Socialist parties have long been unconvincing when it comes to respecting personal freedom as a fundamental British right.

New evidence of this ‘state knows best’ attitude can be observed in Sir Keir Starmer’s initiative to mandate digital identity documents for all UK citizens.

Labour’s plans contradict our deeply rooted Scottish and British values, which hold that personal freedoms should be preserved and that individuals have the right to live privately, without unnecessary state intrusion.

Fundamentally, my party objects to the excessive, centralized control that Sir Keir Starmer’s digital ID card proposal embodies.

We oppose governmental overreach as it shifts power away from individuals to unaccountable government officials. You don’t need to have read George Orwell’s 1984 to understand that such a profound change in the dynamic between citizens and the state is ripe for both accidental misuse and intentional wrongdoing.

I’m already hearing Left-wing voices trying to soothe the public by claiming any such concerns are overblown or even fearmongering.

Just ask those innocent individuals who have been subjected to heavy-handed police inquiries or workplace witch hunts for expressing views perceived as unprogressive on topics like gender or immigration.

No matter how innocent the stated intent, such powers will always be abused.

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay has lambasted Labour plans for digital ID cards

This is why, on a fundamental level, Labour’s compulsory digital ID proposal is misguided. It threatens our right to privacy and accelerates a move towards more authoritarian, top-down governance.

My party will always stand for freedom against left-wing attempts to impose more restrictions on what you can do, the things you can say, and the way you wish to live your life. Far too many of these people arrogantly think that they know best, and love to wag their fingers at the rest of us.

Even if you don’t object to ID cards in principle, they’re still a bad idea.

They won’t achieve what Sir Keir Starmer claims, which is to do curtail rampant illegal immigration.

Digital ID cards won’t stop a single migrant-laden inflatable in the Channel or prevent illegal immigrants arriving in this country.

They won’t stop the UK’s massive black market in illegal labour – whether it be fleets of fast-food delivery drivers on e-bikes or the industrial-scale trafficking and enslavement of impoverished women into prostitution.

Reputable employers already check workers’ ID before hiring them.

Proposed ID cards also won’t stop illegal migrants from embracing grifter lawyers to play the system in order to stay in our country – with human rights being perverted from their original purpose so that the rights of rapists, paedophiles and killers are now bomb-proof.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s ID card scheme is a desperate bit to distract from the chaos engulfing his party, writes Mr Findlay

I firmly believe that our public services, and the country’s finances, can’t cope with the current rates of immigration, and Sir Keir Starmer’s ID card, or app, will do nothing to change that.

If Labour was serious about this venal trade in people, they would close migrant hotels and reduce the appeal of social security benefits that tempt so many to leave the safety of mainland Europe to reach the UK.

But they’re just too weak to take the necessary action. So instead, Sir Keir Starmer is making outlandish claims about what this digital ID policy will achieve.

On top of that, the state already collects plenty of data about individuals. We already share personal information to acquire a passport or driving licence, to file tax returns and many other sundry exchanges.

Then there’s the cost. The phrase ‘government IT system’ should send a shiver down the spine of every taxpayer.

This would inevitably become a black hole which would drain staggering sums of public money.

So taxpayers would end up getting fleeced for the privilege of being spied on by Sir Keir’s state, while the public services that we rely on would lose the money that it will cost.

W HY would any politician want to spaff money on a digital ID experiment when it could be directed towards schools and hospitals instead?

Let me tell you what lies behind Sir Keir’s zombie idea from the Tony Blair era … it is simply a desperate bid to distract from the chaos engulfing the Labour party.

Sir Keir Starmer’s government has broken so many promises and u-turned so often that nobody trusts a word they say.

They betrayed pensioners by axing the winter fuel payment, only to u-turn many months later.

They introduced a death tax on farmers that they previously said they wouldn’t.

They broke a promise not to raise National Insurance – which amounts to a catastrophic tax on jobs, hitting employment, investment and growth.

And over the last few months, Sir Keir’s own office has lurched from one scandal to another. He is wounded and weak.

Labour MPs have lost confidence, demonstrated by the brazen coup drama involving Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

Sir Keir is desperately looking to distract from the midden he has created and that’s why he’s announced digital ID.

It’s such a bad move that, for once, John Swinney and I broadly agree on something. Neither of us are fans of digital IDs.

But what the SNP and Labour do is push left-wing policies that erode our freedoms and deprive people of control over their own lives. They always seek new ways to take more of people’s hard-earned money.

They seek to control what we can say by limiting free speech and even what we should be allowed to eat and drink.

They want people to be more reliant on government and compliant with what they deem to be acceptable ideological beliefs, such as nonsensical gender politics.

My party is different. We proudly stand against such socialist tendencies because we believe to our core that people are best placed to make the decisions that impact them and their families.