JOHN PRESCOTT branded Mersey MP Frank Field a “collaborator” for agreeing to lead an inquiry into the causes of poverty for the Con-Lib government.

The former deputy prime minister spoke out after David Cameron picked a second senior Labour figure, ex- Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton, to investigate how to cut public sector pensions.

Mr Prescott wrote: “They’ve now turned a Con-Lib government to a ConLibLab one and made themselves human shields for the most savage and heartless Tory policies in 20 years.

“Policies that will hit the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest – the very people Labour was founded to protect.

“I would ask if they can live with their conscience, but I’d question whether they even had one to begin with.”

Mr Field, the Birkenhead MP, was handpicked by the Prime Minister to carry out a wide-r anging inquiry, describing it as “a real opportunity to influence the next stage in how our counter-poverty strategy develops”.

However, he has already raised the heckles of Labour colleagues, by suggesting the coalition government should drop Labour’s main target for cutting child poverty.

Mr Field said the target – to ensure that less than 10% of the population live on under 60% of median household income – simply could not be achieved.