RUTH Davidson has dismissed Boris Johnson’s plan for compulsory voter ID as “total b******s”.

The former Scottish Tory leader said the plan, unveiled in this week’s Queens’s speech, was “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist" and "politics as performance”.

She said the idea it was a legislative priority given the deep problems facing the country was "for the birds".

The comments are a sign that Ms Davidson, who takes up a seat in the House of Lords imminently, intends to carry on as a vocal critic of the Prime Minister.

The former Edinburgh Central MSP, who resigned as party leader in 2019 partly over Brexit, has never hidden her dispproval of Mr Johnson.

The ID plan, which would require voters to show photographic proof at general elections throughout the UK, has been widely condemned by MPs and civil liberties groups.

There are fears it could make it harder for millions of people to exercise their rights.

With no evidence that voter impersonation is a problem, Mr Johnson has been accused of trying to suppress the votes of poorer people less likely to vote Tory. 

Critics see echoes of Republicans making it harder for Democrats to vote in the USA.

Speaking on ITV’s Peston programme last night, Ms Davidson was asked what she though of the Government's scheme. 

She said: "Well, I think they can't cite any evidence of it because I don't think there's ever any evidence to cite. 

"I think in terms of this particular part of the Queen's Speech, I think it's total b*****ks, and I think it's trying to give a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, and that makes it politics as performance. 

"And I think that given where we are and the year we've had, we've got real problems to solve in this country, and the idea that this is some sort of legislative priority I think is for the birds."

Mr Johnson has dismissed claims of voter suppression as “complete nonsense”.

Although Holyrood is in charge of its own voting system, general election law is set at at Westminster.

The UK Government's legal adviser on Scotland, the Advocate General Lord Stewart, today defended the voter ID plan.

He told the Lords: “Any instance of or potential for electoral malpractice damages the public’s faith in our democracy.

“The introduction of voter identification, therefore, is the best, common-sense way to prevent voter fraud and strengthen public confidence in the integrity of our elections. Everyone eligible to vote will have the opportunity so to do.”

But Labour's Baroness Hayter said: “The ID requirement will reduce some people’s access to the vote – 3.5 million electors having no photo ID – predominately the young, whose votes we are trying to encourage, the less well-off and some of the very aged.

“This on the back of no history of voter fraud. Just one conviction in the 2019 election.”

The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Sarah Mullally, added: “The proposal for requiring photo ID to vote does seem to be a solution in search of a problem.

“I confess to have some anxiety when the Electoral Commission itself estimates almost 3.5 million voters are without suitable ID and those in more marginalised communities … will number highest amongst them.”