Millions of artworks, religious artefacts, and precious items looted from Jews by the Nazis are yet to be reclaimed according to the government's representative for post-Holocaust issues.

Lord Eric Pickles, who yesterday chaired a meeting of global Holocaust representatives said unless governments "get a grip" on the issue of stolen Jewish items now, in five years it will be "too late" to act.

The international community must make "one last big push" to enforce international agreements on Holocaust-era property restitution now, he added.

Lord Pickles was speaking at the Foreign Office where he hosted the first-ever gathering of international Shoah envoys, and met with diplomats including Ellen Germain, America's special envoy for Holocaust issues, Igor Pokaz, Croatia’s Ambassador to the UK, and Dr Wesley Fisher, director of research of the Claims Conference at the landmark London meeting.

The gathering was initiated by Mark Weitzman, chief operating officer of the World Jewish Restitution Organization alongside Lord Pickles.

One topic under discussion at the meeting was the Washington Principles: a 1998 agreement on how Nazi-confiscated art could be restored to its former owners or their descendants.

Small auction houses across the world are reportedly still ignoring the principles and prioritising profit over moral principle, Lord Pickles claimed.

Even when states do provide a process by which victims of the Holocaust and their heirs can reclaim precious lost items, it can be emotionally fraught.

Lord Pickles added: "The whole process strips survivors of their dignity."

Yossi Avni-Levy, who previously served as Israel's ambassador to Serbia and Lithuania, said that to see stolen or abandoned communal Jewish property in Europe was a "chilling feeling".

Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly - who briefly attended the conference - gave a "very strong message" on restitution, he added.