Welsh Labour responded to NHS crisis claims yesterday with a pledge to pay for 1,000 new front-line workers with money raised from a mansion tax.

First Minister Carwyn Jones said that new doctors, nurses and therapists would be his first priority with cash raised by the tax, which would be implemented if Labour takes power at Westminster in May.

The Welsh government would receive a share of money raised through the annual charge on owners of homes worth over £2 million.

Announcing the plan, shadow Wales secretary Owen Smith said: “We are able to make this commitment thanks to a tax on some of the wealthiest people in the UK.

“A proper redistributive tax that takes money from those with the most, to invest in something that we all use and love — our NHS.”

He prescribed the Welsh NHS a cash injection amid a concerted smear campaign against it by Tory Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mr Cameron has regularly used Prime Minister’s questions to repeat Tory claims that the state of the Welsh NHS “is a scandal.”

Hitting back yesterday, Mr Jones said the pledge proved his government’s “commitment to front-line services even in tough times.”

He said: “This is a real dividing line with the Tories, who are trying to roll back more and more taxes for millionaires and want to cut the state down to 1930s levels.

“Welsh Labour is the party of the NHS and we will always fight for its future.”

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has also said he would use mansion tax money to fund 1,000 nurses.