The ancient sculptures were taken from the Parthenon temple in Athens in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the earl of Elgin.Secret talks have been taking place between museum chair George Osborne -- who is a former UK finance minister -- and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for a year, the newspaper Ta Nea reported in Athens on Saturday.But he stressed: "We have no plans to change the law, which prevents removing objects from the museum's collections, the British Museum's collections, apart from certain circumstances.Under the 1963 British Museum Act, which updated previous legislation, the museum can only sell or give away items from its collection under three limited conditions.They include many items now considered by other countries as loot taken by builders of the British Empire, and the government has long been wary of setting a precedent with the marbles."