Mr FitzPatrick has asked for the calls received in his constituency to be urgently investigated and stopped, in accordance with action taken against other parties.

Under an Information Tribunal ruling, political parties have to comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, which forbid the making of wholly automated unsolicited marketing calls to any subscriber who has not consented.

Following a complaint by the Lib Dems against the SNP and Conservatives in 2005, the Information Commissioner wrote to the SNP stating, “I will not hesitate to take action against any other parties that act in breach of the regulations.”

Mr FitzPatrick, the SNP’s European Campaign Convenor, said, “A number of constituents have raised this with me and informed me an automated call asked them how they would vote in Europe and if they had voted Labour in the past, and asked them to press different numbers for their replies.

“This is outrageous behaviour. Unsolicited automated calls are in breach of the regulations.”

However, a Labour spokesperson insisted the SNP’s claims are, “totally inaccurate and designed to be misleading.”

It was conceded that, while it is a requirement that political parties should not make such calls to encourage people to vote Labour or to gather support for Labour (this is marketing), the Privacy and Electronic Regulations Act 2003 makes it explicitly permissible to use this method to carry out an opinion poll (this is market research).

The spokesperson said, “Dundee Labour’s calls at no point encouraged people to vote for Labour or against any other political party. They simply asked people how they would vote if there was a general election tomorrow, and whether they would prefer a Labour or Tory government. It is sad the SNP is reduced to this kind of embarrassing smear story.”