The deputy prime minister has unveiled a 10-year transport plan and rejected suggestions he is being punished for failing to deliver.

Downing Street dismissed claims the deputy prime minister had effectively had the transport brief stripped from him as "froth, nonsense and garbage".

A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair added: "John runs that department."

John Prescott's own remarks came in a speech to set out an £80bn programme intended to reform transport in the next decade. He promised to give Britain the best road and rail networks in Europe.

But moves to bolster the position of Transport Minister Lord Macdonald by handing him day-to-day responsibility for implementing the strategy overshadowed the announcement.

Mr Prescott said: "My job is to set the strategic direction and ensure that everyone is delivering. That is why I am today setting out my vision for transport for the next 10 years."

He poked fun at the reports about the power shift in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, claiming they merely stated Lord Macdonald held the post he was appointed to in July.

The deputy prime minister also defended himself from critics who have attacked him for failing to improve public transport while threatening motorists with increased costs.

"Transport has always been controversial," he said. "Anybody who seeks to make changes in this area can face criticism and rightly so, because transport affects everybody."

But shadow transport secretary John Redwood questioned the credibility of the government's transport policies "when the principal architect is being sacked".

The Tory spokesman said: "Gus Macdonald is having to do all the detailed work on transport because clearly Number 10 has no confidence in Mr Prescott carrying it forward."

Earlier, the minister in charge of implementing the 10-year plan stressed the deputy prime minister would remain in overall control.

Lord Macdonald said speculation his increased role translated to an effective demotion for Mr Prescott was wrong.

"He's the executive chairman, that's the key word - he's in charge," Lord Macdonald said.

"What we've got to get away from is the obsession with personalities instead of policy."

"John Prescott is still very much in charge and it's his vision that you will hear today."

Among the projects Mr Prescott announced in his speech were a one-call national telephone inquiry service - called Transport Direct - to cover rail, bus, train and boat travel.

Some of the projects making up the £80bn package have already been announced, while much of the money is expected to come from the private sector or from public-private partnerships. The full details will not be made public until the summer.

But Lord Macdonald admitted the aim now for road traffic would be to reduce growth, not actual levels. Mr Prescott had previously said he would have failed unless traffic levels fell.

The transport minister said: "We'll try to reduce traffic levels where possible, and it might be possible within some cities, but I think it would be utterly unrealistic to say you can reduce the traffic levels for lorries and cars in the next 10 years in the United Kingdom - not with the kind of growth we've got at the moment."