argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Commission Work Programme 2015 — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Immigration
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right in every respect and we have all the transcripts to prove it, including from various Secretaries of State. It is effectively an example of decisions being taken behind closed doors in smoke-free rooms. Those are the new modernising methods of government. I disapprove of them and so does my Committee, as shown by the fact that we tabled this amendment Let us move on and accept that we are now able to debate free movement; I particularly want to concentrate on EU migration and benefits in that context. I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister on 18 November, which was 10 days before he made his speech at JCB in Staffordshire on the question of free movement, and I drew attention to the fact that I believed we were faced with a real problem. However much we might want to make certain changes, unless we were prepared to dig in and make this Parliament supreme on matters of such vital national interest, we would not get the necessary changes because some of them required treaty change and others required overriding the charter of fundamental rights. Although the Prime Minister accepted in questions after his speech that some of those matters would require treaty change, in reality that is not on offer in any substantial way from the other member states The principle of free movement is embedded in the ideology and principles of the other member states, and particularly the European institutions and European Commission, despite how that may affect us as a small island with a greatly increasing population and pressures on social housing and education—the list is endless. Unlike other member states such as France, Germany and Spain that have large land masses and can absorb many more people, we simply cannot do so. It is therefore a matter of vital national interest—quite apart from questions that I will mention in a moment about abuse of the system—that has led us to a position where we have desperately wanted to put our foot down. Some of us believe that we should override European legislation and the charter of fundamental rights by using the "notwithstanding" formula—that is notwithstanding the European Communities Act 1972, which is past legislation as I have said many times before—so that we can ensure that our Supreme Court obeys the laws of this Parliament which is elected by our voters in general elections. When the election comes—it is only a matter of 60 days or so—this issue will be at the centre of gravity in that election, and we will be asked whether we will take the necessary steps in line with what voters insist on. I am afraid the answer to that question is that there will be no treaty change or overriding of the charter, and when I have asked Ministers and the Prime Minister whether they will use the "notwithstanding" formula, I have been told no.
Commission Work Programme 2015 — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Other
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): I support the right hon. Gentleman’s comments entirely. The Commission work programme is the equivalent of the Queen’s Speech, and it is inconceivable that the House would wait nearly three months before debating the Gracious Speech and then allow only 90 minutes to do so.
Commission Work Programme 2015 — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Civil Rights
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): Let me begin by talking about the way in which we have arrived at this debate, and also about the amendment that has been tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash) and all the other members of the European Scrutiny Committee who were present at Wednesday’s meeting. It is highly unusual for a Select Committee to table a cross-party amendment on a subject that was recommended for debate nearly 14 months ago The Government should bear it in mind that no Government are in office for ever. They should bear it in mind that the great protection of our liberties is the House’s entitlement to debate what it wishes to debate, and that they should treat that entitlement properly and respectfully by allowing such debates to take place. They should also bear it in mind that delaying deliberately, for 14 months, a debate on the free movement of people—a subject which, as we heard from the hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins), is being discussed on every doorstep in the country—shows a contempt for the House of Commons that constitutes a grave error When things change and another party is in government, that party too will notice that it is possible to ignore the Standing Orders of the House. That party too will notice that it is easy to clamp down on discussion in what ought to be a hotbed of democracy, and our freedoms will ebb away The Government ought to be ashamed of themselves for their delay, and the Ministers who claimed to be so much in favour of the debate when they appeared before the European Scrutiny Committee—or on the Floor of the House during questions to the Leader of the House—ought to recognise that they are powerful figures. When the Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for Europe and the First Secretary of State all want a debate, it is extraordinary that we do not get that debate. Who is the mystery figure, hidden somewhere in the corridors of Whitehall, who vetoes debates?
Commission Work Programme 2015 — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Other
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): Is it our right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr Clegg) who vetoed the debate, or is it simply some mystery in the machine? Is it some faceless bureaucrat, some poor fellow sitting patiently in the officials’ Box?
Commission Work Programme 2015 — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Roy Lidington (Conservative, Centre-right): With the leave of the House, Mr Deputy Speaker I am grateful to all Members who have spoken. Let me begin by dealing with the point with which my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) ended his speech, and which was touched on by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr Redwood). The United Kingdom does not intend to participate in the two tax measures to which they referred, although we take an active role in discussions as those issues evolve, in order to ensure that we can resist a design which, even if such measures were taken forward by enhanced co-operation, might have an inimical impact on the interests of this country. Of course, if either measure came forward through the EU process to a decision by the Council or the Commission, it would be subject to scrutiny in the usual way, and Treasury Ministers would, I am sure, give evidence to the European Scrutiny Committee if asked to do so My right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham also asked about the Juncker initiative. It involves the reallocation of €16 billion from other headings in the EU budget, and €8 billion from European Investment Bank resources. That sum of €24 billion is intended to allow for leveraging from other sources to produce the total of €315 billion that is being discussed A number of Members, notably the right hon. Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz), spoke of the challenge posed by migration across the Mediterranean from Africa. The Government are very active through, for example, the Khartoum process, which involves EU states working with countries in the Horn of Africa, through our support for the three EU common security and defence policy missions which are intended to stabilise Somalia, and through our support for a comprehensive EU approach to the Sahel region. If we bring about more stable governance and some hope of a job and an economic future for the people in those countries, there will be less opportunity for the people traffickers, because there will be less desperation among the people. That needs to be part of this process, along with co-operation on criminal justice to disrupt the people traffickers and prevent them from going about their nefarious trade The right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden) asked about bids from this country under the EFSI. The EFSI is still formally to be established. We have drawn up a provisional long list based—
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Adam Afriyie (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is making a very solid case about our participation in the treaty. Outside the general agreement across the House on maintaining our nuclear deterrent, could we not make good headway on fissile materials, the transfer of academic technology and the Nuclear Suppliers Group?
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 7 and 8 together Immigration Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), That the draft Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Procedure) (Amendment) Rules 2015, which were laid before this House on 15 January, be approved That the draft Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 2 February, be approved. —(Harriett Baldwin.) Question accordingly agreed to. European Union Documents Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 119(11), European Semester That this House takes note of European Union Documents No. 15985/14, a Commission Communication: Annual Growth Survey 2015, No. 15953/14 and Addendum, a draft Joint Employment Report from the Commission and the Council, accompanying the Commission Communication on the Annual Growth Survey 2015, No. 15988/14 and Addendum, a Commission Report: Alert Mechanism Report 2015 (prepared in accordance with Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation (EU) No. 1176/2011 on the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances), and an unnumbered Document, European Economic Forecast Autumn 2014; and acknowledges the priorities identified in the Annual Growth Survey of boosting investment and renewing commitment to structural reform and fiscal responsibility, and the contents of the Alert Mechanism Report. —(Harriett Baldwin.) Question agreed to. Sittings of the house (Westminster Hall) (16 March) Ordered, That the Backbench Business Committee may determine that a sitting should take place in Westminster Hall on Monday 16 March to consider a petition which a Member of the House has requested be debated; and paragraphs (1) and (5) of the Standing Order No. 10 (Sittings in Westminster Hall) shall have effect as if the phrase "e-petition or e-petitions" and the word "e-petition", wherever they occurred, were replaced by the word "petition". —(Harriett Baldwin.)
Hate Crimes against Disabled People — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend the work of Leonard Cheshire Disability. In 2012, 65,000 cases involving a disability hate element in England and Wales were recorded in the national crime survey, but there is a big gap between that figure and the number of prosecutions, and I want that to change.
Communications Data (Use in Prosecutions) — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): Mr Speaker, I am sure you would not want me to wade into the details of that case, and I am obviously not in a position to do so anyway, but I would say that all organisations should take very seriously their responsibilities under the Data Protection Act and all other legislation.
Human Rights Act 1998 — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I regularly meet ministerial colleagues to discuss important issues of common interest, including on domestic and international human rights law. I cannot talk about the legal content of those discussions, because, as the House knows, by convention, whether Law Officers have given advice is not disclosed outside Government.
Human Rights Act 1998 — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have said a number of times, I have no quarrel whatever with the wording of the European convention on human rights; what I disagree with is the way in which that document has subsequently been interpreted by the Strasbourg Court. That is what the Government want to do something about.
Human Rights Act 1998 — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: The right hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green), a former Justice Minister and, in the week, a resident of Acton, has said:“I would definitely not want Britain to withdraw from the Convention because it would appear as though the UK was no longer as committed to Human Rights as it in fact is. This would damage our country’s reputation.” Just how will the Attorney General ensure that the Government’s plans to scrap the convention will not weaken the rights of the ordinary British citizen?
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, it is important to be clear about what we are talking about. There is a distinction to be made between the Human Rights Act, which we fully intend to get rid of, and the convention, which we do not intend to leave unless we have to. We must do something to ensure that decisions on, for example, who has the franchise in British elections are taken by this House and not by the Court in Strasbourg. Those are the decisions we need to do something about. Of course this country will remain committed to human rights, with or without the Human Rights Act I must also point out to the hon. Lady that the Conservative party, in government, has been responsible not only for reducing the length of pre-charge detention to 28 days and for abolishing identity cards—both in response to illiberal measures passed by a Labour Government—but for introducing the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and many other things that clearly demonstrate our commitment to human rights.
Human Rights Act 1998 — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: The right hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green), a former Justice Minister and, in the week, a resident of Acton, has said:“I would definitely not want Britain to withdraw from the Convention because it would appear as though the UK was no longer as committed to Human Rights as it in fact is. This would damage our country’s reputation.” Just how will the Attorney General ensure that the Government’s plans to scrap the convention will not weaken the rights of the ordinary British citizen?
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): Can my right hon. and learned Friend confirm that, if we repealed the Human Rights Act—and even if we withdrew from the European convention on human rights—there is no provision whatever in the statute of the Council of Europe that would automatically force the United Kingdom to leave the Council of Europe?
Human Rights Act 1998 — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: The right hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green), a former Justice Minister and, in the week, a resident of Acton, has said:“I would definitely not want Britain to withdraw from the Convention because it would appear as though the UK was no longer as committed to Human Rights as it in fact is. This would damage our country’s reputation.” Just how will the Attorney General ensure that the Government’s plans to scrap the convention will not weaken the rights of the ordinary British citizen?
Michael Jon Wood (Conservative, Centre-right): Can the Attorney General reassure the House that a British Bill of Rights would not only protect our existing rights, which are essential in a modern democratic society, but protect us against abuse of the system and the misuse of human rights laws?
Human Rights Act 1998 — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: The right hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green), a former Justice Minister and, in the week, a resident of Acton, has said:“I would definitely not want Britain to withdraw from the Convention because it would appear as though the UK was no longer as committed to Human Rights as it in fact is. This would damage our country’s reputation.” Just how will the Attorney General ensure that the Government’s plans to scrap the convention will not weaken the rights of the ordinary British citizen?
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I do think that that is the objective. My hon. Friend is right to suggest that there is a real danger to support for human rights, which we wish to see as widespread and full-throated in this country, if it appears to many of our constituents that the concept is being abused through the sorts of cases that none of us fully believes to be genuine human rights cases. We must do something about that.
Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: What steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to improve the conviction rate for anti-Semitic hate crimes; and if he will make a statement.
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): New CPS legal guidance for prosecutors on anti-Semitic hate crimes was published in May, and in addition the CPS is implementing its religiously aggravated and anti-Semitic crime action plan, which seeks to raise awareness of these cases and to improve the reporting of such hate crimes. This has been welcomed by the all-party group against antisemitism.
Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to improve the conviction rate for anti-Semitic hate crimes; and if he will make a statement.
Michael Louis David Fabricant (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. and learned Friend will be aware that the incidence of anti-Semitic hate crime is going up, particularly in Muslim areas, unfortunately. Can he expand a little further on his earlier answer about the role of the CPS in educating the police on these matters?
Gender Pay Gap — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and I could not be clearer: we want to consign the gender pay gap to the history books. We are therefore introducing new regulations that will require larger employers to publish their gender pay gap information. That will encourage companies to take action and to drive change on this important issue. Transparency is important, and we also want to tackle the underlying causes of the gap, which is why I want to see girls entering the broadest range of careers and reaching the top of their professions.
Gender Pay Gap — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Other
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for the question, but I am not interested in tokenistic gestures. He can give up his salary if he feels so strongly about it and wants to make a statement. The important thing is that this Government are taking action on the issue, which his party did not do in 13 years of government. He is right to say that the matter now needs to be tackled by legislation, and the Government will publish regulations shortly to make that happen.
Gender Pay Gap — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Chair of the Select Committee for her question, and I know her Committee will be considering this area. She may be interested to know that figures published earlier this month show a 1.6 percentage point drop in the gender pay gap for women aged between 40 and 49, and that is repeated in the over-50s and the over-60s. She is absolutely right to say that this matter needs to be tackled. I have mentioned the regulations, which will provide the necessary transparency. We are also doing a lot of work on how we can help women to juggle caring responsibilities, which come when they are older. Of course they can also request flexible working as introduced by this Government.
Gender Pay Gap — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman was a Member of this House in the last Parliament when I was Minister for Women and Equalities. I was delighted to take the role with me into this Parliament. In fact, I have been Minister for Women and Equalities longer than I have been Secretary of State for Education. It is a role about which I feel passionate. Just by looking at the array of Ministers on the Front Bench today, he will see that this Government take very seriously their equalities responsibilities. Whether we are talking about the gender pay gap or any other matter, those responsibilities run right the way through all the Departments in this Government.
Gender Pay Gap — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Philip Andrew Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Minister put in the Library the gender pay gap of all Government Departments and all Government quangos, because an awful lot of Government quangos have a gender pay gap? Perhaps the Government should sort out their own house first, before they go round lecturing everyone else.
Gender Pay Gap — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman tempts me very much. He might be interested to know that the overall gender pay gap for all civil service employees fell from 13.6% in 2014 to 12.8% in March 2014. The gender pay gap in the Department for Education is 9% and it is 11% in the Ministry of Justice. The regulations that we are publishing will also apply to the public sector. As that information is public, I would be very happy to write to him with it.
Gender Pay Gap — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is right to say that the gender pay gap in Scotland is lower, and that is why I was delighted to visit Scotland recently to meet counterparts in the Scottish Government, successful female entrepreneurs and Professor Lesley Sawers, who has, at the request of the UK Government, been doing a lot of work in Scotland on women in enterprise. One reason we are stronger together is that we can all learn lessons from each other.
Gender Pay Gap — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted to say that those sectors are already taking responsibility for tackling the issue. They are learning from the Government’s voluntary approach to women on boards, and I am pleased that Jayne-Anne Gadhia from the finance sector and others in the insurance sector have recently launched voluntary initiatives to ensure that companies publish their own gender pay gap. Larger companies will, of course, also be caught by the regulations that we are due to publish shortly.
Body Confidence in Young People — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government have continued the work started under the coalition Government to encourage body confidence with the aim of promoting young people’s media literacy and resilience, supporting good practice and raising awareness. For example, in March we started work with the PSHE Association to publish guidance on teaching about body image using accredited resources.
Body Confidence in Young People — House of Commons, 2015-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend on the fantastic work that she does as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on body image. She has been a fantastic champion on this important issue and she is absolutely right that effective change will be achieved only by co-operation and collaboration. I recently met the British Fashion Council and the campaign group All Walks Beyond the Catwalk to discuss how we can make this happen for the good of those who are in the fashion industry, those who aspire to it and, most importantly, those who are influenced by it.