FURIOUS Mersey MPs are protesting over a Bill that will hand Scotland extra economic muscle – on top of its £4.5bn Treasury subsidy from the infamous Barnett Formula.

The Scotland Bill – the largest transfer of financial power in history – will allow the Edinburgh Parliament to borrow an extra £2.7bn for key projects and will boost overall spending to £12bn.

Yet ministers have ruled out scrapping the 30-year-old Barnett Formula, under which Scotland receives £787-per-person more than the North West.

The spending rules have been widely condemned as unfair, because income-per-head north of the border is 98.8% of the national average – compared with just 71.6% in Merseyside.

Now Merseyside MPs, from both sides of the Commons, have urged ministers to think again, warning of a dangerous backlash from cash-starved people in England.

Frank Field, Labour MP for Birkenhead, asked: "How can we defend the allocation of grants to our constituents on the basis of fairness?

"A constituent of mine asked, 'Why is it that if I lived in Scotland, I would have free medicines, free long-term care and my children would go to university without paying the fees they pay in England?'

"A general sourness will enter into English politics – and we will not be able to judge where that sourness will lead us."