argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Louise Margaret Haigh (Labour, Centre-left): I thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question and my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman) for asking it. The outcome of the EU referendum represents the most momentous constitutional change that our country has faced in the post-war era. Now is the time to take a considered view on the future of the negotiations and for the new Government to lay out the timetable, including when they anticipate that article 50 will be triggered. It should not be triggered, however, until there is a clear plan in place about what the UK will be negotiating for and how it will be achieved The Government have already indicated that they will consult the devolved Administrations and the Mayor of London, and they must do the same with Her Majesty’s official Opposition. That is the only way we can develop a consensus about what the country’s negotiating plan should be, and that should be put to a vote in this House The priority must be to ensure that the Government’s negotiating team, undertaking the most substantial set of negotiations on our behalf in modern history, are fully equipped, fully resourced and fully prepared to extract the best deal possible for Britain in the Brexit negotiations. There are 170 trade agreements that now need to be renegotiated, but it is suggested that only 20 people across the whole of Whitehall have the requisite experience to negotiate We have deep concerns that the autumn statement, which outlined drastic cuts for Whitehall long before Brexit materialised as a realistic possibility, is no longer fit for purpose. That is why Labour is saying to the Government that, while discussions about article 50 are vital, it is clear that what comes next matters even more. It would be an abdication of responsibility if our civil service negotiating team does not have the resources it needs and is instead forced to spend vital time implementing brutal budget cuts at home when it should be batting for Britain abroad. Let us properly resource our civil service and together develop a consensus for the future of Britain.
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): Is it not the case that referendums are advisory and that this Parliament is sovereign? Is it not a constitutional outrage and supreme irony that those on the Conservative Benches who based their argument for Brexit on parliamentary sovereignty now want to deny this House a vote and are suggesting that an unelected Prime Minister, with no mandate, agrees to such a fundamental decision for this country? That is a disgrace, and they must not be allowed to get away with it.
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): At the beginning of his first answer, the Minister said that this was not just a legal matter, but a political matter, so I cannot understand for the life of me why the Government are challenging the legal case. Surely sending in lawyers is just a complete waste of money—whether it is 10 lawyers or 1,000, it does not matter. Why are the Government wasting money on trying to assert that this is just a matter of royal prerogative, rather than accepting the political fact that while, yes, Brexit is Brexit—that may be the case—the Minister is far more likely to get a good deal from other European countries if he has managed to bind both sides of this House and both Houses of Parliament into a strong negotiating position?
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
David Lindon Lammy (Labour, Centre-left): Is not the situation a bit more than ticklish? This is the biggest constitutional change for our country for half a century. Last week, Chilcot criticised the legal processes that led to the Iraq war, criticised the way in which prerogative power worked in the run-up to that war and, most importantly, criticised the fact that there was not a sufficient plan for after the invasion had been completed. On that basis, is the Minister really saying that we should not come back to Parliament so that individual Members can reach a view on whether we should trigger article 50?
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Ann Clwyd (Labour, Centre-left): The majority of my constituents still feel very angry. They feel that they were misinformed—that is putting it mildly—and therefore think that they need to know the facts. One of the facts pointed out to the Foreign Affairs Committee was that the Foreign Office will need to be doubled in size. Given that the autumn statement said that there would be drastic cuts in Whitehall, should we not have a new autumn statement to spell out the implications of Brexit to the British people?
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Wayne David (Labour, Centre-left): As things stand, Britain will have two years to withdraw from the European Union once it invokes article 50, but most analysts say that it will take much longer than two years for Britain successfully to extricate itself and have a new relationship. Have the Government therefore considered approaching member states about a possible extension to that period?
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Nathan Kinnock (Labour, Centre-left): The referendum has been a deeply divisive process that has divided city against town, community against community and nation against nation. Does the Minister agree that we now need a cross-party approach to deal with when to invoke article 50 and the basic negotiating position around that, and how we hold the negotiating team to account? Will he consider setting up a special parliamentary Committee to do both those jobs?
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): More than 60% of my electorate voted to leave the European Union and I very much honour and respect their views. It is clear that the triggering of article 50 is unchartered waters for both this Government and the EU, so would it not make sense for the Government to be in open negotiation with their European counterparts to set out the parameters, process and areas of commonality, and then to come back to the House to announce the likely procedure so that we ensure that we have the very best deal for the people of Denton and Reddish and of the United Kingdom as we take forward the referendum result into reality?
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Catherine McKinnell (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister cannot say what "Brexit means Brexit" really means, so is it not vital that, given we have no idea what the terms of exit will be, this is properly scrutinised and voted on by democratically elected Members of this House?
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen John Doughty (Labour, Centre-left): Most of my constituents in both Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan voted to remain. Although they are concerned about the result, they would be even more concerned to think that Parliament would have anything less than a full say in this process, not least because many Executive and legislative competences are also devolved to the National Assembly. Will the Minister explain what specific role he expects Welsh Government Ministers and the Assembly itself to have in deciding the final proposal that is put before us?
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): Brexit means Brexit, but there is no agreed definition of what "Brexit" means, apart from the fact that it involves parliamentary sovereignty. Is the Minister seriously proposing that we should undergo such a momentous seismic change as Brexit without its having been defined to the British people before the referendum, or decided on by Parliament after it?
Article 50: Parliamentary Approval — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): This was not the question that I was going to ask, but given the Minister’s response to my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty), I want to press him on the extent to which devolved institutions will be consulted. Much of the work of some Departments is devolved—food and farming, for example—yet in terms of the European Union, this will be a UK Government negotiating position, and that really does need to be resolved.
Safety of Prison Staff — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): The situation on our prison estate continues to deteriorate, as the Secretary of State concedes, and I am sorry we have heard nothing from him today that we have not heard before Over the weekend, prison staff held crisis meetings across the country amid concerns about their security and safety in the workplace. Incidents of violence and disorder are reported on a daily basis. On Friday around 100 staff at HMP Liverpool met outside their prison at the start of their shift, a pattern that was repeated at many other prisons. A Ministry of Justice spokesman unhelpfully called the action "unlawful" despite admitting that it posed no security risk. I wonder whether the Secretary of State thinks that is an appropriate response to members of staff concerned about their welfare and that of the inmates. According to local staff at Liverpool prison, over the past 12 months there have been more assaults than in the previous 12 years. This includes one member of staff who was stabbed, while others have been spat at, punched and kicked and had urine and faeces thrown over them. On the same day, a squad of specialist prison service riot officers was sent into HMP Birmingham, and in a separate incident in the same prison on the same day a prisoner was found dead in his cell in unexplained circumstances. A Prison Officers Association spokesman said that between 5,000 and 6,000 prison officers had taken part in the pre-shift meetings, with the numbers showing the "strength of feeling" of its members The Secretary of State will also be aware that a freedom of information request last week revealed there had been five walkouts in the past five months, including from Wormwood Scrubs in my constituency. Following that walkout in May, and the serious assault on two officers and an urgent question here, the Secretary of State announced £10 million, but, frankly, he has been absent in the last few weeks and we have had an inadequate and reactive response to each crisis We need a full response to a growing and increasing crisis and, as the Secretary of State correctly says, a growing number of serious assaults. I hope if we do not hear it today, we will hear that full strategy, and hear it soon, for the safety of our prison officers and prisoners. If we do not have that, he is going to lose control fully of the prison estate.
Safety of Prison Staff — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard Burgon (Labour, Centre-left): The situation in our underfunded prisons is deteriorating. There have been consequences of the Government’s decision to cut £900 million from the Ministry of Justice budget. Assaults on staff and on prisoners are up. There are 13,000 fewer prison staff than there were in 2010, but there are more prisoners. The Government have made prisons less safe for staff and for prisoners. It is a service in crisis. On Friday, members of the Prison Officers Association held meetings outside prisons across the country to discuss what they call the "perpetual crisis" in the Prison Service. The Secretary of State has accepted that there are "significant problems". The chief inspector has said prisons are "a lot more dangerous" and that staff shortages have had an impact. The Justice Committee has demanded an "action plan". In the light of all this, will the Secretary of State tell us whether he or the National Offender Management Service have spoken to the Prison Officers Association since Friday’s meetings outside the prisons What is the Secretary of State’s plan to reduce staff assaults, which have increased by 36% in the past year? On the £10million that he has allocated to staff safety, if he finds, as I suspect he will, that the significantly higher spending he has experimentally allocated to Bristol, Hewell and Rochester does indeed have a much greater impact, will he increase safety spending elsewhere? In relation to the prisons identified for greater operational freedom in the upcoming prison and courts reform Bill—a process the Secretary of State has likened to school academisation—will he confirm that we will not see any watering down of staff terms and conditions or creeping privatisation? Is it not time that this Government stopped failing prison staff, failing prisons and failing our society in this regard?
Safety of Prison Staff — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Jenny Chapman (Labour, Centre-left): One of the most distressing things that can happen to a prison officer is going to unlock an inmate only to find that they have taken their own life. The review by Lord Harris on deaths in custody made a clear recommendation that Ministers should attempt to contact and speak with the families of people, especially the young, who have taken their own life in prison. As yet, Ministers have declined to adopt that recommendation, so will they please reconsider?
Safety of Prison Staff — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Labour, Centre-left): The safety of prison staff is a huge issue for me, as I have three prisons in my constituency. Does the Secretary of State agree that we will not get the rehabilitation of prisoners that we all want unless prison staff have the time and resources to enable it to happen and both they and prisoners feel safe enough to achieve it, and that this process will not be helped by ongoing reductions in prison staff numbers?
Safety of Prison Staff — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Law and Crime
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): In my constituency there is no extra money for HMP Kennet because it is closing. It has been open for only 10 years. In answers to letters that I have written to the right hon. Gentleman’s ministerial colleagues, I have been told that the staff will be expected to relocate to the new super-prison in Wrexham. The problem is that that is more than 70 miles away and there is no prospect of many of those staff being able to relocate. Is that not an example of one of the problems in the planning that the right hon. Gentleman is carrying out? He is closing a prison and the staff will not be able to get to the new one that he is opening. How will that help with problems of both overcrowding and prison staff safety?
Safety of Prison Staff — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Law and Crime
David Lindon Lammy (Labour, Centre-left): I have spent a lot of time in prisons over the past few months. There are two things that staff have raised with me. The first is that they are optimistic about the reform context that the Secretary of State has created and he should be congratulated on that. However, the second topic that staff have raised at prisons across the country is staff numbers, which have fallen substantially. In the new Government that we expect to begin shortly, does the right hon. Gentleman hope to see that reform agenda continue? Now that we are moving away from austerity, is it possible that staff numbers might begin to rise again?
Safety of Prison Staff — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): It is of paramount importance that the Government do all they can to ensure that prison staff are safe in their place of work. The Secretary of State will know that the recent safety in custody figures were quite shocking. Will he guarantee that when those figures are published in future, there will be fuller scrutiny of those statistics in Parliament, and will he commit to a frequent statement on what the Government are doing to improve the situation?
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Government Operations
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): I beg to move amendment 118, page 2, line 28, after "7A)" insert "and is not ancillary to another provision (whether in the Act or another enactment) that does not relate to a reserved matter" Clause 3 establishes the legislative competence of the National Assembly for Wales. This amendment makes clear that the Assembly has power to make provision touching upon reserved matters for the purpose of enforcing provisions in Assembly Acts that do not relate to reserved matters or otherwise making them effective.
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: International Affairs
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): I think that would be entirely appropriate. The hon. Gentleman reminds us of matters that were subjects of great passion at the time. I believe they did—as many points in history have—concentrate the feelings of those in Wales about their national identity and what was seen to be an injustice against the people of Wales. I remember the events vividly.
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): Will the right hon. Gentleman consider breaking the pattern we have had of passing Wales Bills and, then, five years later, coming back to try to undo the damage we have done with the previous Bill? Will he accept the spirit of unanimity on this side of the Committee when we point out the problem with many of these reservations? Take, for instance, the reservation on dangerous dogs, as was mentioned by the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams). If there is any issue on which this Parliament has proved its legislative incompetence over the years it is the Dangerous Dog Act 1991. That is an example of how not to legislate. Wales could do better perhaps.
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Stephen John Doughty (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Secretary of State accept that, as a Minister told me during proceedings on the Trade Union Bill, the reserved powers granted under the legislation effectively allow any Minister in the UK Government to undermine a partnership or industrial relations decision made by a Welsh Minister in the running of the Welsh NHS or the education service, for example?
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): We will press amendment 123 to a Division, but I beg to ask leave to withdraw amendment 118 Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 3 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill. Schedule 1 New Schedule 7A to the Government of Wales Act 2006 Amendment proposed: 83, page 47, line 32, leave out Section B5. —(Liz Saville Roberts.) This amendment removes the reservation of crime, public order and policing from the list of reserved powers. Question put, That the amendment be made.
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-11
Topic: Energy
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): Wales suffered for centuries the dirt, the pollution and the danger of extracting coal from the ground, while the comfort and the money made from it was enjoyed throughout the United Kingdom. Nobody wants to go back to that. The sources of power I specifically mentioned were hydropower and tidal power. They are not only very good neighbours but they can enhance the landscape by providing lakes and other facilities. The hon. Gentleman should concentrate on the wider picture and see the possibilities, through the amendment, that the Welsh Government could develop.
Economy — House of Commons, 2016-10-12
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Is it not the case that there should be a substantial boost for Scottish exports as a result of the depreciation of the pound since the Brexit vote?
David Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): As a result of demands from Nissan, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has suggested that companies that will suffer a loss of profits as result of exiting the EU may be due compensation. Can the Secretary of State assure businesses based in Scotland which will suffer the same loss of profits that they will be entitled to the same deal, and if so has he made an assessment of the costs of such compensation?
Economy — House of Commons, 2016-10-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: Is it not the case that there should be a substantial boost for Scottish exports as a result of the depreciation of the pound since the Brexit vote?; Scotland has a long and proud history of invention, innovation and creativity, and has always looked out to the world. Could the Government do more to rekindle that outlook in Scotland, rather than the First Minister creating uncertainty and constantly talking about independence?
Ian Murray (Labour, Centre-left): Today’s GDP figures for Scotland are welcome, as is the major increase in GDP arising from the services sector, probably driven by the financial services sector in Scotland, and in my city of Edinburgh. What specifically is the Secretary of State doing to protect that financial services sector, and can he give the House, and Scotland, an assurance that he will stand by the Conservative party’s commitment in his 2015 manifesto to saying yes to the single market?
Overseas Trade — House of Commons, 2016-10-12
Topic: Labor
David Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): Crucial to promoting trade is the need to support apprenticeships. However, training bodes, organisations, businesses and employers in Scotland have told me that they are struggling to get clear guidance on how the apprenticeship levy will work. Will the Secretary of State ensure, unlike his colleague the Business Secretary, that he works urgently with the Scottish Government to give those people the information that they need?
Overseas Trade — House of Commons, 2016-10-12
Topic: Labor
David Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): One area in which apprenticeships could work is the oil industry and the decommissioning of oil rigs. We have already seen the loss of 80,000 jobs in that industry, and that will be compounded if we continue, as has happened recently, to lose decommissioning contracts to other countries. Do the Government have any strategy at all to ensure that those crucial jobs remain in Scottish hands?
Economy/Public Services: West Midlands — House of Commons, 2016-10-12
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What recent assessment she has made of (a) the performance of the economy and (b) the adequacy of provision of public services in the west midlands; and if she will make a statement.
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (Labour, Centre-left): Someone once said that in leaving the single market "we risk a loss of investors and businesses…and we risk going backwards when it comes to international trade." That person is now the Prime Minister, and that was before the referendum The Japanese Government wrote to the Prime Minister in September, worried about a shambolic Brexit. Many Japanese companies are major investors in Britain—such as Nissan in Sunderland, which has already halted its investment—and 140,000 people in Britain work for Japanese-owned companies. They have made it clear that those jobs and that investment depend on single market access. What reassurance can she give workers today, desperately worried about their future, their company and their jobs?