A former UK government minister called on Gordon Brown yesterday to lead the demand for a parliament for England or face a backlash from English voters angry about the benefits to Scots from devolution.

Frank Field, who led the 10p tax revolt, which forced the Prime Minister into a climbdown, gave warning that failure to reform the constitution further could lead to the “unnecessary death” of Labour in England.

Mr Field claimed that English voters were awakening from the “slumber” into which they had fallen when Parliament passed the Scotland Act setting up the Scottish Parliament.

At the time, the Labour MP Tam Dalyell issued a warning that the West Lothian question - which raised the prospect of Scottish MPs voting on English health and education matters while not being able to vote on the same issues for their own constituents - would create a parliamentary anomaly. In a lecture at the University of Hertfordshire last night, Mr Field told Labour that it could no longer afford to ignore the impact devolution was having on England.

He said: “Pressures have been building up to revisit the devolution settlement. The English feel that the settlement is unfair. Scottish Members vote on legislation that does not affect their constituents but it does mine. Likewise, the fiscal disadvantages devolution places on my constituents compared with Scottish and Welsh voters, will also ensure that there is inevitably a second great Devolution Act.”

Mr Field cited free personal care for the elderly, abolition of prescription charges and the absence of top-up fees for Scottish universities as evidence of “fiscal discrimination against England”. The former welfare minister claimed that the Act of Devolution could not be a final settlement but cautioned that any referendum on independence would have to be UK-wide.

Mr Field argued that there would be a second devolution measure and the only question was whether the change would be led by Gordon Brown or David Cameron, the Tory leader. He said: “No one is better placed than the Prime Minister, representing a Scottish constituency, to deliver justice to English voters. The political rewards of doing so could be considerable.

“The dangers for Labour of failing to lead the debate are perhaps even greater. That conclusion may come about not simply by the Tories being generally accepted by voters as the English party. An even worse outcome would be for Labour to concede to the BNP yet another issue - along with immigration - with which to appeal to Labour's core voters.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservative Party said that Mr Cameron was committed to finding a way for English MPs to have the final say on issues affecting their constituency. He added: “Frank Field is raising the West Lothian question which nobody in his party will dare to try to answer.”