Domestic Ivory Market

I will come to my thoughts on the steps the Government should take later in my remarks.

The...

Although the hon. Gentleman is confining his remarks to the UK market, there are bigger markets o...

I will talk later about the action that countries around the world are currently taking and looki...

As my hon. Friend knows, I am a fellow member of the Petitions Committee and welcome the opportun...

My hon. Friend has put a lot of work into this issue in the past and has raised it on behalf of h...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on bringing this matter forwards from the Petitions Committee. ...

As I have said, I welcome the Government’s leadership. Other countries around the world are also ...

It has been suggested by some of those who are against a ban that a certification system could be...

I cannot give an exact indication, but the point I was trying to make is that radiocarbon dating ...

I congratulate the Petitions Committee on picking this topic for debate. The hon. Gentleman talks...

I completely agree and I am sure the Minister heard the hon. Gentleman’s point. As I said, practi...

I shall be brief, as ever, Mr Brady. Having spoken comprehensively to my satisfaction and, I hope...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his new grandchild. He referred to a previous debate in December...

Time is running out for elephants, lions, tigers, snow leopards and many of the other great speci...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way to my colleague from Northern Ireland, to demonstrate how wide ranging support is...

That support comes from all the regions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irela...

Those countries desperately need our support. With my mountaineering hat on, I recall climbing Mo...

I cannot believe that any wild animal would dare to take on the hon. Gentleman.

Well, you are.

And look what will happen to me. Will the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) clarify his posit...

If I were a Minister, I would ban the lot and stop any trade in or movement of ivory. The surviva...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the most dangerous of all animals is the Chinese consumer? Nea...

The problem today was manifested differently yesterday, and people today will have the same ignor...

When I first went to the Kruger national park about 12 years ago, I saw a herd of 52 elephants, i...

The reality is that in some countries where we have the wonderful opportunity to visit, someone g...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Brady. I thank my hon. Friend the Member fo...

Will the hon. Lady join me in trying to nail the argument that this is just about killing animals...

Yes, I agree with the hon. Lady, and in fact how can an ordinary policeman, who has many other du...

The hon. Lady has just adduced a very interesting and helpful piece of evidence. She referred to ...

I have no idea; I have never even thought about having anything carbon dated. However, the cost i...

May I draw attention to what my hon. Friend said earlier? She actually said clearly—I absolutely ...

I am sure they can and I hope that we will have a system where a piece has to go to a genuine exp...

Does the hon. Lady agree that we have a particular role to play in taking the lead in banning thi...

I agree and this debate shows that this is a truly cross-party issue. This is not about politics,...

I accept that banning the domestic trade of antiques in the UK may make some difference at the ma...

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. From sitting on the Select Committee on International Dev...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Thornbury and Yate (Luke Hall) on introducing the debate today...

Does the hon. Gentleman concede that people are at the heart of saving the elephant? Work by orga...

I could not have made a better point. We have to educate everyone in the world, and particularly ...

When I talked about changing the date to 1900, I was not talking about banning every transaction....

Having a very clear date is absolutely right. I point out only that a date of 1900 means that we ...

I am not an expert in these things, but because of the horrors of the atomic bombs in Japan, 1947...

My answer is no—I have never been involved in the carbon dating side of things. I have been invol...

May I challenge what the hon. Gentleman is saying? He suggests we would lose all those pieces, bu...

I agree entirely. It is not about a total ban, but a near-complete ban. I am not criticising the ...

I do not want to turn this into a pub quiz, but HMS Beagle’s chronometer—object No. 91—has ivory ...

I could not have taken a more helpful intervention. That is exactly what I was leading to. The Br...

Museums also have shrunken heads on display and lend the most famous ones across the world, but t...

How appalling that would be? Yes, I agree with that little point, but on the whole we must recogn...

I cannot compete with shrunken heads. Contrary to some hon. Members’ views, the Chinese have anno...

I rather hope we come up with a plan that is as good if not better. I welcome the fact that the C...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Brady; I am sorry that my voice today is no...

The hon. Lady has connections with the antique trade, as she has declared. Can she answer the que...

Certainly. I can answer both questions. There are many parts of the art and antiques dealers’ tra...

I have actually just been emailed that it costs roughly £1,000. The email cites a case in which a...

Order. Before Victoria Borwick responds, I have to say that although it is in order for Members t...

I think the cost of radiocarbon dating depends on the complexity of the testing required, but I t...

Does not my hon. Friend think it a pity that in this country we are not being consulted on the Am...

That is absolutely the sort of discussion that I know the trade is very willing to hold. I am sur...

I wonder whether the hon. Lady could help me out with something that she has said; indeed, it has...

Things have to have value in order to be kept, in order to be valued. Also, as the British Museum...

Does the hon. Lady have some evidence that this issue is not a problem? How would she explain the...

First, as we all know, the Christie’s stuff is publicly known—Christie’s admits to making a mista...

If the hon. Lady is so enthusiastic about placing a value on everything, can she tell us the valu...

Absolutely immeasurable—nobody is disputing that. However, the argument that I am making is that ...

The hon. Lady has spoken about priceless antiques being part of our history. Surely the point of ...

Absolutely—I have no doubt about that at all. There is no dispute there; there is nobody in this ...

My hon. Friend has twice used the word “destroy”. Who is going to destroy any ivory? As far as I ...

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend; nobody wants to destroy anything. I was just getting a bi...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Brady.

I thank the Petitions Committe...

I am genuinely on the fence on this. The hon. Lady prayed in aid of experts earlier. What expert ...

That excellent question is the crux of the matter, and it is something we need to pursue. In my m...

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr...

First, I thank the right hon. Gentleman for actually producing some evidence with that £500 figur...

I am grateful to my not-so-distant neighbour for his kind compliments. First, it is easy to cheat...

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for producing evidence, but he has left me more confuse...

The hon. Gentleman has cited evidence of cheating. The point is that the UK is by far the largest...

Does the right hon. Gentleman not see that we are all on the same page? I want the near ban to pr...

In that spirit of co-operation, perhaps we could agree among ourselves that we need to close down...

I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way and commend him on everything he has done to get the ...

I agree with my hon. Friend. If we had more time, I would talk about the lessons from the wildlif...

My right hon. Friend is making an incredibly powerful and impassioned speech. I want to speak up ...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention—I totally agree—which brings me on to the L...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Main. I congratulate the hon. Member for T...

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Thornbury and Yate (Luke Hall) on securing this deba...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. After all, America has a rolling 100-year plan, China has sai...

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention, and I congratulate her, too, on speaking in the deba...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Main.

I thank the Petitions Committe...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship again in a debate about the domestic ivory trad...

Will the hon. Lady join me in congratulating Stop Ivory, which I meant to mention in my speech? I...

Absolutely, Stop Ivory has done a wonderful job, as have the International Fund for Animal Welfar...

The hon. Lady is right about the difficulty of those details when something is made entirely of i...

The hon. Lady knows so much about this subject matter—[Interruption.] She denies it. There may be...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. I am trying to be pragmatic. I keep pressing for the ev...

If my hon. Friend will hold on for now, I will move on with my speech. I will pick up those issue...

I apologise for not being able to attend the debate from the beginning, Mrs Main. I entirely endo...

Order. Can hon. Members keep interventions brief? We are nearing the end of the debate.

I absolutely agree. Blood stones— the fact that we have put our ideas of worth above the natural ...

I am delighted to be taking part in the debate. I extend my thanks to the hon. Member for Thornbu...

Order. May I ask the hon. Lady to bring her remarks to a close, as I want to call the Front-Bench...

Perhaps I may just address my remarks to the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West (Rob Marris...

I am grateful for this opportunity to debate the crucial issue of protecting our planet’s wildlif...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship in this important debate, Mrs Main. I thank the...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Main. As has been pointed out, we last deb...

The hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Patricia Gibson) aid that while legal ivory trade i...

I understand the argument that people have made about any market at all, and many of the examples...

Will the Minister give way?

I am really sorry, but my right hon. Friend spoke for nearly half an hour and I have limited time...

The Minister could find out my views if she could tell us when the consultation will take place. ...

It is still shortly.

We want to know when—

Order.

It is still shortly, and I really hope it will be as soon as possible.

With regard to the r...

Will the Minister give way?

I have little time. The UK is working with Interpol to expand its work with key nations, tracking...

Thank you for chairing the debate, Mrs Main. I will keep these remarks extremely brief. The atten...