LABOUR will cease to be a major political force in England unless it calms rising anger about extra services available only in Scotland and Wales, Frank Field will warn tonight.
The Birkenhead MP will urge Gordon Brown to tackle the “festering sore” of benefits – such as free care for the elderly and no student top-up fees – denied to people in England, before it is too late.
In a university lecture, Mr Field will say growing resentment makes further devolution inevitable, not least because English taxpayers fund the extra services in Scotland.
If Labour fails to act, the Conservatives – and even the British National Party – will reap the rewards in places such as Merseyside, he will warn.
Mr Field even suggests a future historian will write about ‘The Unnecessary Death of Labour England’ – just as a book recorded “The Strange Death of Liberal England”, after 1918.
He will say: “The Government seeks to present devolution as a process that is now complete. They could not be more mistaken.
“England is in resentful mood. It believes the settlement made during the first round of devolution was unfair and remains so unfair it is becoming a festering sore in English politics.”
Mr Field will say voters have turned to the BNP because of of anger about “uncontrolled immigration”, with its impact on housing, schools and other public services.
And he will warn: “The failure to act decisively to protect our borders accounts in part for the widespread disillusionment with Labour and, in particular, by our core working class supporters.
“Failure to embrace the ‘English Question’ will account for more than a political double whammy – it may act as the final straw for many families who have been Labour ever since we became a political force.”
Among the iniquities Mr Field will point to are:
The old and disabled in Scotland not paying residential care home fees, as they do in England;
Scots being treated with a drug to prevent blindness because of macular degeneration of the eye, while the English miss out;
Scottish students escaping top-up fees of £3,000 per year, which English students pay;
English citizens paying prescription charges, which have been scrapped in Wales.
In the lecture, at the University of Hertfordshire, Mr Field will repeat his call for an English Parliament to be set up as the solution to the devolution dilemma.
And he will predict Welsh and Scottish Nationalist MPs will soon refuse to vote on devolved issues – putting pressure on Scottish and Welsh Labour MPs to do the same. If only English Labour MPs were allowed to vote on England-only laws – a policy proposed by the Tories – it would leave Labour unable to carry its domestic programme at Westminster.
