A COUNCIL which is planning to sell a Henry Moore sculpture from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park may not have the right to sell it and may not even own it.

Lutfur Rahman, mayor of Tower Hamlets in east London, decided to sell the council-owned Draped Seated Woman in an attempt to claw back money lost in budget cuts.

The sculpture, known as Old Flo, was originally sold to London County Council by Mr Moore at a below-market price in the 1960s on the understanding it would be placed in east London.

Tower Hamlets assumed responsibility for it after Greater London Council was abolished and it has been loaned to Yorkshire Sculpture Park at Bretton for the last 15 years.

But now a spokeswoman for the Art Fund said it was not clear that the council has the right to sell the sculpture.

Mr Rahman said: “For the Art Fund to challenge our ownership after a period of nearly 30 years seems to be a desperate PR stunt”.