Draft Introduction and the Import of Cultural Goods (Revocation) Regulations 2021

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Tuesday 14th September 2021 General Committees

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Hosie.

I thank the Minister for her opening remarks, which explained the delegated legislation’s context. To many, it may seem that this is a niche subject, but the Minister and I believe that despite that, it is very, very important. We have a global role to play in the protection of our culture and history. As the Minister said, the diligent work of police forces and border authorities makes sure that the illicit trade in cultural artefacts can be stopped, and that is crucial. At the end of day, a visit to a museum tells our story and its artefacts are part of our culture and heritage that we wish to hand on to generations to come. The instrument before us is part of a legal structure that protects those artefacts.

It has been a very challenging year for everyone in the world of culture, so tidying some of the legal loose ends as a means to bring greater clarity is a good thing. Museums, art institutions and those in the art world badly need that clarity and stability. I hope that the instrument will play its part in delivering that.

We should be proactively trying to do better, however, and I wonder whether the Minister and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have considered a Law Commission review, given the complexity of all the different regulations and the shift post-Brexit. Its purpose would be to bring together the myriad complex bits of relevant legislation. We ought to consider future legislation to provide a more simple and straightforward system of enforcement.

As I said, some people may consider that this instrument relates to a minor matter, but there is nothing more important than our history and heritage.