Debates between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Foster of Bath during the 2019-2024 Parliament

British Museum: Ethiopian Sacred Altar Tablets

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Foster of Bath
Wednesday 30th March 2022

(2 years, 8 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Evans of Bowes Park Portrait The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Evans of Bowes Park) (Con)
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My Lords, we have time. It is the turn of the Liberal Democrats and then the Labour Benches—if they could work out which one of them is going to stand up.

Lord Foster of Bath Portrait Lord Foster of Bath (LD)
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My Lords, recognising that only a handful of priests of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church live in the UK, that not even the director of the British Museum can view them and that there is, in this case, no legal impediment, would it not help the trustees of the British Museum to come to the right decision if the Government indicated their support for the return of the tabots to Ethiopia? If the Minister agrees, would he instruct the trustees of that view?