SNP victory could ruin Brown's premiership

The SNP's victory in the Holyrood election will unleash a voter revolt against Scottish influence at Westminster and could destroy Gordon Brown's premiership, one of his colleagues warns today.

Labour's defeat at the hands of Alex Salmond has revived the issue of whether Scottish MPs should vote on English laws at a critical moment for Mr Brown as he prepares to succeed Tony Blair.

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The Labour MP Frank Field says that the nationalists' triumph meant Mr Brown would be unable to launch policies that affect only English voters if he becomes the next Prime Minister. "[Brown] must know he can't stand up in the House and announce a major reform programme as Prime Minister that will not apply to his constituents but only English voters. If he tries, the next election is over, bar the counting," writes Mr Field, a former pensions minister and member for Birkenhead.

The intervention - incendiary on the eve of the Labour leadership election - is the first blow to Mr Brown's grip on power after the SNP's victory. Alistair Darling, the Trade Secretary and a key ally of Mr Brown - and MP for Edinburgh South West - was forced to defend the influence of Scottish MPs in Westminster yesterday. "Every MP should be regarded as equal and their vote given the same weight," he said.

But Mr Field writes: "If Gordon thinks he can continue to allow Scottish Labour MPs this exception he risks being run out of Downing Street."

The results of Thursday's elections mean Alex Salmond is on course to become Scotland's First Minister: his party won one more seat than Labour.

The SNP is the largest party in the new Scottish Parliament but is well short of an overall majority. Yesterday, Mr Salmond said that he hoped to be able to agree a power-sharing deal with other parties.

He warned Labour and the Liberal Democrats not to attempt to forge their own coalition. "Politicians have to remember the conversation we've just had with the electorate," he said.

Negotiations between the Liberal Democrats and the SNP remain stuck over the issue of a referendum on independence, a key nationalist policy the smaller party says it will resist at all costs.

Mr Salmond has the option of attempting to form a minority government. If MSPs cannot elect a First Minister within the next 26 days a new election is automatically triggered. The result of the 4 May election is, in any case, open to court challenges after the introduction of a new voting system led to 100,000 spoilt ballot papers. The Electoral Commission has launched an investigation.

In Wales, Labour is set to consult party members on what the terms of a power-sharing deal would be. Senior Liberal Democrats in Wales have spoken out against a coalition.

And David Cameron, the Conservative leader whose party won almost 900 extra councillors, claimed the "era of New Labour" was ending.

"This is a move towards the Conservatives," he said. "The New Labour era of Brown and Blair is drawing to a close. I want to make sure that we are the ones who are ready with a new approach to politics when that happens."