Labour MPs on the transport select committee have reacted angrily to claims by deputy prime minister John Prescott that chairman Gwyneth Dunwoody stabbed former transport secretary Stephen Byers in the back.

"They made a savage attack in words and language. Frankly, the select committee and Gwyneth Dunwoody put the final knife into the back of Stephen Byers," he told BBC Radio yesterday.

Member of the committee argued that his claims were "grossly unfair", and accused him of trying to intimidate them.

"I was sorry to see Stephen Byers go. But I will continue to criticise when I think that it is necessary to do so," said Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside.

However, fellow committee member Helen Jackson, Labour MP for Sheffield Hillsborough, agreed with Prescott's remarks and has refused to sign the report into the government's ten year transport plan.