Plea for Gospels island return

The gospels used revolutionary techniques

MPs from the north-east of England have called for the permanent return of the Lindisfarne Gospels to the region.

In a debate on the issue on Wednesday, the House of Commons was told the case for relocation was "overwhelming".

Campaigners have argued the manuscripts should be housed on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, where they were produced by monks in the seventh century.

But the British Library has insisted the Gospels must stay in the capital, where more people can view them.

Labour's Joyce Quin, who represents Gateshead East and Washington West, told the Commons the Gospels were a "huge and powerful" symbol of the region's great past and an "inspiration" for its future.

Flanked by other North East MPs, she said returning the Gospels would go "firmly with the grain" of the government's policy of active decentralisation of the cultural sector.

National treasures do not lose their status as national treasures by being located outside the capital Joyce Quin, MP

It would also be a boost to the region's tourist industry as 200,000 people had visited the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, when it displayed the items in 2003.

She rejected the notion that relocation would set a "dangerous precedent" as not all of the items in the British Library had the "special" or "iconic" status of the Gospels.

She said: "National treasures do not lose their status as national treasures by being located outside the capital."

Culture Minister Richard Caborn said any decision to return the Gospels must be made by the British Library Board.

The Gospels are thought to have been written at the same time as Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English people, according to the British Library.

The complex and lavishly decorated gospels are widely recognised as the pinnacle of Anglo Saxon cultural achievement.

Experts originally believed they were written by Eadfrith, the bishop of Lindisfarne, in 698 AD, as a tribute to St Cuthbert.

But the date has now been revised to around the year 720 AD.