The fluid simulation of a divertor tokamak edge plasma by the B2-SOLPS5.0 transport code gives the dependence of the radial electric field on the local and global plasma parameters. The shear of the radial electric field, which is responsible for the transition to an improved confinement regime, is a linear function of a local ion temperature and the local average toroidal velocity and is inversely proportional to the toroidal magnetic field. The scaling for the L-H transition threshold agrees with the experimental H-mode scaling of ASDEX Upgrade. The radial electric field shows no bifurcation and is close to the neoclassical electric field with the toroidal rotation contribution determined by the radial anomalous transport of the toroidal momentum. The fine structure of the electric field at the separatrix and its dependence on the toroidal magnetic field inversion is analysed.