Foreign Office minister Peter Hain has been criticised for "hand wringing mixed with complacency" after saying that Britain is doing all it can to help the people of Zimbabwe.

Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram added that the government's response to the situation in Zimbabwe consisted of "talk and no action".

His comments followed a speech by president Robert Mugabe in which he pledged that his government would continue its efforts to transfer the land of white farmers to black Zimbabweans.

Hain said that those fleeing Mugabe's regime were given all the help they were entitled to.

"Those coming as citizens entitled, because they are British, to settle here go through the same procedures that every other British citizen would go through," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"They are entitled to get a job. They are entitled to all sorts of rights and they are able to claim those rights.

"That is a different category from those who are not British citizens and are seeking asylum. They are processed in the normal way."

The minister said a failure of leadership in Zimbabwe should not be turned into criticism of British reception facilities.

"We are doing all we can and we will continue to do all we can," he said.

But one farmer who fled Zimbabwe for the UK, and has now set up a trust for farmers arriving in Britain, said more support should be given.

"I think more people are going to be leaving, so we do need that support for people arriving here, in the form of allowing them to draw their benefits and so on," Derek Arlett-Johnson told Today.

"These are skilled people coming to this country who can contribute to this country. Given a chance, many of us would start businesses and create employment. We are not asking for a lot."

And the Conservatives also said the government should do more.

"Peter Hain's performance on the Today programme was another example of this government's talk and no action," said the shadow foreign secretary.

"It is hand wringing mixed with complacency and a total failure to face up to the situation. Those threatened by Mugabe must be given proper reassurances that they will not be abandoned.

"It is time that the government listened to our advice and began to make it clear that international involvement in helping to resolve problems in Southern Africa cannot proceed in isolation from the need to deal with the politically motivated and totally obscene situation in Zimbabwe," Ancram added.

But Hain said Tory policy on Zimbabwe was "bluster".

"What is very interesting about the Conservative position is that they have provided no practical alternative policy," Hain told the BBC.

"It's up to those who are saying more should be done to specify exactly what."

The minister said Britain had been leading international efforts to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe and added that the prime minister would raise the issue with African leaders at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg next month.

"There has to be an African solution. We will support that and provide the development assistance to regenerate Zimbabwe when it is pursuing policies to support its people, not the tiny elite," Hain said.