British government ministers have come out to defend the decision of its Labour Party to launch a Friends of Poland interest group as thousands of Poles desert Britain.

Speaking at the launch earlier this month of the Labour Party Friends of Poland in Westminster, Caroline Flint, Minister for Europe in the British government, told Anglo-Polish Radio ORLA there was a big role for such a group.

"We are really pleased that the Labour Party has been able to make friends with Polish people coming to the UK. But let's not forget we have some very well-established Polish communities here as well. Strengthening those links with government is important. Not all Poles have the same political beliefs. It is important that political parties cater for those different beliefs. I think it is welcome that other political parties do that as well. The one thing I would say, though, is that the Labour Government has worked to ensure that Britain more friends in Europe now than it had in 1997."

Also present was Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who has Polish maternal links. He told Radio ORLA: "I think that Labour Friends of Poland enjoys shared values. For European nations to stick up for each other. It's for us to engage culturally and socially and politically as well as economically. And it's for us to ensure that there is a good flow of ideas from the Polish communities, plural, in Britain to the government and the (Labour) Party."