Primary school children could be banned from starting school unless they have had the MMR jab.
Under Labour plans, primary schools will have to demand proof from parents that their children have had the triple vaccine before they are allowed to register.
The proposal was drawn up by Mary Creagh, the MP in charge of the party’s health manifesto for the next election and has outraged doctors’ leaders, who call it “Stalinist” and counterproductive.
If the proposal is approved, it would see almost 100,000 children barred each year from schools in England and Wales based on current vaccination rates.
Last night the Tories accused Labour of playing politics with children’s lives, warning that such “authoritarianism” would alienate parents.
The head of Labour’s manifesto group on public health has suggested, parents would have to provide a certificate to prove that their children had the full range of jabs against measles, rubella and mumps.
The proposal would also apply to toddlers, as children under two would also be vaccinated each year against flu and have additional jabs to protect against chicken pox and winter vomiting virus.
Schools currently do not have to ask parents if their child has had the MMR jab and it is up to school nurses to check records. Children who had missed vaccinations would be forced to attend a “catch-up” session before schools starts and any Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children could face penalties.
In the US parents are threatened with jail if their children are not immunised.
Mrs Creagh will outline her plans this week in the Fabian Review, the quarterly magazine of left-wing think-tank the Fabian Society.
In the magazine, the MP for Wakefield said: “We have vaccination rates as low as 11 per cent in parts of London and cases of measles, mumps and rubella are rising sharply.
“Labour should imitate the successful-U.S. model to ensure no low income child was unvaccinated.
“There, children can only start school after proof of vaccination has been supplied by parents - except on religious and medical grounds.”
Mrs Creagh suggests expanding the NHS programme which already immunises toddlers against MMR, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, meningitis and pneumonia.
Chairman of the British Medical Association, Dr Hamish Meldrum claims forcing parents to have their children inoculated is “morally and ethically dubious”.
He said a “Stalinist approach” would backfire.
It is understood that the idea has not yet been discussed with the Prime Minister and last night Labour insisted it had no plans for compulsory vaccination.