Another way of determining whether these proposals past the "smell test" is to ask how politicians treat legitimate requests for access to their communications (carried out as part of their jobs, which we pay them for) in response to Freedom Of Information requests.

An example[0] from 2012 in a (then) EU member state is very informative in that regard, as indeed is the name of the special adviser behind the controversial policy.

[0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17235168