Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has unveiled plans to tax people who live in homes worth more than £2million to fund an extra 1,000 NHS nurses.
He said the public valued the health service “above almost everything else government does” but increases in funding have been falling behind in recent times.
Speaking in Edinburgh yesterday, Mr Murphy said the policy was a “Labour pledge for a Labour priority” if it wins the General Election because the current UK Government coalition parties were opposed to a mansion tax and the SNP had cut nurse numbers.
The East Renfrewshire MP said: “We will, with our colleagues in the rest of the UK, introduce a mansion tax on properties worth over £2million across the UK.
“This will provide £250million in additional revenue for Scotland.
“As much as 95% of that tax will be levied in the south-east of the UK but its benefit will be felt across the UK.
“We will support the NHS and nurses and use the money from a UK mansion tax to fund an additional 1,000 NHS nurses in Scotland over and above the SNP plans that we inherit.”
Mr Murphy claimed voting for more SNP MPs in May would lead to the return of a Conservative government which would “further delay the progress people are so desperate for”.
“That is what is at stake in 2015,” he added.
“If this is to be the year when change becomes real then the most important change for Scotland must be voting David Cameron out of Downing Street.
“Talk of returning to 1930s levels of public spending, unfunded tax cuts in the face of a big deficit, and the distraction of a European referendum.
“No-one can look at the Conservatives today and believe that they are a force for progress.”
Mr Murphy said he intended to reach out to 190,000 people who voted “yes” in the independence referendum but backed Labour in the 2010 General Election.
“They will decide whether to hand David Cameron his P45 or the keys to Number 10,” he added.
Mr Murphy said the most powerful way to tackle poverty and create a more equal society was to provide better and higher paying jobs for people.
He added that Scottish Labour wanted to improve the education system to ensure youngsters achieve their potential and redistribute wealth by introducing a top rate of tax on Scotland’s 16,000 big earners.