argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Scotland’s Fiscal Framework — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): The Scottish Government have been able to achieve their chosen deduction method through their vigorous and skilled negotiation strategy. What advice will the Secretary of State give to the Welsh Government when it comes to negotiating the fiscal framework for Wales? Does he think that the Labour Government’s usual passive compliance with the Treasury will work?
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Labor
Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I congratulate WASPI on its highly effective campaign, particularly all the women from my constituency who have contacted me or come to my surgeries. Women across the UK have been hit hard by the changes. To the surprise and dismay of many of them, the plans that they had made have been disrupted. Often, they face unemployment, with little hope of getting a job—a bleak life on benefits at a time when they should be enjoying the fruits of their long years of work Plaid Cymru supports the principle of equalising the pension age. Equalisation is another step towards recognising how radically circumstances have changed since the pension was brought in by my predecessor as the Member for Caernarfon, Lloyd George, when men worked for the money and generally supported women, and women worked at home for free. Those are not the circumstances now. It is not equalisation that is so unfair but the way in which the Government are bringing it in The Government say that they are making these changes in response to the increase in life expectancy. As one woman who contacted me said, "That’s all right then—it’s our fault for living longer." Both life expectancy and life experience vary significantly depending on class and, crucially, on where one lives. Women in Wales will be hit particularly hard by the changes. Life expectancy is generally lower in Wales than in England—there is a difference of up to 11 years. Welsh women and Welsh men therefore have less opportunity to enjoy their retirement. Incomes in Wales are also low, so they have already suffered a disproportionate disadvantage. There are fewer job opportunities and jobs are more insecure, particularly in some constituencies On Monday, I asked the Prime Minister about the fate of the EU convergence funding that we in Wales won after a long and hard fight. He smiled sympathetically and went on to talk about Romania and Bulgaria. Disgracefully, that is where the incomes of women and men in Wales are—on a par with those in Romania and Bulgaria. Wales has the lowest income per head of all the UK nations and regions The equal treatment of women and men in respect of the state pension is good, but the way in which the Government have handled the matter is not. In fact, it is a disgrace.
European Council — House of Commons, 2016-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): Plaid Cymru supports our membership of the EU. We also support further reform, and we will campaign accordingly. Were we to leave, what would happen to measures such as convergence funding, which has provided large amounts of money for the poorer areas of west Wales and the valleys?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I have read some very interesting statistics in the past week. There has been a 43% decline in the foundation industries across the United Kingdom since 2000, but the figure across the other OECD countries is only 21%. Why does the Secretary of State think the decline across the UK since 2000 has been twice that of the other OECD countries?
EU Council — House of Commons, 2016-01-05
Topic: International Affairs
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): Given the lack of progress and detail in the Prime Minister’s renegotiation wish list and considering he has asked for other ideas today, will he support my party’s call for greater influence for the devolved Governments within the EU’s decision-making structures as a way of increasing democracy and accountability?
Flooding — House of Commons, 2016-01-05
Topic: Transportation
Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I want to take the opportunity to pay tribute to volunteers and all those people in the emergency services who helped out not just in northern England, but in Scotland and Wales as well. I also want to draw attention to the A55, a dual carriageway in north Wales, which is of great UK and European importance because it links the economies of Ireland and Wales to the UK and wider European markets. Will the Secretary of State confirm that she will put pressure on the Labour First Minister in Wales to guarantee sufficient funding and a starting date for essential works to ensure that the A55 route is kept flood free at Talybont from now on?
Saudi Arabia — House of Commons, 2016-01-05
Topic: International Affairs
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): Do the UK Government realise that unless western powers have a consistent approach to foreign policy in the middle east, particularly on human rights, there is no hope for a lasting peace? With that in mind, elementally, what is the difference between Islamic terrorist groups beheading people and Saudi Arabia beheading its political opponents?
Future Funding for S4C — House of Commons, 2016-01-05
Topic: Government Operations
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): As a fellow Carmarthenshire MP, does the hon. Gentleman share my concern that the excellent news about S4C’s relocation to Carmarthenshire will not achieve its full benefit if funding continues to fall as has happened over successive comprehensive spending review periods?
Future Funding for S4C — House of Commons, 2016-01-05
Topic: Technology
Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): Does the hon. Gentleman agree that now is the time for an independent review of broadcasting in Welsh and of S4C, including the departmental cuts and the cuts to the BBC and the challenges of the new digital platforms? With so many issues now on the cards, we need an independent review to take them in hand.
Future Funding for S4C — House of Commons, 2016-01-05
Topic: Transportation
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): The hon. Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart) hit this issue on the head in his comments to the press today when he said that this was a clear election promise broken. The Conservative party promised to protect the funding of S4C. With broken promises on rail electrification in Swansea to be taken into account and with an election coming up in May for the National Assembly, why should anyone take seriously anything that the Conservative party says?
Future Funding for S4C — House of Commons, 2016-01-05
Topic: Technology
Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): Does the Minister agree that the means by which we measure the viewing figures for S4C are not appropriate? It involves 300 television sets across Wales, 173 in Welsh-speaking homes. Children under four are not included in the figures, nor are people who watch on digital platforms. It really is not fit and that is writ large in the case of the small viewing figures for S4C.
Enterprise Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-03-08
Topic: Labor
Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): When companies such as Magnox were privatised, workers such as those at Trawsfynydd in Dwyfor Meirionnydd lost access to their public sector pension scheme, but they are now going to be included in a cap on public sector redundancy payments. Does the shadow Secretary of State agree that the Treasury is trying to have its cake and eat it at the expense of those workers?
Welfare — House of Commons, 2016-03-21
Topic: Social Welfare
Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I congratulate the Secretary of State on his appointment and wish him well. He faces a huge challenge, but he also leaves behind a huge challenge for his colleagues in the Wales Office in respect of the Wales Bill. With one bound he was free—or possibly not. I welcome his commitment to resetting the conversation with disabled people. The abandoned changes to PIP were apparently based on review of just 105 cases of the more than 600,000 people who depend on PIP, supplemented apparently by 400 further reviews after the decision was taken. Will he guarantee that before further changes to welfare are proposed, proper, independent research will be publicly available beforehand?
Welsh Affairs — House of Commons, 2016-03-03
Topic: Government Operations
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for supporting that idea. Would he support Plaid Cymru Members if we tabled an amendment to the Wales Bill to remove public holidays from the list of matters reserved to Westminster?
Welsh Affairs — House of Commons, 2016-03-03
Topic: Education
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): The hon. Gentleman alluded to the importance of the European Union for Cardiff University and research funding. He knows, of course, that the leader of the Conservative party in the Assembly has said that he will vote for Brexit. What impact does the hon. Gentleman think that that will have on higher education policy in the Conservative manifesto for the Assembly elections?
Welsh Affairs — House of Commons, 2016-03-03
Topic: International Affairs
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I will start by talking about the European Union, as many Members have during the debate. I will vote yes for a number of reasons. In a previous life I was an international historian in the international politics department at Aberystwyth, a world-renowned department in our country. It was set up in the aftermath of the first world war, following a generous donation of £20,000 by the great industrialist David Davies Llandinam to honour the dead and maimed students of the university. Davies was motivated—I will quote the university’s website, because I could not put it better myself— "by a global vision, forged in the fires of war, aimed at repairing the shattered family of nations and, more ambitiously, to redeem the claims of men and women in a great global commonwealth" My academic speciality was both world wars and the cold war. No one should ever question the vital role played by greater economic co-operation on the continent, and by the European Union, in forging lasting security, prosperity and peace I will vote to remain also because Wales is a net beneficiary of EU support, to the tune of £4 billion by 2020 if match funding is added. To its credit, the EU has redistributive mechanisms whereby resources and investment are aimed at the poorest geographical areas—mechanisms sadly lacking in the UK, which I suggest is a matter of shame for Unionists. I have yet to see a contingency plan from the UK for what would happen if they oversaw a calamitous exit from the EU. In contrast to the EU’s mechanisms, the UK fails to allocate spending based on need and instead ploughs its infrastructure investment into already vastly wealthy areas at the expense of those desperately in need of it UK membership of the EU has also played an important part in driving social justice, be it in protecting people from discrimination based on age, sex, race, religion or disability, in maternity and parental leave entitlements, or in the right to paid holidays and working hours limited to 48 hours a week As a net exporter, the Welsh economy benefits hugely from the single market and its 500 million consumers. The hon. Member for Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock) gave an important statistic about the importance of export trade to the Welsh economy.
Welsh Affairs — House of Commons, 2016-03-03
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): Obviously the Barnett formula is a step forward, but does this not underline the danger of using opaque terms such as "fairness" and "non-detriment"? In my view, a fair funding settlement should be based on need rather than serving to prevent further injustice. As the hon. Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) pointed out, the key aspect of non-detriment is the fiscal framework. Has the Minister any idea of the preferred index for which the Welsh Labour Government are arguing with the Treasury? It is clear that different mechanisms will have vastly different outcomes.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): We have heard that the rule of law is paramount. The Government control what is legal and illegal in tax law. Can the Prime Minister guarantee that the law will make offshore tax dodging in all its forms illegal?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): In his statement the Secretary of State admitted that UK Government Ministers knew in advance about Tata’s intentions for Port Talbot, and a Welsh Government Minister recently boasted in the Financial Times that the Welsh Government knew before Christmas, yet neither Government were present at the crisis meeting in Mumbai when the fate of the plants was determined. That does not contrast particularly well with the decisive action of the Scottish Government, who nationalised Tata’s operations in Scotland to facilitate a private sale. Is it a case, once again, of the Welsh economy and the Welsh workforce being let down by a careless Tory Government here in Westminster and by a complacent Labour Government in Wales?
Government Referendum Leaflet — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: International Affairs
Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): EU membership is very valuable for Wales and Plaid Cymru is very much in favour both of reform and of remaining within the EU; we believe another Europe is possible, and will be campaigning for that. I am, however, dismayed by the negativity of the Government’s campaign, effected in much of the leaflet, which even the BBC managed to label this morning as "snappily titled". Will the Minister concede the possibility that he may be repeating the mistakes of "Project Fear"? I add, if I may, that the online version of the leaflet, which is available now irrespective of the Welsh Assembly and Scottish elections, does not appear to be available in Welsh—although, exceptionally in this case, possibly thankfully so.
Libya — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: International Affairs
Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I am grateful to the Foreign Secretary for advance sight of his statement. We in Plaid Cymru agreed with the 2011 intervention to prevent an imminent large-scale murderous attack on civilians in Benghazi. Later on, in Benghazi itself, the Prime Minister said that we would "stand with you as you build your democracy and build your country for the future." Will the Foreign Secretary guarantee that this time we will fulfil our promises?
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I rise to speak to new clauses 5 to 8 in this group, which are in my name. Madam Deputy Speaker, you will be glad to hear that I will be as brief as possible, because I am desperate to get to the third grouping so that we can have a vote on those amendments My new clauses aim to achieve two things: first, to secure justice for my country in the formulation of monetary policy; secondly, to help monetary policy formulation better to reflect the fiscal reality of the evolving UK. They are probing amendments, and I wish to draw the Government’s attention to them again as these are important points that the Government should go away and look at before possibly coming back with their own proposals, given the relatively light legislative programme before the House these days. I was glad to hear that Labour was holding a review into these issues, and I look forward to reading its findings, although it would have been handy if the review had been prepared in advance. We could then have discussed those issues in this debate on the legislation The first of my new clauses proposes a change to the name of the central bank. We in Plaid Cymru believe that the Bank of England’s name should be changed. It is the UK’s central bank, and it is time that was reflected to a greater degree, not only in its name but in its structures and practices. It is an undoubtedly contentious issue for me as a proud Welshman that the central bank that decides monetary policy in Wales is named after another country. The Bank of England was created in 1694, before the present British state was constructed. Wales was annexed in 1536, Scotland in 1707 and Ireland in 1801. The central bank was therefore created to serve a political entity that consisted only of Wales and England. I suppose the fact that Wales was omitted from its title reflects the inferior status that my country enjoyed in 1694 Many of those present will have heard my schoolboy hero Sir Ian Botham on "The Daily Politics" yesterday, saying of the EU referendum: "England is an island and we should be proud" I was going to say "If only", but I thought I might get into trouble. That dubious geographical knowledge reflects an error continually suffered by the other nations of the UK at the hands of those who use "England" to mean a larger entity. It is an injustice that persists in cricket, Wales being denied a national team in its own right. Similarly, the other nations of the UK are denied recognition when it comes to the central bank. If the British state is a partnership of equals, all its institutions must reflect that reality, including perhaps the most important institution underpinning its financial system: the central bank.
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I fully agree with my hon. Friend on that point. I also agree with the points he made earlier about the north-south divide and the impact that monetary policy has had on that reality. It is no surprise that the UK is the most grotesquely unequal state in the EU in terms of geographical wealth, and one of the main reasons for that is that for far too long monetary policy has been determined in the interests of a very small part of it—namely, the square mile just down the Thames All current MPC members are either Bank staff or in one of the four positions nominated by the Treasury. Fittingly, there are four countries in the UK, which makes the MPC ripe for modification to ensure that all nations are represented when it comes to the highly important task of deciding interest rates. I am also interested in the emerging debate on changing the MPC’s remit with regard to setting interest rates. New clause 7 seeks to expand the mandated objectives of the MPC to include maximum employment. It is already specifically charged with keeping to an inflation target of 2%. Other central banks, such as the US Federal Reserve, to which reference was made in my exchange with the hon. Member for East Lothian, have a dual mandate that goes beyond inflation. In 1977, the US Congress amended the Federal Reserve Act 1913 and mandated the Federal Reserve to target long-term moderate interest rates and, critically, maximum employment. I heard with interest the Minister’s point that the Bank does consider the Government’s employment target, but there is a difference between that and a mandate for maximum or full employment New clause 8 seeks to improve the Bank’s accountability to Wales and the other devolved Governments. The British state is changing rapidly as powers and responsibility flow from Westminster to the devolved Administrations, although the pace is perhaps not as quick as those like me would want. We are not privy to the meetings between Treasury Ministers and the Governor and his senior team, but we can safely assume that they are frequent. On top of that, the Governor and his team meet the Treasury Committee at least five times a year. As I mentioned a moment ago, fiscal powers already exist in the devolved nations, with more planned, so I hope that the Bank and the Treasury agree that it is in their interests to strengthen relations with the devolved Governments and Parliaments. I am not aware of any formal structures for meetings between the Governor and Ministers of the devolved Governments, or for scrutiny of the Bank by the devolved Parliaments. In the interest of mutual respect, those structures need to be formalised.
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): The Minister will have heard today the heartfelt concerns of representatives from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland about the accountability of the central bank to the devolved Parliaments and Governments. Will she at least commit to a Treasury report on that, or will she request the Bank of England to produce a report on how it aims to improve its financial accountability and its relationship with the devolved Parliaments and Governments?
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): My hon. Friend makes my point entirely. There is no issue of principle at stake; this is about finding the mechanism for delivery. This issue has received considerable media coverage in Wales. Considering that we are only two weeks from the Welsh general election, I suggest to Treasury Ministers that the election prospects of their candidates in Wales may be damaged if they choose to ignore the strong views of the people of Wales on this matter.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): The civil service, the state broadcaster and the central bank were all central players in project fear 1 in Scotland. Is it therefore naive not to expect the use of the same public assets on project fear 2 and the EU referendum?
Referendums — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): The Minister has just confirmed that the official campaign will launch bang in the middle of the devolved Administrations’ campaigns. It is quite an achievement to get Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionists, the Scottish National party, Plaid Cymru and the Labour party in Wales to agree on anything. Why is he not taking seriously the concerns expressed by all those parties?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): I am grateful to the hon. Lady, who has been extremely generous in giving way, and I am more than happy to support the motion. Is she aware of the work of the devolved Government of Wallonia in Belgium, who have a strategy to protect their steel industry, encompassing an investment fund, an innovative research plant and clear protective measures for steelworkers? Should the Labour Welsh Government pursue a similar strategy?
Prisons and Probation — House of Commons, 2016-01-27
Topic: Law and Crime
Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru, Centre-left to left): The prison system is a source of much frustration for many people involved in justice in Wales, and I welcome this opportunity to raise a number of specific issues. Despite recommendations from the police, unions and independent commissions, as well as from a cross-section of politicians, this remains a reserved matter for the UK Government, and the consequences for Wales are clear. In spite of the excellent work done by many justice officers, our prisons are neither located nor designed with the needs of Welsh citizens in mind. We still do not have a women’s prison in Wales—