Former servicemen taken prisoner by Japan in World War II said they had won a "significant" change of government policy after a meeting with the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The veterans are pressing for compensation from the Japanese government for the time they spent in the labour camps.

On Wednesday, after a 30-minute meeting with the Prime Minister in his Commons office, they said they believed progress could be made.

They presented Mr Blair with a legal opinion which they said showed it was still possible for them to pursue compensation claims.

Treaty deal

The government has previously insisted that compensation paid under a treaty in 1951 had closed off the possibility of further claims.

But the veterans believe they can now challenge that view. They will also continue to press for an apology from the Japanese for the treatment they and their comrades suffered at the hands of their captors.

Speaking after the meeting, their lawyer Martyn Day said Mr Blair told them the government had the political will to pursue the issue with the Japanese if the legal opinion supported it.

"As far as the legal issue is concerned, they are prepared to review the position in the light of the legal opinion we provided them.

"We are very heartened by the meeting. We feel it is a movement forward. We don't want to over-emphasise it and say something will definitely be done, but we are heartened."

"A better understanding"

The chairman of the labour camp survivors, Arthur Titherington, said: "We were encouraged in as much as we feel that talking directly to the prime minister he probably has a better understanding of our position, our past history and our present position than he had previously.

"I think I trust [Mr Blair] to do exactly what he said he would do, review the situation and have the political will to do something about it.

"I asked him not to be too long because we are dying out. We don't want them to sit back and wait for the problem to be resolved in some other way and I think he understood."

Amicable meeting

A Downing Street spokesman later described the meeting as "very amicable".

"The Prime Minister said he was deeply moved by what he heard about their suffering and he understood the strength of their feelings. But he said he didn't want to make any promises he couldn't keep."