Greek Prime Minister calls for return of Elgin Marbles
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has demanded the return of the Elgin Marbles after a diplomatic spat erupted.
Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after he used an interview ahead of the talks to publicly call for Parthenon Sculptures to be handed back.
In a post on social media platform X, Mr Flynn said it was an "easy" decision to give the historic works back.
He was responding to a Conservative source who said "reckless for any British politician to suggest that this is subject to negotiation".
The SNP MP said: "Absolutely agree, this shouldn’t be subject to negotiation. The Elgin marbles were stolen and should be returned. Easy."
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The Elgin Marbles are currently housed in the British Museum (Image: GETTY)
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The Greek leader's meeting with the Prime Minister was due to take place today.
But it was called off after Mr Mitsotakis compared the current situation with the Elgin Marbles to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half in an interview on Sunday.
A source on the Greek side said he had been left "baffled, surprised and not a little bit annoyed" at the cancellation.
Downing Street today said Mr Sunak scrapped the talks as he felt the Greek leader had rowed back on "reassurances" not to use the UK visit to focus on the issue.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "The UK and Greece relationship is hugely important, from our work together in Nato, to tackling shared challenges like illegal migration and joint efforts to resolve the crisis in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.
"When requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister this week, the Greek government provided reassurances that they would not use the visit as a public platform to relitigate long settled matters relating to the ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures, which would only serve to distract from those important issues I just outlined.
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"Given those assurances were not adhered to, the Prime Minister felt it would not be productive to hold a meeting dominated by that issue, rather than the important challenges facing Greek and British people.
"The Deputy Prime Minister was available to meet the Greek prime minister to discuss the wider topics and we are disappointed the prime minister opted not to take this meeting."
Athens has long demanded the return of the historic works, which were removed from Greece by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
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