Scottish Labour would use Mansion Tax – chiefly earned from property owners in London and the south-east – to fund 1,000 extra nurses in Scotland.

It was one of new leader Jim Murphy’s first policy announcements.

He said: “I’m the Scottish Labour party leader – I’m just doing what I think is best for Scotland.

“I think it is right and fair that we tax properties worth over £2m across the UK. A small number are in Scotland but the vast majority are in London and the south-east.

“It is then fair that you share that tax across the country, and it just so happens that Scotland would get an enormous boost from that.”

Labour expects to raise £1.2bn from annual Mansion Tax, which it says it would introduce from day one if it wins May’s general election.

But a furious Dianne Abbott, Labour MP at Westminster, accused Murphy of trying to buy Scottish votes with money “expropriated”from London.

She accused him of unscrupulous behaviour.

Expropriation is not a word much used by Labour politicians these days, but means when a government seizes possession of property or assets from the owner for public use.