argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Environment
Philip John Boswell (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My hon. Friend spoke earlier about the lack of detail in the Prime Minister’s statement. Does he agree that the Government should have taken cognisance of the resulting report of the Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into the future of the natural environment after the EU referendum as summarised in a letter to the Secretary of State—I have it here—from the British Ecological Society, the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, the Landscape Institute and the Institution of Environmental Scientists? These are the people we should be listening to, and these are the details that the Government should be including in their letters.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My hon. Friend’s point is well made Agriculture is already a devolved area. As powers are repatriated from Brussels, it is essential that they go directly to the Scottish Government. Any power grab from a Westminster Government would be totally unacceptable. We absolutely understand the need for levels of commonality, but that is not a justification for a power grab by Westminster. We need a commitment from this Government that the existing allocation of funds will not be tampered with. The starting point for funds to be delivered to Scotland is once the convergence uplift is added to the 16.5%. Throughout last year’s referendum campaign, the Secretary of State and her farming Minister, the hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice), who is, I understand, in Scotland, argued for Brexit and it is now incumbent on them to take responsibility for the commitments made during that campaign. Last March, the farming Minister said: "The UK government will continue to give farmers and the environment as much support—or perhaps even more—as they get now" Yet this commitment appears already to have been abandoned Earlier this month, the Secretary of State, the farming Minister and I were all at the Oxford conference, and both the Secretary of State and the farming Minister refused to confirm that funding would at least match current levels beyond 2020. Will the Secretary of State take the opportunity today to make a clear commitment that, as the farming Minister promised, Brexit will not result in a reduction in the level of funding available for farmers? Or is this another Brexit broken promise We acknowledge that the CAP is far from perfect and we recognise that we now have an opportunity to design a new and better system, but we also recognise that there must be a route to sustainable farming without direct income support because there must be an evolution that takes great care over the fragility of the rural economy. It is also important to note that the CAP is about much more than farming. In Scotland, EU funding has helped to support the roll-out of superfast broadband, business development, housing investment and measures to address rural fuel poverty, in addition to improvements in infrastructure and transport through pillar two regional development funds. We need the Government to explain whether they will match the funding for such programmes and, if they will, the more detail we can have from the Secretary of State, the better Another area in which the rural economy has benefited massively from EU membership is freedom of movement. For significant portions of the Scottish rural economy, access to a seasonal workforce is a vital factor in keeping their operations sustainable. At any one time, between 5,000 and 15,000 non-UK EU workers are employed in Scottish agriculture alone. We support continued freedom of movement because it is a system that works not just for farming and food production but for a range of sectors in rural Scotland, especially in fragile and often ageing populations.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I do not understand why Government Members do not get this. It is as though they think that if we become independent we would float off into the Atlantic. That is not what happens. Are you saying that Ireland will be able to trade freely with the UK and the EU, as the Brexit Minister said, but somehow Scotland would not? I hate to break it to you, but we buy more from you than you do from us.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am getting rather over-excited, but I will always be passionate when defending my constituency and rural Scotland against those who want to do it harm based on a hard-right, Tory Brexit.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Foreign Trade
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for giving way; he is being generous. On the subject of trade, does he agree that actually the EU is Scotland’s growth market area? We have seen a 20% increase in the export of goods since 2007, and for services the figure was 50%, so actually the EU is our growth market for the future.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Foreign Trade
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, as always. If we look at the numbers, we see that 68% of Scottish seafood exports that leave the UK go to EU countries, and that 80% of beef and lamb exports from Scotland are destined for the EU Outwith the EU, as we hear the Government trying to carve out a policy, those exports will be at risk of tariffs. I want to look at the risk that that poses. Let me take the example of red meat. Quality Meat Scotland has conducted analysis that shows that if we were subject to the current tariffs that apply to non-EU countries, there would be, on average, a 50% increase in costs for importers buying our products At the Oxford Farming Conference, the Secretary of State spoke of fields of opportunity but in the press conference afterwards, she admitted that UK exports would decline if tariffs were erected. That is the prospect faced by exporters in Scotland and, indeed, the whole UK. We call upon the Secretary of State to outline which products her Department thinks should be prioritised in upcoming negotiations There is no easy way to withdraw from the world’s largest trading bloc, and the search for alternative markets will involve a host of costs and compromises. For example, Canada’s standard tariff on beef stands at 26.5% and South Africa’s is currently at 40%. Do the Government really think that alternative markets, many with lower production costs than our own, can compensate for restricted access to the EU? The recent success of Scotland’s £14 billion—I was slightly taken aback by the size of that figure—food and drink sector shows that we are already an exporting global country. New trade links cannot mitigate the economic vandalism of cutting off access to a market of 500 million people on our doorstep Real political leadership is about seeking solutions to combat the impact of leaving the EU not just in Scotland, but all over the UK. If all the tangible benefits of single market membership end up being frittered away in pursuit of a red, white and blue Brexit, or a global Brexit, the Scottish people, who have shown that they want to build, not sever, their links with Europe will recognise a familiar pattern. They will recall that the Heath Government sacrificed Scottish fisheries when we joined the EU and that the Thatcher Government decimated Scottish industry in the 1980s, and they will conclude that this Tory Government, with no mandate for the damage they may cause, will wreck Scotland’s rural economy and ignore our overwhelming wish to retain our links with Europe If this Government have already made a calculation that rural Scotland is expendable in order to engineer a clean break with Europe, they can never again turn to the people of Scotland and claim that the Union is a partnership of equals. Will the Government take this opportunity to recognise the potentially devastating impact that a hard Brexit could have on the Scottish rural economy or will they be content to make a desert of rural Scotland in the name of Brexit?
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I would like to believe the promises the Government are making, but, of course, the Government have form. If we go back to the convergence uplift criteria, Scotland was supposed to be rewarded with £223 million of funds from the EU, but we are getting only 16%. We were promised a review in 2016—it has not happened. When will it happen, and when will our crofters and farmers get what is due to them? The real question on the devolution of agriculture to the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament is about making sure we get the correct funding—it is about what happens not up to 2020 but after that.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Secretary of State mentions planning and careful thinking going forward to 2020, but what planning and careful thinking have been done for the crofters of Na h-Eileanan an Iar and the west highlands, and what will post-2020 mean for them and their futures?
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Lisa Cameron (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Does the hon. Lady agree that there are grave concerns about early pest and disease intelligence from Europe, which might become much less accessible, alongside investment in research and development, which might fall without access to EU funding?
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Environment
Philip John Boswell (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Does the hon. Lady share my concern about the staggering fact that the Government have not incorporated at least some of the recommendations for future land management that were suggested earlier this month in a letter to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from the Institution of Environmental Sciences and other professional bodies about the still foggy post-Brexit plan—
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Environment
Philip John Boswell (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that the rural economy in Scotland is able to support our fantastic food and drink industry only because of the health of our environment, which has thrived under the environmental protection legislation made in partnership with Europe?
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Foreign Trade
Paul William Monaghan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): As the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, I am well aware of the likely impact on the rural economy of the UK Government’s policy on leaving the European Union. Indeed, after the Prime Minister’s speech today outside Parliament, it is clear that that impact will be catastrophic We must all be clear that, short of continuing European Union membership, full membership of both the single market and the customs union is the best outcome, not just for the people of Scotland, but in the national interests of each country of the UK. In Scotland, the key economic sectors of the rural economy in terms of employment are agriculture, forestry, fishing, manufacturing, and the wholesale and retail sectors. In remote rural areas, like much of my constituency, tourism, accommodation and food and drink—including whisky and gin—also play a vital role Our infrastructure has benefited immeasurably from the European funding of new bridges and roads that have shortened journey times and enabled remote communities to sustain themselves. Building them has created employment, and using them has created a tourist industry that has begun to thrive We have benefited economically from enhanced protection for workers, financial support for our farmers and crofters, access to the single market for our goods and products, and new skills and employees found through the free movement of labour. The hard Brexit announced today will be utterly devastating for Scotland’s rural economies, with high tariffs and the loss of financial support. Our exporters face the prospect of losing the Scottish protected food names that we value, the common regulatory frameworks that help to maintain our food safety, animal and plant health standards, and the competitiveness that we rely on through non-tariff barriers to trade We do not have to choose between the single market and the UK market. Scotland is already the top destination for exports from the rest of the UK, but the single market of the EU is Scotland’s real growth market, and eight times bigger than the UK market. As a member of the single market, not only does Scotland have access to a market of 500 million people in Europe, but through the European Union, it trades with the rest of the world Today, we reiterate our request to seek common ground with the UK Government and to find a solution that will preserve Scotland’s membership of the European single market, and for the UK Government seriously to consider Scotland’s place in Europe.
DWP Policies and Low-income Households — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Social Welfare
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I beg to move, That this House is concerned at the impact of policies pursued by the Department for Work and Pensions upon low-income households; notes the negative impact on those with low-incomes disclosed in the roll-out of Universal Credit; expresses concerns about cuts to Work Allowances under Universal Credit; believes that the closure of JobCentre offices in Glasgow and other areas will create difficulties for many people in accessing services; and calls on that Department to suspend the roll-out of Universal Credit and the JobCentre closure programme According to the UK Government, universal credit was supposed to bring fairness and simplicity, and I ask hon. Members to hold that thought when I share the experiences of some of my constituents, of people trying to help them and even of Department for Work and Pensions staff trying to navigate them through universal credit. Inverness was a pilot area for the roll-out, meaning that we were suffering the bitter effects and chaos of the full service earlier than other areas. Universal credit is hurting the people who need help the most. I know that if Government Members could see at first hand the grief that it causes, they would understand why I am so passionate about it Before I share some of my constituents’ experiences, I shall tell Members of my recent meetings with citizens advice bureau officers Leslie Newton and Elaine Donnelly. They have, respectively, 40 and 17 years’ experience of dealing with some of the most challenging situations we could imagine—folk at the end of their tethers, and sometimes even at the end of their lives. They have seen it all and had to deal with it. When I met them last week, they were moved to tears telling me about their universal credit case load. They told me about the suffering they were witnessing. They told me that the roll-out is a shambles, and that nobody in the system communicates with each other. They told me that the process simply does not work. They see neither fairness nor simplicity The transitional protection is limited and will not protect new claimants. It will be lost if the household undergoes changes in circumstances, and it does not protect people against the anguish and suffering that lengthy delays are causing them. Again, the disabled are some of the hardest hit by the move to universal credit.
DWP Policies and Low-income Households — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Social Welfare
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am going to make some progress because other Members wish to take part. The loss of the severe disability premium has taken nearly £62 a week out of the pockets of the most critically disabled. Cuts to the disabled child addition mean that 100,000 disabled children stand to lose up to £29 a week. Cuts to the severe disability premium mean that disabled lone parents with young carers stand to lose £58 a week. Those in the work-related activity group who receive employment and support allowance will lose around £30 a week.
DWP Policies and Low-income Households — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Social Welfare
Thomas Sheppard (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend share my concern about the lack of information and data that the Department for Work and Pensions has on its own activities, particularly when it comes to the most vulnerable claimants? On 10 January, I asked the Department to provide me with the number of people who had had their benefits withdrawn or suspended in the process of transferring from disability living allowance to personal independence payment. It wrote back on 13 January to say that it did not know; is that not shocking?
DWP Policies and Low-income Households — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Social Welfare
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am going to finish up It is wrong that the Scottish Government and the council should foot the bill for UK Government cuts. It is also true that the proposal to cut 50% of jobcentres in Glasgow—a subject I know my colleagues will speak on shortly—is a bad idea. Let us not forget that these proposals come on the back of last year’s announcement of the closure of 137 HMRC offices across the UK, with potentially thousands of job losses in Scotland There is a damning litany of failure, confusion, heartache and indignity and a crushing drive towards increased poverty in the universal credit system. Long delays to payments, short payments, lost sick notes, misplaced documents, failure to respond, confusion between departments, crushed morale for the poor Jobcentre Plus staff and an inability to respond to common sense are rife in universal credit. It is time to halt this tragic experiment—the bad IDS idea—and think about how we provide for those who need our help, rather than those few who stand to profit from austerity.
DWP Policies and Low-income Households — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Labor
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): That sounds way above my pay grade, Mr Speaker, but thank you none the less. I take my hat off to the Minister and his colleagues at the Department for Work and Pensions, because he has managed to do something I never thought possible: unite Scottish Labour politicians and Scottish National party politicians against his jobcentres closure plan. That will be the focus of my remarks, and if he will listen, I will educate him The Minister’s plan has gone down like a bucket of cold sick among not just my constituents, but trade unions, the Catholic Church, the Church of Scotland and Glasgow City Council. Glasgow, the city I represent, has the highest unemployment rate in Scotland, and that shames me—I am not proud of that badge—and I would want to work with the Minister to improve on that, but I do not see how we can do so by reducing the number of jobcentres from 16 to eight. That is a 50% cut against what is supposed to be a 20% reduction elsewhere Glasgow is being targeted by the Tories yet again. [Interruption.] I will take no muttering from Back-Bench Tories. I invite each and every one of them who votes for the Government amendment tonight to come to Castlemilk to meet my constituents who are expected to do an 8-mile round trip, using up to three buses. Ministers would not know about any of that, because they relied on Google Maps in putting the proposal together. Government by Google is not the new Britannic isolation I had expected Where is the Scottish Secretary on these plans? Why have we not heard anything from our Secretary of State about fighting for Glasgow and standing up for Scotland against these proposals? [Interruption.] Let me say to the hon. Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), who is muttering from a sedentary position, that I asked Ministers how many people in Langside and Castlemilk jobcentres in my constituency claim disability living allowance. The answer was that they do not know. On jobseeker’s allowance, they do not know. They were asked how many people who are disabled use Glasgow jobcentres across the city; they do not know. What about the public sector equality duty? How confident is the Minister that he will not breach his obligations under the Equality Act 2010, because we still have not had an equality impact assessment? The plans are so ridiculous and so ill thought out that it is almost a schoolboy howler. I invite Members to look through the written answers from the Minister to questions asked by me and Glasgow colleagues; if they do not make hon. Members laugh, they will certainly make them cry.
DWP Policies and Low-income Households — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Labor
Carol Frances Monaghan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is interesting to follow the hon. Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), because the Government’s current policies have little to do with getting people into employment and everything to do with aggressively targeting the people who most need support. I want to mention three groups currently affected. Last year, I visited Emmaus, a charity working with homeless people across Glasgow, building their confidence through local employment projects. Everybody living in Emmaus accommodation signs off primary benefits except housing benefit and works full time within the community. If they are forced to move to universal credit, they will potentially have to take part in jobseeking schemes for which many of these vulnerable people are simply not ready I also want to mention recently graduated students and the barriers they face when trying to claim universal credit. The eligibility criteria state that a claimant must "have lived in the UK for the last two years and not have been abroad for more than four weeks continuously during that time" This means that anyone who has worked or travelled abroad, as many students do—for language students, it is a compulsory part of their course—is ineligible for universal credit Finally, I want to talk about a new source of anxiety for many of my constituents: the news of the closure of half of Glasgow’s jobcentres. I spoke to several constituents outside Anniesland jobcentre on Friday, including a lady in her mid-50s who had worked all her life, until she suffered a stroke two years ago that left her paralysed down one side. She has been declared fit for work because her speech is unaffected, but due to a lack of mobility, her quarter-mile walk to the jobcentre takes her over an hour each way. Public transport is impossible because she does not have the mobility, and if it moves when she is standing, she could be on the floor, while a taxi is completely out of the question because of the expense. Under this sham of centralisation, her services are being moved to Partick, over two miles away None of the people I have mentioned are layabouts or scroungers; all of them strive for a better life and want to contribute fully to society. If we judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable, I have no doubt how history will judge this Tory Government.