Poland's Foreign Minister has criticised British leader David Cameron for saying Britain should not have to give child benefit payments to European Union migrants who have left children in their home country.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. Photo: AFP
Mr Cameron has said he intends to renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership in the EU so that it can be allowed to stop making some welfare payments.
The 2011 census found Britain had more than 500,000 residents whose main language was Polish, the BBC reports.
The Prime Minister singled out Poles, saying he was happy for people to come to the United Kingdom to work, but he didn't think British taxpayers should be paying child benefit to families back home.
Radoslaw Sikorski, who was at Oxford University with Mr Cameron, said if Polish workers paid tax in Britain, they should also be able to claim benefits.
Mr Sikorski denied that Poland had already decided it would veto Mr Cameron's calls for treaty changes and said the Polish government would consider the proposals very seriously.
Meanwhile, more than three-quarters of British people surveyed in a poll have said they want immigration to be reduced.
Seventy-seven percent of those questioned for the 30th British Social Attitudes Survey wanted to see immigration cut. More than half of the just over 2200 people interviewed called for major curbs.
Immigration has become a key topic ahead of a general election next year, in the wake of increased support for an anti-immigration party.
