'Constructive' Labour rebel claims he is close to a deal

Some Labour MPs think Frank Field is simply an inveterate Gordon Brown hater who has borne a grudge for most of the past decade, blaming him for his dismissal in the early days of the Labour government. Others regard the former welfare minister as a maverick, with one former Labour minister declaring upon leaving Monday's packed meeting of the parliamentary Labour party that "any attempt by Frank Field to bring down a Labour government is doomed to fail". But on the issue of the abolition of the 10p tax rate Field has a right to say: "I told you so."

A year ago he led a lonely rebellion opposing the abolition of the rate in the Commons. He wasn't simply trying to antagonise Brown; he did so only after repeatedly tabling questions to the Treasury, trying to force the then chancellor to disclose the impact of the 10p abolition on income distribution, as well as set out the winners and losers.

Yesterday, as the government was being taken to the brink over the issue, he said he was close to a deal: "The biggest hurdle Gordon has cleared, and that is the admission there is a problem and we are going to do something about it. Now it is a political judgment as to whether we can get a compensation package quickly enough." He denied this would weaken Brown's authority ahead of the local elections: "It would send out an important message that he is not too proud, too big, to admit to mistakes like all of us make, and that he genuinely listens, and that he will not put people's welfare before any false pride. That is a very powerful message to put over."

Field says he feels no personal anger to Brown "I have seen him six times as prime minister - five times because he has asked to see me - and I have always tried to be constructive."

He says there can be no delay in putting forward the rescue package: "We need to send a clear message to low income voters that they are going to be recompensed this year for the increased taxes they paid. That will be a measure made in haste, and it is obviously not a long-term solution, so the review that Alistair Darling and Yvette Cooper are leading needs to be looking at what we should do next year. We have got time to think about it seriously.

"Most estimates suggest the losses on average are £2 a week, but let's say it is £4 a week - so that means the government needs to find between £500m and £1bn, since at most there are five million losers." He says the money can be found, even in these tough times. "There is an unclaimed £1.2bn in working tax credit, and Brown set up that credit specifically to help this type of worker that does all the government requires - goes to work, and is on lowish income. Why cannot those monies be used to finance the compensation package for this year, while we think longer term on how to finesse this problem."

He agreed the compensation might be rough and ready. "This year we have just to apologise, we never meant to be here, we have to say average payments are being paid out, some will gain and some will lose a bit, but here is a token that we did not mean this to happen."

Field accepts that the government will have less money to help families with children, the big winners from the Brown tax credit package over the past decade. "There are no votes that are going to be lost in the local or general elections because we may have missed our child poverty target. There are lots of votes at stake over the low paid in work losing out, as they are now."

He said the media had to bear some blame for the failure to educate Labour MPs on the likely impact of the 10p abolition in the 2007 budget. "Last year none on your side were interested in me going on about people suffering in a year's time, so I moved an amendment, but most Labour MPs had no idea that this will be a real issue in a year's time, two or three weeks before the local elections.

"That was the case I was making, but no one was listening. It was not news. We are not far apart, and I am not asking for anything dramatic. I may not like tax credits, but I am not a revolutionary, I am realistic."