SAN DIEGO - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has ruled out changing a law that prohibits the British Museum from handing the Parthenon marbles permanently back to Greece.

The law states the museum can dispose of objects within its collection only in limited circumstances.

Mr Sunak said there are no plans to amend the legislation.

However, the museum could still arrange a loan of the sculptures.

Since independence in 1832, Greece has repeatedly called for the return of the sculptures.

In Britain, they are known as the Elgin Marbles, after the British diplomat, Lord Elgin.

He removed them from the Parthenon temple in Athens in the early 19th century, when Greece was under Ottoman rule.

Mr Sunak is unlikely to break with the stances of his two predecessors, who were both against any kind of loan of the marbles to Greece.

“The United Kingdom has cared for the Elgin Marbles for generations. Our galleries and museums are funded by taxpayers because they are a huge asset to this country,” Mr Sunak told reporters on his plane as he flew to the United States.

“We share their treasures with the world, and the world comes to the UK to see them. The collection of the British Museum is protected by law, and we have no plans to change it.”

Former finance minister George Osborne, the chair of the British Museum, has been working on a new arrangement with Greece through which the sculptures could be seen both in London and in Athens.

The Parthenon Project, which has been backed by British politicians from different political parties to settle the issue, said on Sunday that the British Museum’s Parthenon collection could be returned to Greece under a long-term cultural partnership agreement. REUTERS