The British Government has refused to reopen negotiations with the Japanese Government over compensation for Britons taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.

This position is likely to be attacked by MPs when the matter is debated by the House of Commons on Wednesday morning.

Foreign Office minister Derek Fatchett said on Tuesday that the matter was settled by the San Francisco peace treaty of 1951, which required the Japanese Government to pay compensation of �76.50 to former prisoners of war, and �48 to civilian internees.

Representatives of the surviving prisoners told Mr Fatchett that other countries had secured far higher compensation from Japan for their citizens who had been imprisoned by the Japanese.

The minister responded that it would be futile for the British Government to make similar claims more than 40 years after the event.

Lawyer Martin Day, representing the claimants, said he was extremely disappointed and accused the government of being less receptive to the former prisoners' cause than its Conservative predecessor had been.