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Labour dropped a £26billion tax bomb on the City of London.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell plans a Robin Hood Tax on City transactions, robbing the rich to give the poor better public services.

Under the present system share trading is liable to 0.5 per cent stamp duty.

But banks and hedge funds are exempt from the tax on fast-trading stocks, bonds and futures so as to reduce paperwork later.

Mr McDonnell is to close this loophole and extend stamp duty of 0.2 per cent to all stock, bond and foreign transactions.

He believes that will make up for the huge public bailouts banks received after the 2008 financial crash.

The sugar-coated sweetener to voters was unveiled as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn got a treat of his own during a visit to Norfolk – a box of cakes bearing political logos on their icing.

(Image: PA) (Image: Getty Images Europe)

The cakes, with messages including “Keep Calm and vote the Tories out” were presented to Mr Corbyn by nine-year-old Elle Thurtle at the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston-on-Sea.

Meanwhile Mr McDonnell said: “Ordinary people are still being made to pay for a crisis they didn’t cause through the worst spending cuts for generations.

“The next Labour Government will make the financial sector pay its fair share.”

(Image: PA)

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

Mr McDonnell estimates his plan will raise £26billion over five years – £5.6billion a year by 2022.

Stamp duty on shares works in the same way as on buying a home.

An asset is taxed when it is traded and the money is paid by the buyer.

The Robin Hood Tax was the brainchild of economist Hunter Logan in 1988.

An EU plan to introduce a similar financial transaction levy is supported by 11 member states.

Mr McDonnell is also promising a major crackdown on corporate and individual tax dodgers and sanctions against tax havens.

(Image: Sunday Mirror) (Image: @Andrew McCaren/AM images)

Tax returns of big companies and individuals earning more than £1million will be made public to ensure they are not squirreling wealth away.

MPs will have to declare any offshore holdings and no firms using tax havens will get contracts to build schools and hospitals.

And the number of HMRC tax enforcement officers who scrutinise the rich will be doubled.

There will also be a public inquiry into the 2015 Panama Papers scandal, the leak of 11.5 million documents on 200,000 offshore holdings.