Richard Leonard pledges to hammer wealthy Scots with 'windfall' tax and break up estates

The Scottish Labour leader has pledged to hammer the wealthy with a "windfall tax" and break up large land estates if he becomes First Minister.

In a call for class struggle, Richard Leonard told the UK party conference in Liverpool that he wanted to impose a one per cent levy on the assets of the 10 per cent wealthiest Scots.

He claimed the tax, which would apply to property, savings and shareholdings, would generate £3.7 billion for public services.

Richard Leonard, Scottish Labour leader

In addition, he said a Labour government at Holyrood would introduce a "radical" Land Reform Act "to break up wealth and power in Scotland."

Citing the fact around 432 people own around half Scotland's private land, he claimed that much of Scotland still languishes under "feudal ownership."

Among the options the party is considering is a land value tax that would force owners to sell and a residential requirement targeting "absentee" landowners.

With his party languishing in third place in Scotland, he was forced to insist that he can become First Minister after the 2021 Holyrood election and it does not matter that he is English.

His first speech to UK conference as leader was also overshadowed by a row over a senior Scottish party official who made an anti-Catholic comment from the stage.

Andy Kerr, chairman of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee, appeared to mock a female delegate, saying: "Did you cross yourself, there? In that case, I might not."

Mr Kerr issued a grovelling apology but Nicola Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson united in describing the comment as "appalling."

Mr Leonard, a trade unionist, opened his speech by making clear he supports Jeremy Corbyn's hard-Left policy agenda.

Attacking the SNP, he said they should "stop dividing people on the basis of nationality and start uniting them on the basis of class."

He said: "The real division in our society is not between Scotland and England - it is between those people who own the wealth and those people who through their hard work and endeavour create the wealth."

Mr Leonard said the richest one per cent of Scots own more personal wealth than the poorest 50 per cent.

“So instead of a fervent devotion to inequality from the Tories, and timidity and mediocrity from the Nationalists, it is time for moral courage and audacity from Labour," he said. 

"Which is why I have said that the time has come to consider a wealth tax." He said Labour also has "unfinished business" on land reform.

The Scottish Labour leader concluded: "We need land justice because our earth is a common treasury. We need land ownership in Scotland, for the many not the few."

Mr Leonard also attacked the SNP government for handing 58 per cent more in grants to foreign-owned companies since they came to power than firms from Scotland.

He disclosed that £222.6 million in regional selective assistance had been given to firms from abroad since 2007/08 compared to £140.7 million to those from Scotland.

Earlier, he condemned Mr Kerr's comment as "completely unacceptable" and appeared to agree it was bigoted.

Mr Kerr, a deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said: "I apologise unreservedly. I was trying to be lighthearted but what I said was ill-judged and wrong."