The Commons transport committee's chairman has hit back at claims by the deputy prime minister that she helped play a part in the resignation by Stephen Byers.

John Prescott had said the influential committee, headed by Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody, who he calls "Vinegar Lil", was the final "knife in the back" for Byers who resigned as transport secretary last week.

Dunwoody told the BBC the problem was not lack of party loyalty on her part but a flawed 10-year transport plan.