More than 60 counselling sessions a day on suicide were carried out by charity Childline last year, it has been revealed.

Young people from across the UK got in touch with the service after reaching crisis point.

In that same time, 1,095 sessions were held with children from Scotland anguished over thoughts of taking their own life, a 17 per cent jump from the previous year and higher than the UK rise of 15 per cent from 2015/16.

As part of their efforts to make sure counsellors can be there, the NSPCC’s Light Up Christmas for Children campaign is asking people to donate to Childline.

Childline founder and president Esther Rantzen said: “When Childline launched over 30 years ago, I remember children usually felt suicidal because they were being hurt by someone. Now young people tell us they are overwhelmed by mental health issues taking them to the brink of suicide. We must discover why so many of our young people feel so isolated they turn to Childline because they believe no one else cares about them.”