argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Myanmar — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Alyn Edward Smith (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I hope I have demonstrated in the House that I do not believe in fabricating difference. I agree with all the content of the Minister’s statement, and I commend him on it, as far as it goes. I would like to press him on further action that it would be useful to take This is yet another reminder of the importance of all of us—Government, state and individuals—being vocal advocates at home and abroad for the rule of law. I invite the Minister to mention to his ministerial colleagues just how damaging it was for the UK to mull the idea of breaking recently agreed international provisions in a "limited and specific" way. That really has weakened all our credibility in this discussion. I support the international efforts that the Minister is taking forward, particularly within the G7—a position that the UK can use to the betterment of this. There is a strong case for further sanctions against the Burmese military as an organisation. There have been welcome sanctions on individuals, and there could be more of those, but the military is a huge commercial enterprise that is vulnerable to sanctions. I would also like reassurance on something that the Minister did not mention, which was co-operation with the EU. I think the EU’s position on this will be important, and co-ordinating on that will be very much to the benefit. It is early days yet, but what assessment has been made by our mission within country of the already dreadful situation of the Rohingya? Is there a risk of flight of Rohingya into Cox’s Bazar and into Bangladesh? Can the Minister give a reassurance that if more aid is necessary, we stand ready to provide it to the Bangladeshi Government, because this will take a concerted international effort? If he continues along those tracks, he will have our support.
Myanmar — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): May I associate myself with the remarks of the Minister and the two Opposition Front-Bench spokespersons? The Minister has reminded us that the commander-in-chief and his deputy are responsible for the current emergency situation in Myanmar. They and their associates are also responsible for the wholesale and systematic campaign of rape, torture and murder of the Rohingya Muslims, entirely for racist reasons. Can he give us an assurance that, in among the other discussions that are now required within the international community, high up on the agenda will be a restated determination that everyone who was responsible for those atrocities in Myanmar will one day be brought to justice and held to account for their crimes?
Myanmar — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Patrick John Grady (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): What effect will the Government’s decision to cut their aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national product have on their ability to sustain the level of humanitarian and development funding that the Minister has spoken of in Myanmar and for Rohingya refugees?
Extension of statutory paid bereavement leave — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The petition states: The petition of residents of the constituency of North Ayrshire and Arran, Declares that, given the huge toll of the coronavirus pandemic, there is an urgent need to extend statutory paid bereavement leave to all employees upon the loss of a close family member or partner; further declares that the welcome introduction of paid bereavement leave for parents on the loss of a child up to the age of 18 years old did not go far enough; notes that there is recent research which finds that grief experienced by employees who have lost a loved one costs the UK economy £23 billion per year, and costs the Treasury nearly £8 billion per year; further declares that many employers are supportive and understanding when an employee suffers a close bereavement, but without any statutory rights for employees to paid bereavement leave, the time and space to grieve for many people is determined by the goodwill of their employer; further that the discretionary nature of current arrangements means potentially thousands of employees will be unable to take leave without fearing that it could undermine their job security; further that it is concerning that bereaved people in low paid jobs are far less likely to receive paid time off or any compassionate leave at all; further that these people are at greater risk of losing their job for taking time off, and that it is grossly unfair for them to struggle with the immediate financial impact of bereavement while experiencing increasing pressure and financial stress; further that bereavement can trigger mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders, as well as being linked to an increased likelihood of heart attacks, diabetes and increased mortality; and further that while bereavement is a fact of life, if a fraction of the costs associated with it could be mitigated with better support at the right time, we could boost our economy and have a healthier society with a greater sense of wellbeing at its heart The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the UK Government to extend the right to statutory paid bereavement leave to all employees who lose a close family member or partner as a matter of urgency [P002647]
Food and Drink Exports to the EU — House of Commons, 2021-04-22
Topic: Foreign Trade
Gavin Andrew Stuart Newlands (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Since the Government’s precious Brexit, fish exports to the EU have collapsed and the Government said it was teething problems; cheese exports collapsed and the Government blamed exporters for poor paperwork; seafood exports collapsed and the Government said they might reclassify waters to make them cleaner. But nothing substantive has happened on any of it. What will it take to get action from Ministers, or do we have to wait for a text from a crony?
Food and Drink Exports to the EU — House of Commons, 2021-04-22
Topic: Foreign Trade
Deidre Leanne Brock (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Scottish exports make up a quarter of the UK’s food and drink exports. Those exports have been hammered by Brexit, losing out on hundreds of millions of pounds in sales in January and February alone, with some products seeing their market all but collapse, and virtually nothing is being done about it. A new Brexit cliff has arrived before we finished plummeting off the last one: composite food products now need export health certificates. The chaos of the last set of regs is still haunting our exports, and this new chaos will further dent them. Vets say they will not have the capacity to deal with this. What plans do the Government have to address that clear danger?
Fiscal Framework Agreement — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The reality is that the powers of the Scottish Government are not adequate to deal with the pandemic. There are too many constraints on borrowing powers for the Scottish Government; the reality is that councils can borrow more easily under the prudential borrowing code. Does the Minister not agree that it is time the Scottish Government had more flexible borrowing powers?
Living Standards — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is approaching two years since this Government said that they would review the way in which dying people were treated through social security. Meanwhile, Marie Curie and many other campaigners for change estimate that as many as 6,000 people have died while waiting for a decision on their claims. This Government have repeatedly promised to end the six-month rule, which is currently forcing terminally ill people to prove how long they have left to live before they can access fast-track support, so can the Chancellor confirm that this long overdue reform will be in the Queen’s Speech?
Living Standards — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Social Welfare
John MacKenzie Nicolson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My goodness, what a disastrous week for the UK Government. While they have been mired in scandal and slithering through sleaze, the SNP has committed to doubling the Scottish child payment and carers allowance and to introducing a new winter heating payment. Does the Chancellor accept that these are more noble social objectives than enriching well-placed cronies?
Living Standards — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Tories’ two-child limit, and the rape clause, which stands part of it, are having a devastating impact on living standards, with the Child Poverty Action Group and the Church of England estimating that 350,000 families and 1.25 million children have been affected so far. Scrapping the two-child limit would be the easiest and most cost-effective way of reducing child poverty in the UK, so will the Chancellor scrap it or will he push more families into poverty?
Living Standards — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is interesting that the Chancellor ignores the findings of the Church of England and the CPAG, which tell a very different story from that which he is willing to tell. In Scotland, the Scottish National party is committed to doubling the Scottish child payment, a new benefit described as a "game changer", to £20 a week; providing free school meals to all primary children; and extending wraparound childcare. All of those are a huge help to the families that this Tory Government choose to ignore. Does this not demonstrate the choice of two futures: more austerity and more child poverty under the Tories, or a Scotland working hard to be the best place for a child to grow up?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Government Operations
Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): With the Prime Minister apparently determined to keep the VIP tax-break hotline open, and as questions remain over the No. 10 refurbishment and concerns over Government procurement are still not addressed, will the Chancellor explain whether he thinks it is time for an independent inquiry into the misuse of public funds?
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: International Affairs
Christopher Murray Alexander Law (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The SNP’s condemnation of the Iranian Government for the painfully outrageous detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is unequivocal. Iran has never followed the rule of law in Nazanin’s case and she has never received a fair trial. Its cruelty, it seems, is boundless. The precise nature of the charges and evidence in the second case remain unclear and indistinct from the first case. What confirmation have the UK Government sought on the detail of these charges and whether Nazanin will be returned to prison, or put under house arrest, as a result of this new sentence? Furthermore, it is easy to forget that Nazanin’s case is yet another matter that the Prime Minister has blundered into and made much worse with his grossly incompetent mishandling while Foreign Secretary. He cannot continue to wash his hands of this case. Will the Prime Minister be making an apology on record to Nazanin and her family, and will the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office now do all that it can with the utmost urgency to undo the damage that the Prime Minister has done to secure Nazanin’s release?
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: International Affairs
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My constituent Sarah McCullough is one of many who have been in touch over the years to express their concerns and solidarity with Nazanin and her family. Nazanin’s continued detention is a mark of failure of this Government, this Minister and his predecessors. What confidence can British citizens have in the ability of this UK Government to protect them abroad?
Post Office Court of Appeal Judgment — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Government Operations
Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. He will hear from both sides of the House, and we are all going to be beating the same drum, but I do not apologise for repetition in this important statement The Minister stated that the chair of Post Office Ltd has apologised, but I note with regret that there is no direct apology from this Government. Yet again, this Government are acting as though the Post Office has absolutely nothing to do with them. I remind the Minister that the Government are the single shareholder in Post Office Ltd and civil servants sit on the board, and therefore the Government must apologise—in fact, the Prime Minister should apologise The Court of Appeal’s decision shows that there has been a devastating failure by Post Office Ltd during Paula Vennells’ leadership. She should be stripped of any titles and any additional compensation received as a result of her inexplicable decision to continue legal proceedings in spite of what was known about Horizon at the time. However, I agree with the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central (Chi Onwurah) that it is much more important that a statutory, judge-led inquiry is launched, so that all who failed sub-postmasters are held to account. That would be meaningful progress in the pursuit of justice, rather than a token gesture. Sir Wyn Williams will do his best and will bring forward many things that need to be looked at, but we need a statutory inquiry. Will the Minister agree to that? Horizon has united Members across the Chamber. Will the Minister therefore agree to meet the all-party parliamentary group on post offices, which I chair, to discuss in detail and agree a way forward that will ensure justice for sub-postmasters Finally, sub-postmasters deserve to be fully compensated for having their lives devastated by Horizon and the injustices that followed, without detriment to the current post office network. The Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance needs to be compensated. It has not been properly compensated yet, as its legal costs swallowed up any compensation that it received at the time. Will the Minister agree to cover the legal costs of the 555 sub-postmasters involved in civil action against Post Office Ltd and all costs accrued by Post Office Ltd in payment of compensation?
Post Office Court of Appeal Judgment — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Law and Crime
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Following on from that point, the reality is that the Post Office remains the only body in the UK to run its own prosecutions and it starts from an assumption of guilt when it comes to disputes. Here, for Horizon, it acted as judge, jury and executioner, operated at standards way below the CPS and blocked the forensic account in Second Sight’s Horizon review. When is the Post Office going to be stripped of these prosecution powers? When will a fair dispute resolution process be put in place?
Electricity — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Energy
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for giving way so early. Are there any interim targets for upgrading homes to energy performance certificate band C? What is meant by practical, cost-effective and reasonable costs? Can those terms be defined, or are they left for others to judge?
Electricity — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Energy
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am sure the hon. Gentleman will accept that, if someone is fuel-poor, the reality is that they probably live in a household where they are poor anyway. They are living in poverty and one of the causes of poverty is the reduction in welfare and benefits, which is clearly reserved to Westminster. Does he acknowledge that that is a problem? Also, has his APPG looked at investment in energy efficiency in Scotland, where it is four times per capita that of Westminster?
Electricity — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Will the Minister be able to clarify how the £475 million figure was derived? That is an increase of £121 million, which is an increase of almost a third. I am just curious about the workings that said £354 million this year is okay, but we need a massive increase the year after.
Exiting the European Union (Animals) — House of Commons, 2021-04-27
Topic: Foreign Trade
Deidre Leanne Brock (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Here we are again, coming up to five years since that referendum in which England decided to take us out of the EU, and still those behind that hare-brained scheme cannot settle on what needs to be done. There has been a veritable catalogue of failures along the way, passing by the truly awful performances in negotiations, the collapse of exporting industries in the early part of this year—teething problems, the Minister said—and the truly appalling way in which EU citizens have been treated by this Tory Government So here we are once again spending time on regulations to facilitate Brexit. How long have we spent having to discuss, adjust, finesse and rehash regulations for what was supposed to be the easiest trade deal in history? Today, we are kicking the import regulations down the road a little and I am sure that we will be back later to sort something else out and something else after that The SNP will not oppose these regulations today; they are necessary to keep the food on supermarket shelves here, because the Government failed to plan for Brexit. It is almost as if they did not understand what was coming, because the provisions for running a sensible import system are as lacking as this Government’s provisions for running a sensible export system. I have no doubt that Brexit will continue to harm businesses the length and breadth of the UK: small exporters are being crushed; farmers are feeling the pressure; and fisher folk are watching their communities being placed under huge strain. In the meantime, UK Ministers will be trumpeting the great achievement of signing trade deals with countries in various parts of the world—trade deals that will have no measurable impact on GDP or the economy here Scotland will soon be out of this Union and we will leave behind those who would cause self-damage for the sake of some forlorn idea of sovereign superiority, and I have to say that I am impatient to see that day.
The Union — House of Commons, 2021-04-28
Topic: International Affairs
Stuart Campbell McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): If the Secretary of State is so confident in the Union, why is he stopping the Prime Minister coming to Scotland to campaign for it? Have the dubious donations for renovations made that impossible? The contracts for contacts? The disgraceful comments about bodies piling high? Or is it simply that the Prime Minister represents a fundamental problem for Scotland being in the Union, with year after year of Prime Ministers, parties and policies that Scotland would not vote for in a million years?
The Union — House of Commons, 2021-04-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Particularly as we rebuild after covid, we have an opportunity and a need to make radically different economic choices. After a week of troublesome allegations about the Government and the Prime Minister, it should be no surprise that many in Scotland want to take a different, independent path to that of this Government. If that request is reflected in the upcoming Scottish Government elections and a majority of pro-independence MSPs are elected, will the Minister and his Government respect that as a mandate for a second independence referendum?
The Union — House of Commons, 2021-04-28
Topic: International Affairs
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I did not hear an answer to my question there. The leader of the Scottish Conservatives was asked multiple times on recent media, "What would be the democratic path for Scotland to an independence referendum?" He could not answer the question, so can the Minister tell us what the path is?
The Union — House of Commons, 2021-04-28
Topic: International Affairs
Peter Wishart (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): There is only one sure-fire way for the Union to be strengthened in the next week and that is to get the Prime Minister to Scotland and on the campaign trail. The Secretary of State surely knows that there will be throngs of happy Scots rejoicing in the Prime Minister’s sleaze-free presence, helping the Electoral Commission with its inquiries and sharing anecdotes about bodies piled high on the streets—what could possibly go wrong for the Scottish Tories? Can the Secretary of State and I start working on the itinerary? Surely Scotland deserves to see its Prime Minister before he inevitably has to resign.
Universal Basic Income — House of Commons, 2021-04-28
Topic: Government Operations
David Melvyn Linden (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. I know that he is committed to devolution and the respect agenda and would want to take very seriously the outcome of the election result in Scotland. Given that all the main parties in Scotland—representing 80% of Scottish voters—except the Conservatives have indicated support for trialling the concept of UBI, does the Minister accept that if indeed those parties are elected in the next Parliament, there will be a mandate and going ahead with trials would just be a matter of respecting devolution?
COP26 — House of Commons, 2021-04-28
Topic: Energy
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Minister should be embarrassed that renewables generators in Scotland face the highest locational grid charges in the whole of Europe. Ahead of COP26, we need to see a route to market for pumped-storage hydro and for wave and tidal, the go-ahead given for Acorn carbon capture and storage and a contract for difference for hydrogen. What capability does the Scottish Office, working with Cabinet colleagues, have to get those matters resolved?
COP26 — House of Commons, 2021-04-28
Topic: Environment
Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The SNP Scottish Government have committed to doubling their climate change justice fund if re-elected next week. This £21 million fund is used to help combat the effects of climate change in the global south while we tackle carbon emissions at home. In the year of COP26, will the UK Government follow Scotland’s lead and commit to a comparable climate justice fund to help those affected by climate change?
Scotland’s Constitutional Future — House of Commons, 2021-04-28
Topic: International Affairs
James Neale Hanvey (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): When Scotland opens negotiations for independence following the election of a supermajority on 6 May, will those talks be led by the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Union—should, of course, he still be in post by that time?