John Prescott has described the Conservative leader as being "all talk and no action".

In a campaign speech ahead of next month's local elections, the deputy prime minister sought to exploit recent criticism of the Conservative leader.

"I'm on to Cameron. And more importantly the British people are on to him," he said.

"He's all talk and no action. All words and no substance."

In a personal attack, Prescott added that "there is nothing to him - there is no substance".

"He's a political chameleon who changes his colour at will, but the political animal underneath is Conservative to the core," he said.

"It's all rhetoric. It's words not action. It's image over substance."

Prescott also rejected Conservative criticism of Labour's record on inner city regeneration.

"In 1997 the state of our major urban areas was deplorable," he said.

"In 1997 we knew we had to sort this mess out. We had to stop the spiral of decline we inherited from the Tories.

"First of all we had to take difficult decisions to put the economy right. To build a strong economy that would pay for social justice.

"Do not believe for a minute the Tory lie that we inherited a sound economy. We didn't.

"It was because of the choices Labour made then that we enjoy a stable economy now."