Mr Field, who has served as the MP for Birkenhead for almost 40 years, is set to meet with Nick Brown in Westminster on Friday to discuss his options after resigning the whip.
Labour sources have said Field’s wish to serve as an Independent MP while remaining a member of the party is “not possible”.
Under the Parliamentary Labour Party standing orders, which governs MPs, anyone who takes such action will usually get a letter asking them to retake the party whip within 14 days or face expulsion.
Labour’s shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon last night called on Mr Field to fight a by-election, tweeting: “Politicians who are elected as Labour MPs by their constituents and who then leave the Labour Party should do the right and respectful thing and call a by-election straight away.
“They should ask for their constituents’ consent to continue to represent them on a different basis.”
Mr Field, the one-time minister for welfare reform, who was charged by Tony Blair to reform the welfare state by “thinking the unthinkable”, said in his resignation letter that the party was now governed by “a culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation”.
He said: “I am resigning the whip for two principal reasons.
“The first centres on the latest example of Labour’s leadership becoming a force for antisemitism in British politics.
“The…
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