argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Jane Fiona Catherine Stevenson (Conservative, Centre-right): Our police have shown tremendous restraint and admirable calm in the last two weeks when faced with dangerous attacks and subject to crowds with covid-19 still very much a factor. Will the Secretary of State ensure that anyone who attacks our police will face the full force of the law, and that those who attack service animals will be prosecuted as quickly as possible under Finn’s law?
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. She speaks with great passion on behalf of her constituents in highlighting the abhorrent and appalling attacks that our police officers and police animals have been subject to. First, the people who commit such attacks should all feel the full force of the law—there is no doubt about that—but we should also recognise that assaults on police officers have an intolerable impact on them as individuals. They are human beings; they are people too. They have family members and loved ones who worry about them when they leave home to go to work. That is why, as I have said previously, we will bring in legislation later this year on protecting our police and the police covenant to ensure that they have their rights upheld in statute.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Neil John O'Brien (Conservative, Centre-right): There was widespread revulsion in my constituency the other day when the news emerged that somebody had defecated on a war memorial in Market Harborough. I strongly welcome my hon. Friend’s commitment to introduce legislation to protect such memorials. While my constituents are doing everything they can to fight this deadly virus, they see on TV far-right thugs coming here to urinate on a memorial to a fallen police officer—they do not speak for the people of this country. The weekend before that, they saw hooligans disrupting the important Black Lives Matter protests by injuring dozens of police officers—they do not speak for Black Lives Matter, and they do not speak for this country either. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the people who really represent this country are our brave police officers, who are putting themselves in the line of danger to protect innocent people? Will she do everything she can to back them to the hilt, accelerate the work on the police covenant and ensure that the hooligans who injure our police officers end up where they belong—in jail?
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right on every level, and I thank him for the passion with which he spoke. I pay tribute to our police and our public service personnel who were supporting them over the weekend. They worked flat out, selflessly, to try to protect the public from the thugs and hooligans who were perpetrating the most appalling criminality, violence and disorder and the most aggressive and revolting behaviour. Racism, thuggery and that kind of hooliganism should never be tolerated at all. My hon. Friend speaks for the nation when he says that those individuals should face the full force of law, and that is effectively what will happen to them.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. Our police have been under unprecedented strain and pressure, as we have all seen and as I said in my statement. I pay tribute to her police force and her chief constable, Ian Hopkins, who has been incredible throughout the whole covid period. With regards to that disgusting and disgraceful event at the weekend, again through police intelligence, planning and preparing, the police were able to go in, in the right way, to break it up and take the necessary course of action. She asks an important question about the type of intelligence out there that can help us to identify illegal gatherings, mass gatherings, protests—basically events that will lead to public disorder and hostility. Our police are working flat out, which is how they were able to map, through an intelligence picture, the type of activities taking place this weekend and to plan operationally—for police numbers, the type of policing, the tactics and the command operations put on standby and then enacted. It is important that we constantly stay in touch with the police—as all Members are aware, I speak to them every day—and that we use that information and intelligence to make sure they are protected, prepared, resourced and equipped to do the right thing to protect the public.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. As I have said many times, including at the weekend—I would urge all Members to do the same in their own communities—we are in a pandemic and are not out of the woods when it comes to this horrendous disease. We have made tremendous progress, and are all grateful for that. The British public have shown tremendous resolve and resilience throughout the pandemic, but it is right that we continue to reinforce the message that mass gatherings—six or more people—are illegal and people should not be participating in them. Also, the strain it puts our police officers under has been seen this weekend, whether in London, Glasgow, Leeds or Manchester. That is simply not right. We have to do more collectively to make sure we can stop the spread of the virus and protect our police.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Kate Elizabeth Kniveton (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking the hard-working neighbourhood policing teams from Staffordshire police, who were on hand at recent Black Lives Matter protests in my constituency, in Burton and Uttoxeter, to ensure that those present adhered to social distancing guidelines? Will she confirm what additional support the Government are providing to the police as they meet the challenges of policing during the pandemic?
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for her question. I of course wholeheartedly commend her neighbourhood policing teams for the incredible work that they are doing, and have been doing for more than 12 weeks, in response to the covid health emergency, engaging with the community and encouraging people to stay at home to control the spread of the virus My hon. Friend asked an important question about resourcing. We are—not just now, but consistently throughout this Government—increasing the number of police officers. As she will be aware, her own area of Staffordshire will receive 90 more police officers, and her police force has had a cash increase of approximately £14 million—that money goes to the frontline, to protect our communities and to keep people safe. That money is a real investment in our police officers, which is exactly what they have called for, for a considerable time.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): I speak to police officers every single day through the police leadership—the National Police Chiefs Council—and we do have the figures. I do not have the figures with me in terms of the number of fixed penalty notices that have been issued, but I would be more than happy to get the hon. Gentleman the figures that we have and write to him.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Felicity Christiana Buchan (Conservative, Centre-right): I would like to thank the police in Kensington for their effective and sensitive policing over the course of the past few weeks. The Mayor of London has effectively closed one of my two neighbouring police stations, Notting Hill, by closing the front counter. Now that we, as a Government, are putting more money into policing, does my right hon. Friend agree that the Mayor should reconsider his decisions on London police stations?
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for her comments about the very respectful way in which aspects of her own constituency have been policed, particularly over the weekend in terms of the commemorations around Grenfell that took place. When it comes to policing in London, obviously the Mayor of London acts as the police and crime commissioner. It is disappointing that he has chosen not to invest in policing, support policing and back the police in the way that my party has been doing in government. My message is really very simple: Londoners have a great opportunity next year to vote for a Conservative candidate who will put law and order at the heart of his agenda and back the police, particularly in London, 100%.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Joy Inboden Morrissey (Conservative, Centre-right): One hundred police officers being injured is unacceptable. I thank my right hon. Friend for her boldness and courage in speaking out against these attacks on police officers. Will she consider reviewing section 35 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 so that police officers can check and verify the names and addresses of violent protesters to ensure that they cannot exploit the loopholes in the law that are allowing them to avoid justice and prison sentences?
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend raises a very important point in terms of policing and arrest. The police absolutely have the powers that they need; this point has been raised already. It is important, though, once people are arrested, that they go through the right processes, and that also means the right processes in the criminal justice system. My staff, and my right hon. and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor, will always look to do everything we can to protect the police through police powers and protection, but fundamentally make sure that the thugs involved absolutely face the full force of the law.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Government Operations
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): In answer to the hon. Lady’s question, there are some important points here. We cannot prejudge what communities think or what their experiences are. It is right that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has commissioned the review that he has, yes, to build on previous lessons and data that we have in Government, but also, importantly, to engage with the communities that are impacted.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The British public have made enormous sacrifices throughout the covid crisis, and it is right, as I have said, that the sacrifices they have made and the hard-won gains we have made as a country in tackling coronavirus are not lost through these gatherings. He is right, and I, too, would urge the Mayor of London, as I have been doing —as have the police, and the Met commissioner as well—to stand firm and discourage these gatherings. Quite frankly, if the Mayor of London is not prepared to do that, then we will absolutely do that, and fill that void.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti (Conservative, Centre-right): I join the Home Secretary in paying tribute to our amazing police officers for their courage and their bravery in keeping us all safe. On far right activity, does she agree with the words of the head of the Metropolitan police anti-terror unit, who says that the far right is the "fastest-growing terrorist threat" facing our country, and if she does, what specific steps are we taking to challenge that threat?
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right on the issue of far right terror. This has evolved in recent years —that is a complete fact—and we have seen all sorts of terror attacks in the UK carried out specifically by lone actors associated with this dreadful, hateful and corrosive ideology. Various activities are taking place, much of which is being worked on through agencies that work with the Home Office; significant investments have been put in place by the Home Office, but also with our agencies. I would be more than happy to provide further details to my hon. Friend, because this is a growing trend, and that is exactly why we have been investing very heavily in this area.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Mark Peter Fletcher (Conservative, Centre-right): Our nation’s capital has been shamed by the scenes that we have seen over the past two weekends, yet so many of my constituents stay at home and follow the Government’s advice. Does my right hon. Friend agree that those scenes do not represent the best of Britain: the best of Britain are the people who continue to be law-abiding and who stand with our police who protect our great nation?
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I thank him for the passionate way in which he spoke this afternoon. I pay tribute to our police obviously and, importantly, to the sacrifices that people have made throughout the covid-19 pandemic. I recognise, of course, the silent, law-abiding majority of our great country, our great nation, who like us all in this House watched those scenes at the weekend, with complete horror. We stand with the people that live by the rule of law, stand up for justice and order, and completely call out the scenes and the atrocities that we saw at the weekend.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right to point out that it is a small minority who cause the most harm, while the law-abiding play by the rules, live by the rules and conduct themselves in the right way. It is important to say that in beautiful parts of the country—of which there are many, including the hon. Gentleman’s constituency —much more work can be done, not only by the police but by local authorities and local agencies, to ensure that there are awareness campaigns. The police have been doing that and the Home Office has been supporting and working with them to communicate those messages, but we need many of those other agencies in the hon. Gentleman’s community and throughout the country to reinforce those messages.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Paul Bristow (Conservative, Centre-right): I share the alarm at the actions of the far right this weekend and commend police officers for their bravery and courage. In the preceding days and weeks, senior police officers made tactical decisions not to uphold the law; does my right hon. Friend agree that tactics of that kind, while well-intentioned, signalled weakness and should not reoccur?
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important to say that all policing decisions are based on operational independence and recognising the situation around every single event. We must all recognise that it is not for us to judge that, particularly in Parliament. I speak to policing leaders every day, as Members know, and I have seen and heard of all sorts of scenarios that have confronted the police over the past two weeks. It is the right thing and the right approach to back our police, but obviously when there are challenges in policing—when there are tactical issues or issues with operational command—it is right that we raise that directly with the police, and it is right that we also do that with police and crime commissioners, who obviously have responsibility for the way in which their forces operate and much of the policing that takes place in their force areas.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): I would be more than happy to look into that and follow up on the hon. Gentleman’s important point about retail reopening throughout our country. Over the past 12 weeks we have seen some of the most appalling assaults on shop workers. Only yesterday I saw the most appalling footage from the Ealing Road in Wembley of an assault on an independent retailer. It is simply unacceptable and it is right that we resource and support the police and that they do the right thing in investigating such abhorrent crimes. We can do more on this issue by coming together. Over years and years I have seen, as the hon. Gentleman will have, the most appalling and abhorrent abuse of our retail sector and shop workers. It is another policy area in which we must do much more work.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Peter Moore (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for her statement. Many residents of mine across Keighley and Ilkley were quite rightly outraged by this weekend’s violence targeted towards our police, which can only be described as thuggery carried out by ignorant fools. Will she commit to bringing the hooligans responsible for assaulting police officers to justice, and can she assure me that our officers have the full support of the Government?
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right about applying the full force of the law to those thugs and hooligans who were on our streets this weekend, and about the support that the Government have given to our police officers. He will know that in West Yorkshire alone, the force there will receive 256 more police officers and a cash uplift of approximately £36 million. That is transformational in terms of policing and it again illustrates our commitment to backing the police.
Public Order — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is absolutely right. I understand the concerns faced by her local businesses in the light of everything that has happened recently. I speak to the commissioner virtually every day. I am in touch with her and her team about policing and resourcing, and I have frequently asked whether more resourcing is required. I hope that the hon. Lady will lobby and work with the Mayor of London to further this. It is fair to say that more can be done in this area. In terms of police resource, I am sure she will know that the Metropolitan police has had a cash increase of over £193 million and will be receiving more than 1,300 new police officers, so the officers are there and the cash is there, but quite frankly, the leadership from the Mayor of London is something that certainly could improve.
Electricity — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That the draft Electricity Capacity (Amendment etc.) (Coronavirus) Regulations, which were laid before this House on 20 May, be approved Before outlining some of the provisions made by this draft instrument, I will briefly provide some context. The capacity market is at the heart of the Government’s strategy for maintaining the security of electricity supplies in Great Britain. It secures the capacity needed to meet future peak electricity demand, in a range of scenarios, through competitive technology-neutral auctions, which are normally held four years and one year ahead of the relevant delivery year. This draft instrument, together with capacity market rules changes to be made, performs two broad functions. First, it will ensure that the capacity market remains compliant with its state aid approval by giving effect to Government commitments recorded in the state aid approval decision. Secondly, it will make temporary modifications to support providers in the light of the effects of coronavirus The context of the capacity market state aid approval is, briefly as follows. The EU Commission state aid approval of the capacity market in 2014 was annulled in November 2018 by a judgment of the general court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. This introduced the standstill of normal operations of the capacity market until October 2019, when the European Commission completed its reinvestigation of the capacity market and granted state aid approval. On the back of this approval, the Commission state aid approval in October 2019 recorded the Government’s commitments to make technical changes to the capacity market design, to reflect recent market and regulatory developments, including reforms that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy had already identified through the statutory five-year review of the capacity market in July 2019.
Electricity — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Energy
John Alan Redwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I am glad that the Minister has started with the very important context, because, of course, an 80-page EU document explaining the history and the requirements should have been appended to our documents. Why, however, do we think it a good idea to comply with the proposition that our interconnector imported energy has to increase from 4% to 9% of our total by 2021, when we should be going for self-reliance and resilience?
Electricity — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Environment
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that my right hon. Friend is a noted sceptic about climate change—or he was, certainly, until very recently—but he will know that any country that, like us, wants to reach the net zero commitment will necessarily be reliant on much greater interconnector capacity, from Europe in many instances and sometimes from countries such as Norway that are outside the EU, than is currently the case. That is exactly why we are proceeding on this path.
Electricity — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I think there are issues, which the right hon. Gentleman raises, with regard to pricing and the ability to have a much more flexible grid system. With respect, however, these regulations have nothing to do with that. That is a separate debate.
Electricity — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that the system needs to evolve. We are looking at some of the smart pricing he alludes to and the flexibility of the system, and I am sure he will read our White Paper with interest. However, the issue of the flexibility of the system is not really germane to this statutory instrument on the capacity market, which, as he and my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) know, is a technology-neutral device.
Electricity — House of Commons, 2020-06-15
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I think it is achievable, but what the hon. Gentleman is talking about is way outside the scope of this statutory instrument. As I have said, we are talking about flexible pricing; we are talking about the growth of renewables. This Government have committed to 40 GW of offshore wind power by 2030, which is a marked increase on the 30 GW ambition that we had. We are talking about nuclear as well—we have Hinkley Point. There are all sorts of generating power on the system. As I have said, we have a White Paper coming up, which talks about all these issues. Once again, with respect, I have to say that this is a very specific SI regarding the operation of the capacity market. The House will have plenty of time to debate other forms of electricity and power generation in the weeks ahead.