Scotland’s largest grant-awarding charity has been forced to apologise for discriminating against two Christian groups.

The Robertson Trust, which distributes £20 million a year, was due to contest a case of religious discrimination in court this month.

Instead, it has apologised and agreed a settlement with the Stirling Free Church and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

The decision, recorded in a joint minute at Glasgow sheriff court, follows a two-year battle with the charity, which had cancelled bookings by both groups because they were for religious events.

In November 2019 Shonaig Macpherson, the former chairwoman of the trust, was “incandescent” with anger after she discovered that one of its venues had been booked by Stirling Free Church, where Kenneth Ferguson, the charity’s chief executive, was a senior lay figure.

An employment hearing heard that Macpherson repeatedly highlighted the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage. She heckled Ferguson and turned her back on him at a trust meeting the following January, and two months later he was sacked.