Sir Keir Starmer will introduce 15-minute cities across the country with critics slamming them as 'Stalinist' and 'perverse' , it has been revealed.

Labour ministers have drawn up plans which will see local councils handed powers to use a database of drivers details to slap fines on those who pass through "traffic filters", intended to limit access to certain places.

Already set to be rolled out in Oxford city center later this year, the Big Brother-esque controls have been described as "perverse" by some critics.

15-minute cities are a new concept based on the idea that a person living in one will be able to access everything they need within a quarter of an hour by walking or cycling. They are sometimes accompanied by restrictions on motorists.

Oxford, which is actively implementing a plan to introduce the scheme, has seen its local authority plot to divide the city into six "15-minute neighbourhoods". This would see drivers needing to secure a permit for residents so that they could travel for 100 days for free through the traffic filters in the city.

A separate permit would allow just 25 days of free travel, with drivers hit with fines should they move around the city beyond those allocated days.

Greg Smith, shadow transport minister, told The Sunday Telegraph: "This is the blueprint for a national rollout. Labour has given the green light for draconian councils like Oxfordshire to police how people live, move and drive, using cameras and fines backed by DVLA data."

He added: "Oxford is the test case, but this is Labour's blueprint for the country."

The scheme has drawn criticism from motoring groups, with Duncan Smith, from the Alliance of British Drivers telling the same paper that the approach was "stalinist" and "perverse".

He added: "It is an encroachment on civil liberties, and it is a page out of the East Germany playbook. With the 15-minute city, you will have to, in effect, apply for an internal passport to go and visit your granny. From a civil liberties perspective, it is nonsensical. From an operational point of view, it is bizarre."

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Local councils use DVLA data to help keep our roads safe and crack down on dangerous driving. How they use this information is up to each council, so it works best for their communities."