Ed Balls: Mansion tax will be introduced from 'day one' of Labour government

A Labour government would immediately seek to introduce its controversial "mansion tax" on houses worth more than £2m if the party gains power at the 2015 General Election, according to Ed Balls.

The Shadow Chancellor said he hoped that the 100,000 people with the most expensive properties would start to pay the levy in the 2015/16 financial year.

Balls revealed that he has asked the Treasury to start preparations before next May so that the legislation could be included in his first Budget.

"I would like to see that revenue coming in in the first year of a Labour government, before the end of the financial year. We will have to see the practicalities," Balls told The Independent.

Labour have claimed that the tax would raise £1.2bn ($1.8bn, €1.5bn) a year, which would be funnelled into the NHS.

"Saving the NHS will be at the heart of our first Budget," Balls added.

But the "mansion tax" has come under fire, infamously from Myleene Klass.

The media personality and model attacked Miliband over the policy when the pair appeared on ITV'S The Agenda.

"You may as well just tax me on this glass of water. You can't just point at things and tax them," Klass said.

"For me, it's so disturbing – the name in its own right: 'mansion tax'.

"Immediately you conjure up an image of these Barbie-esque houses, but in London, which is where 80% of the people who will be paying this tax actually live, have you seen what that amount of money can get you? It's like a garage."

But a poll from YouGov from The Sun in September found that 30% of voters "tended to support" the "mansion tax" proposal and 42% of people "strongly supported" the policy.

However, only 7% of respondents said they "strongly opposed" the idea and 11% said they "tended to oppose" the plan.