The Government is facing increasing pressure to bring in new laws to protect naval war graves after 100 MPs from all parties backed a Western Daily Press campaign to ban the plundering of wartime wrecks.

The campaign has prompted a series of Parliamentary questions that have put the issue on the agenda – and could force an emergency debate.

There will be a Ministry of Defence report on the subject next month, which will increase calls for the Prime Minister to take action.

The Western Daily Press is calling for a debate for new legislation to ban divers from going within 100 metres of sunken warships for at least 100 years from the time they sank.

So far, 80 MPs have signed an Early Day Motion tabled by Weston-super-Mare MP Brian Cotter and 21 have supported a second motion from Portsmouth MP Syd Rapson.

The Daily Press has been inundated with letters from divers defending their sport – many fearing they are being branded as looters.

The paper denies labelling all divers as souvenir-hunters.

But a hard-hitting editorial said: “The essential issue here is that these are war graves.

“Once identified they should be sacrosanct, at the very least during the lifetimes of those relatives and comrades who remember the dead.

“How can that happen while these wrecks are being listed as top sites for recreational diving?

“The wrecks are open to all. They are being plundered by the few. They need to be protected.”

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