COUNTRYSIDE campaigner Lord Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe has quit as head of the Government's rural agency - and got a "goodbye and good riddance" message from deputy premier John Prescott.

The Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire resigned as chairman of the Rural Development Commission, which is to be stripped of its powers - and accused ministers of not listening to country people.

But in a Commons statement Mr Prescott fuelled the row by saying the countryside would be better off without the 50-year-old peer.

Tory MPs looked astonished and shouted "disgraceful" as Mr Prescott mounted a robust response to the resignation of the man who had held the post since 1990 and was due to retire in March.

He told them: "He was appointed by the previous administration, as a Tory by a Tory Government.

"He's a bit demob happy and he's gone."

Lord Shuttleworth, whose family ancestral home is Gawthorpe Hall, Padiham, looked taken aback as he watched from the Commons chamber gallery and heard the deputy premier add: "He's gone, happy retirement and I think rural areas will be better off without him." Lord Shuttleworth's resignation was sparked by the Government decision to transfer the commission's rural regeneration work to the proposed Regional Development Agencies.

He said: "People in rural areas will find it hard to believe that Regional Development Agencies, covering large areas and inevitably having an urban bias, will give much attention to their needs."

Lord Shuttleworth, president of Burnley and Pendle Hospice and deputy chairman of Abbey National, added: "Personally I cannot acquiesce in the break up of an organisation which has served rural England so well and which has proved, on countless occasions, its ability to adapt to changing economic and social circumstances.

"Rural people and countryside communities will yet again wonder whether the Government really listens to their views and concerns," he added.

Mr Prescott said: "It is nothing to do with Lord Shuttleworth, it's about the interests of the rural economy. And I'll take no lectures from Tories."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.