HC Deb 13 February 1983 vol 54 cc17-8
29. Mr. Renton

asked the Under-Secretary of State answering in respect of the Arts what percentage of artistic objects held in British national collections have their provenance in other countries within the European Community.

Mr. Waldegrave

It would not be possible to assemble this information without disproportionate cost. But the proportion is undoubtedly a large one, and many of the objects in question are important parts of the national heritage.

Mr. Renton

Following the replies just given by my hon. Friend, does he not see the Leader of the Opposition as perhaps starting an important new initiative in this difficult year for EEC reform? If, for example, we gave the Gutenberg bibles back to Germany but asked for the Bayeux tapestry from France, who knows what might happen in the EEC in this difficult year—or does my hon. Friend think that the Leader of the Opposition is merely campaigning to give Stonehenge back to the native Welsh mountains from which it was hewn?

Mr. Waldegrave

I think that the right hon. Gentleman was not rationally campaigning in any direction as much as being carried away by enthusiasm. But if anyone went into the National Gallery, he would have to reach room 34 before finding any British school works of art. We have quite a number of rooms to return to different places round the world.