to the safer communities budget would hit measures to tackle bigotry. "Sectarianism in Scotland isn't a new problem, but it is a complex one," he said.

"It goes far beyond 90 minutes on a Saturday and the place to tackle it is in our classrooms and communities.

"MSPs from across the political divide will have an opportunity to come together today to send this message to the SNP."

Mr Kelly's Members' Bill consultation, published on Monday, attracted 3248 responses.

Over 70% back repeal of the legislation covering offensive behaviour at football matches while more than 60% of respondents also back the repeal of laws governing threatening communications.

The Scottish Government said opposition parties had not put forward viable alternatives to the legislation for dealing with violence and abuse at matches.

A spokesman said: "This is not just about sectarianism or language that can be challenged by education programmes - two-thirds of charges under the law in 2015/16 were for threatening behaviour, including physical violence.

"After two full football seasons of the Act being in place, an independent evaluation found that the clear majority of fans condemn abusive behaviour towards people's religious beliefs.'

"This government is committed to eradicating sectarianism and over the last five years has invested £12.5m into a range of projects, many with a focus on education - more than any government before us."