Letter: Meacher: green plans ignored

Sir: John Rentoul's account of his interview with me as the new green spokesperson for Labour (6 September) is barely recognisable in relation to what was really said.

We discussed environmental policy for over an hour. Yet much of the article was a misrepresentation of certain ideas in my book, Diffusing Power.

I never said, in the interview or the book, that Labour should soak the rich. I never said, in the interview or the book, that there should be a ballot of employees to determine directors' pay. I never said, in the interview or the book, that a growth dividend could or should all be spent on public investment.

Yet Mr Rentoul has chosen to make these claims the centrepiece of his article, while ignoring the range of environmental proposals I made.

He has turned what could have been a serious article reporting on issues of vital concern to the electorate into a piece of cheap political sensationalism.

I hope this will not set a precedent for the Independent's political journalism in the run-up to the general election.

MICHAEL MEACHER MP

(Oldham West, Lab)

Shadow Secretary of State for Environmental Protection

House of Commons

London SW1