BBC stars like Gary Lineker and Chris Evans would face pays cuts of millions of pounds if Jeremy Corbyn came to power, it has emerged.

A senior Labour source confirmed that the party would bring in legislation to ensure that there was a ratio of 20 to one in terms of pay in the public sector, including the BBC, which would mean high earners would receive no more than 20 times the lowest paid worker.

Trade unions confirmed that the minimum annual salary at the Corporation was £16,000, which, under Labour’s proposed system, would mean that no one would earn more than £320,000.

Given that Mr Lineker earns up to £1.8m and Mr Evans up to £2.25m, then they would be facing pay cuts of around £1.5m and £1.9m respectively.

Other high earners such as Graham Norton, Jeremy Vine, Huw Edwards, John Humphrys and Claudia Winkelman would in addition face higher tax bills under Labour's commitment to increase levies on anyone earning more than £80,000 a year.

The source explained: "We had in our manifesto a very clear position about the necessity of tackling excess pay at the top end, including our commitment to make the top five per cent of earners pay more tax. We would also have an excess pay levy for employers, which applies to all salaries above £330,000.”

Meanwhile, the details of the TV stars’ pay revealed a major gap between the earnings of men and women at the Corporation. Of the 96 names on the list of talent earning more than £150,000, only 34 were female and none of those earning more than £500,000 was a woman.

A legal expert predicted the BBC could now be hit with a wave of equal pay claims from female stars.

Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrats deputy leader, described the gender pay gap as a "strong wake-up call" for the BBC.

The former Equalities minister said: "We need to eliminate the gender pay gap as quickly possible.

“Making gender pay gap data transparent is vital to pierce the bubble of complacency in organisations. That is why I was so determined in 2015 to win the fight in government to introduce mandatory gender pay gap reporting.

"That means that not only do we know the picture in the BBC, soon we will be able to see how other media organisations compare," added the MP for East Dunbartonshire.

Harriet Harman, the former Labour deputy leader, said she was "frothing at the mouth" about the BBC's gender pay gap.

"What will come out of this is the transparency will mean that the self-perpetuating oligarchy of the old boys' network is going to be dead," she added.