Polish politicians visiting UK to win general election votes from thousands of their countrymen

The answer is Yes. But it is the Poles who will go to the polls.

Thanks to the massive influx of Polish immigrants, Britain has been identified as a crucial Polish "constituency".

The country's conservative prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and liberal opposition leader Donald Tusk will travel to Britain ahead of Poland's general election on October 21.

Scroll down for more ...

Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski will visit his 'British constituency' for the upcoming election

They are hoping to win the votes of the tens of thousands of Polish plumbers, builders and cleaners who have arrived to live and work in this country.

Although official Home Office figures show 430,395 Polish nationals have registered to work in Britain since 2004, some experts suggest the actual number is closer to one million. And with the outcome of the election looking to be closely fought, their votes could be crucial.

In 2005's general election, just 40 per cent of Poland's 30million voters went to the polls.

Mr Kaczynski's Law and Justice party won with a narrow margin of 350,000 votes.

The two latest opinion polls in Poland show that half a million votes would be decisive.

Poles living in Britain are entitled to register their vote overseas and Polish embassies are planning to add more polling stations to cope with the expected increase in numbers.

Scroll down for more ...

File photo: 95 East European plumbers assembled by the Daily Mail in West London

Mr Tusk will today launch the British leg of his Civic Platform party's campaign in London, before travelling to both Dublin are believed to have left Poland to work in Britain since 2004 and Glasgow. Mr Kaczynski is due to visit Dublin next month.

Another prominent politician Ryszard Kalisz, whose Left and Democrats party is third in the polls, was in London earlier this week on a two-day visit.

Polish immigrant Tomasz Furga, 25, who works in a London restaurant, said: "I do follow the election because there are really many things with Polish politics that are interesting and appalling."

He said he regretted not voting at the last election and planned to have his say this time.

"Maybe it's just one vote, but if my friends did vote as well it could make a difference," he said.

Mr Tusk will promise his British-based supporters that their UK earnings won't be taxed at home, meaning more Poles will be encouraged to move to Britain.

Civic Platform senator Urszula Gacek said: "There may be around a million Poles in the UK.

"We'll be campaigning to protect their employment rights, to stop them being double-taxed, and to improve Polish consular services with things like e-government."

Poland's unemployment rate has fallen to 15 per cent from 20 per cent in just three years, primarily thanks to many finding work in the UK.

The Polish community in Britain is also made up of large numbers of Poles who settled here before EU enlargement in 2004.

Around 200,000 moved to the UK around the time of the Second World War, having escaped Nazi and Soviet- occupied Poland to serve in the British forces.

The Federation of Poles in Great Britain estimates there are 750,000 people with Polish connections living in the UK.

About one third of those are British citizens of voting age.