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Labour accused Zac Goldsmith of scaremongering today, after he sent out an attack leaflet making claims about a 'non-existent' jewellery tax targeted at London's Hindu community.

The Tory mayoral candidate's leaflet hits out at his Labour rival, Sadiq Khan , claiming his party wants to introduce a "wealth tax on family jewellery".

It also claims Mr Goldsmith is the only candidate who can protect their valuables from burglars.

The letter reads: "The first job of the Mayor of London is to protect Londoners. I recognise that far too often, Tamil households are targeted for burglary due to families owning gold and valuable family heirlooms…

"As mayor I will stand up to focus the Metropolitan Police on this issue and will fight to keep you, your family and your homes secure."

Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, slammed the Tories for resorting to scaremongering to win votes.

She said: “The Tories are running a desperate and negative campaign for Mayor of London.

“It’s no surprise that they have resorted to sending out these scaremongering and totally dishonest leaflets.

“Zac Goldsmith just doesn’t understand the great diversity of our City – he is not fit to be Mayor.

(Image: PA)

“His campaign is patronising London’s communities by trying to scare them with the threat of a non-existent jewellery tax, rather than focusing on the big issues like housing, transport and policing.”

When asked for a source for the 'wealth tax' claim, a spokesperson for the Zac Goldsmith campaign pointed the Mirror towards a Daily Mail article.

The article referenced an interview Labour's Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell had given to the BBC in which he was asked if he would look at introducing a "wealth tax."

Mr McDonnell replied: "Well, I think at some stage we'll be looking at a fairer taxation system, but we want to bring people with us and part of that is explaining just how unfair the system is at the moment."

The Mail's article referred to a "'wealth tax' which would target a family's total assets, which could include everything from property to shares, family heirlooms and savings." - but Mr McDonnell did not confirm he would push borsch a tax, nor did Mr Marr ask whether jewellery and family heirlooms would be included .

The Mirror asked the Goldsmith campaign for another source for the 'jewellery tax' claim, but they had not provided one at the time of publication.

A spokesperson for Zac Goldsmith said: "Khan experimented with Corbyn and helped elect a Labour leadership who want a new tax on family heirlooms, including jewellery – if he is allowed to experiment with London from City Hall he represents a threat to the economic security of every family in our City.”