LABOUR would not "pick off" groups of high earners in its tax plans, Emily Thornberry has insisted, as she appeared to distance herself from suggestions that people on more than £70,000 faced paying more tax if the party gained power.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary’s remarks came after John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, said the wealthy, whom he defined as earning more than £70,000 a year, should ''pay their way more''.

Ms Thornberry said she could understand why "many people" taking home a salary of £70,000 might feel that they were "not rich".

She denied the Labour leadership was taking the party back to the times of Michael Foot's disastrous 1983 general election campaign and insisted the focus in the run-up to June 8 would be on tackling tax dodgers.

Companies which failed to pay their way "should be frightened of a Labour government because we will be standing up to them," she declared.

Pressed on whether higher earners would be hit under a Labour government, she told the BBC’s Today programme: "We will need to go into the details as to what our changes to taxation will be. I'm not really in a position to be able to go into those details today.

"There are many people on £70,000 who may well feel that their circumstances are such that they are not rich and I understand that. But they are certainly on a higher income - it's just a matter of maths - than those on £26,000.”

She went on: "The system at the moment is one whereby there is an elite who believe the rules don't apply to them, that taxes don't apply to them, that they don't need to be part of the system."

The London MP said Labour was "prepared to make radical change" and would stand up to the elites. "That is not picking off people of particular incomes," she declared, adding: “The details of our tax plans will come out in our manifesto."

The Shadow Secretary of State refused to categorise how left wing Mr Corbyn was compared to previous Labour leaders. But she noted: "Philosophically, he's to the left of Tony Blair. There are some differences but Jeremy and Ed [Miliband] have a lot in common, actually."

Responding a Conservative Party spokesman said: "Twenty four hours into this campaign and Labour are already in a state of chaos on the economy. They couldn't manage the nation's finances, they'd weaken the economy and they'd put our nation's future at risk."