Clause 2 - Meaning of ''tainted cultural object''
Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)
I agree with the hon. Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley) on this matter. The circumstances in which an object is removed or excavated constitute the offence. I do not claim to be a clever lawyer—although I was a lawyer before I came here—but the Bill makes it clear that it is the circumstances of the removal, rather than the person doing the removing, that contribute to the tainting of the object.
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
On resuming—