John Scott QC

Mr Scott also said the UK government is attempting to “get rid” of the laws.

Attending a meeting of Holyrood’s Justice Sub-Committee on Policing, he said: “The quarantine regulations, and speaking personally here, I think are a mess. I do not understand them.

“They appear to be unenforceable. It looks as though the UK government is trying to find a way within the next few weeks to get rid of them or to forget they are there or to pretend that they were never there.”

He also expressed concern about the fact the laws were only published a week before being brought into force.

He added: “You can’t introduce new powers without giving the agency who is supposed to be enforcing them, even as a back stop, enough time to work out what they’re meant to be doing and disseminating as much training as they can in a short period of time.”

Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone was also sceptical about the new laws.

He said: “I have reservations about the demands they potentially put on policing.

“I also have reservations about that relationship or trust I was addressing both today and over the last couple of months about, if you like, the police knocking on people’s door who were in essence not committing any level of offence or committing any level of harm.

“But it’s a balance that needs to be struck because of the public health benefit.”