Labour will hit London and the South-East with wealth taxes to pour funding into other regions, one of the party’s leaders said Friday.
Kezia Dugdale, the party’s chief in Scotland, defended the United Kingdom, stressing she saw it as the “means by which we redistribute wealth”. She added: “We want to be able to tax wealth in London and the South-East and redistribute it across the United Kingdom according to need.”
Her comments will fuel fears that if Jeremy Corbyn gains the keys to No 10 he will seek to milk the capital and surrounding counties for cash to spend on projects in the North, Scotland and other regions.
Labour’s manifesto has proposed:  l People earning more than £80,000 would pay a 45p rate of income tax, with a 50p rate brought back for those on more than £123,000. The changes aim to raise £6.4bn a year
l Possible “wealth taxes” as one option to fund a new National Care Service to look after people in their old age, which would require an extra £3bn a year at the start.
l Ditching Tory fiscal reforms which some experts have warned would mean 50,000 more London pensioners facing hefty inheritance tax raids on the value of their homes.
l Reversing a “tax giveaway” on capital gains tax.
l An “excessive pay” levy on salaries of more than £330,000, to raise a total of £1.3 billion.
Corbyn himself has said London and the South-East get “far too much” investment for transport projects.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, former Mayor of London, said: “Kezia Dugdale has let the cat out of the bag, Jeremy Corbyn is planning extraordinary tax hikes on London families and wants to create brand new punitive taxes to pay for his hard-Left agenda.”
A spokesman said: “It’s absolute nonsense and irresponsible to suggest Kezia was talking about anything other than refusing to join an alliance with the SNP because the SNP is not a progressive party.
“Kezia pointed out the SNP is refusing to match Labour’s plans to tax the rich and big businesses and guarantee that 95% of taxpayers in the UK will not pay any more in tax, and she very clearly made the point that keeping the UK together was in the interests of everyone in the UK.”
The row exploded as an exclusive Ipsos MORI poll for today’s Evening Standard showed the Tories being squeezed to a five-point lead.
It shows Conservative on 45%, Labour on 40, and the Lib Dems on seven. It is not the first time Labour has stood accused of targeting London.
Before the 2015 general election, Jim Murphy, who had led the party in Scotland, suggested a thousand nurses north of the border could be funded by a “mansion tax” that would overwhelmingly hit properties in London and the South-East.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell declared he was “10/10” convinced that Labour would win the election — and revealed he had already spoken to civil servants about his first Budget.
Asked if he was ready to move into the Treasury, he told BBC radio: “Yes we are. We have been preparing for some time and we have gone through all those traditional mechanisms where you meet the civil service in advance of a general election.
“They have a look at your manifesto and we have talked to them about our first Queen’s Speech, our first Budget, our first finance Bill, and we have gone through in some details.”
He insisted he was not taking anything for granted in the election, but pressed on how likely he thought a Labour win was, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I’m 10 on 10 we are going to win.”
Two thirds of youngsters who are certain to vote in the General Election plan to back Labour, according to a new poll.
The ICM survey found 68% of aged 18 to 24 year-olds who are registered and say they are “certain” to vote plan to support Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.
Sixteen per cent said they would vote for the Conservatives, while 8% said they would go for the Lib Dems.
Half of those surveyed said Corbyn has the right qualities to be Prime Minister versus 28% for Theresa May.
Poll tracker shows Labour at highest level in almost three years Manifesto pledges by Labour which could appeal to the 18-24 age group include the promise to scrap university tuition fees and lower the voting age to 16.
The NHS, Brexit, education and tuition fees were among their highest concerns, according to the survey.
The poll was co-commissioned by civil rights group Hope Not Hate and the National Union of Teachers.
Hundreds of bootleg pro-Labour flyers featuring the face of London grime star Stormzy have appeared in Croydon as the Tories fight to hold their marginal seat.
The leaflets sprung up in Croydon Central where Conservative minister Gavin Barwell currently has the capital’s smallest majority and next week’s election result could be too close to call.
Accompanying a picture of Croydon-born rapper Stormzy, the leaflets read: “The Tories hold Croydon by 165 votes (that’s literally it). 
“Even your dad’s got more Facebook friends. Stormzy says VOTE LABOUR”.
But the posters have not been endorsed by the Shut Up singer or the Labour Party. The signs have been put up around Croydon Central.
The woman behind the campaign, who wished to remain anonymous, said she and a group of friends from Hackney came up with the idea in a bid “to try and get the Conservatives out”. She told the Standard: “We’re all for uniting the left, and we figured the best way to target our efforts would be marginal seats where there’s a real chance that a progressive candidate could get in.