PM 'has caved in to US over global warming'

The Prime Minister was today accused of caving in to George Bush over moves to make rich nations tackle global warming.

Green campaigners hit out after a leaked draft statement for next month's G8 summit seemed to have been diluted to appease the US.

The draft had originally included key claims that the world is getting hotter and that the problem is man-made. But the latest version of the communique suggests both these points have been dropped.

Mr Blair has made climate change one of the key topics when he hosts leaders of the world's richest industrialised countries. It will be hugely embarrassing if the Gleneagles summit fails to come up with a bold statement on the issue.

Former environment minister Michael Meacher called the new text "very disappointing". It is "extraordinary" to cast doubt on the simple assertion that the world is heating up, he said.

"Presumably it was taken out because of the Americans."