Labour's "vindictive" plan to tax London millionaires to pay for nurses in Scotland will set one part of the country against another and create resentment, Boris Johnson has claimed.

The London mayor said the policy to "mug" people in the South East was the result of a plan by Labour to "bribe" voters in Scotland who could be tempted to back the SNP.

The policy to fund 1,000 nurses was one of the first major announcements by Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, who said the "vast majority" of the money raised by the levy on homes worth more than £2 million would come from London and the South East but it was "fair that you share that tax across the country".

Mr Johnson told LBC: "Labour has made a cynical calculation that they are more vulnerable in Scotland to the SNP than they are, say, in the South East or they are in London.

"They have decided to punish the South East, or to be fiscally vindictive towards the south east of England, in order to try to bribe the Scots to vote Labour.

"It's no way to run a country."

He added that Labour wanted to "squeeze those Londoners until the pips squeak" and added: "That is a way to set up resentments and I don't think it is the right way forward.

"Londoners perfectly accept that we have a duty to the rest of the country, we already export huge quantities in taxation - about £19 billion a year."

Mr Johnson the Labour candidates for the mayoralty would be "pretty horrified by this" and added: "I think it's very regrettable that Labour should use divisive tactics and be should be setting up one part of the country against another."

Labour is committed to a levy on homes worth more than £2 million, with the money used to help fund the NHS.

Mr Murphy explained how Scotland's share of the mansion tax revenue would be spent and acknowledged that the bulk of the money would come from England.

Setting out his plan yesterday, he said: "I think it is right and fair that we tax properties worth over £2 million across the UK - a small number are in Scotland but the vast majority are in London and the South East.

"It is then fair that you share that tax across the country, and it just so happens that Scotland would get an enormous boost from that."

The former Cabinet minister said there were fewer than 1,000 properties worth more £2 million across the whole of Scotland which will generate around £15 million, so "you couldn't afford 1,000 new nurses if it were just a mansion tax in Scotland by Scotland".

He added: "So we will tax houses in London and the South East to pay for 1,000 new nurses in the Scottish NHS. It's a real win-win for Scotland."