John Prescott has mounted a strong defence of the government's green record and insisted that both he and Michael Meacher are proud of Labour's environmental accomplishments.

Writing in today's Guardian, the deputy prime minister claims that Britain has "shrugged off the title of the dirty man of Europe" and been in the forefront of promoting environmental issues around the world.

Following damaging rows ahead of the Earth summit, Prescott claims that a Meacher interview - in which the environment minister described himself "a lone voice in the wilderness" - had been quoted out of context.

To set the record straight, Prescott says he has placed the government's unedited transcript of the interview on his departmental website to let voters decide on the "deliberate distortion" for themselves.

Prescott also argues that industrial polluters who "were actively campaigning against [reform] at Kyoto have vanished as the public has become aware of the threat from climate change".