argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Public Lands
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): This is an issue that has generated a range of very strong views, but there should be a common sadness that such an important memorial is set back yet again. Remembering the holocaust and what it says about humanity’s past, present and future is an intergenerational necessity— 6 million Jewish people, Roma and Gypsy people, Slavic people, LGBT people, disabled people all savagely murdered. Antisemitism remains a scourge today that we all must fight together I am proud that Nottinghamshire is home to the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, and I urge right hon. and hon. Members and anyone watching proceedings today to visit it. They would not accept credit readily, but the work of the Smith family is a model of how memorials can be very thoughtfully done by bringing people together. We lost Marina Smith last month and I know that all colleagues will want to pass on their best wishes to the Smiths We are now faced with the question of what to do next. The Leader of the Opposition made very clear last week our commitment to a national memorial and his very strong belief that it should be sited next to Parliament. Does the Minister intend to bring forward legislation to make sure that this memorial happens? Will he commit to a cross-party, all-community effort to revitalise the project? I know that he is by instinct a consensus builder, and I suggest that he leans on that now, because this is a project of huge national importance and it is a source of sadness that we cannot make something of such universal significance happen. We now must come together to ensure that it does.
Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Civil Rights
John Robert Cryer (Labour, Centre-left): As the Minister indicated earlier, the holocaust is now slipping from memory into history. I am convinced that that at least partly explains the rise in antisemitism and holocaust denial that we have seen across Britain and Europe. Is it not even more important now that the holocaust memorial centre should, as a number of hon. Members and the Minister have indicated, be right by the epicentre of democracy? I find it absolutely extraordinary that the argument is being advanced that we should not have it in Victoria Tower Gardens because it would become a target. On that basis, why do we not close this place down, because this place is a target? Will the Minister give a commitment, as the right hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Stephen Crabb) asked, to bring forward legislation in September to enable the construction of the centre?
Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Housing
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): May I say to the Minister that this is not a party political matter—it goes across the parties? We want this centre to be built and we want it to be built sooner rather than later. My father fought in the last war and was one of the Royal Engineers who went to Germany for the clear-up. He never recovered from what he saw there at the end of the war. I have this plea to the Minister. People will be disturbed by this. I was sorry to see that, under the contract that had been let, all the materials will be brought in and the waste taken away by road, but it would be much better for the residents and for the people in London if it were all carried on the river. Will the Minister consider that?
Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeffrey Smith (Labour, Centre-left): A report from the Community Security Trust was released last week on antisemitism in the pandemic. It outlined a very disturbing case in Manchester, my home town, of Jewish people being targeted for spreading covid. Fortunately, the perpetrator was arrested and jailed for six months, but does that not just demonstrate that this does not go away and that there is always an excuse? That is why it is absolutely crucial that we have the national centre to educate future generations on this issue.
Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Civil Rights
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): The memorial has to be near Parliament. At a time when antisemitism was commonplace, in the 1930s in British society, Victor Cazalet MP was the first person in the House to warn of the coming holocaust. Jack Macnamara MP visited Dachau and when he came back he said that we had to fight Hitler. Rob Bernays MP was called "a filthy Jew" by Hitler’s friends in Germany. All three of them lost their lives and have shields on the walls of the Chamber. This is intimately about Parliament, democracy and antisemitism, and we have to put those things together.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rupa Asha Huq (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, may I seek your advice? In the run-up to my debate on English language schools in Westminster Hall this week, my office was contacted numerous times by Home Office officials wanting me to change the title of the debate to make it just about visas. I declined to do so, because my content was wider than that. I also had an email the day before the debate from the departmental Parliamentary Private Secretary, asking for my speech. I had not written it by then, but I did give a list of issues to be outlined On the day itself, I was surprised that the body language of the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster), who is usually a very pleasant and reasonable chap, made it clear that he did not want to be there. Then, following my contribution and those by others, he read out a largely pre-prepared statement conforming to the desired title that officials had pushed me to adopt, not to what I had addressed. I was accused of being too narrow and of not focusing on things that I had actually addressed, and the Minister said that the debate was a "missed opportunity" Madam Deputy Speaker, is it orderly or normal for civil servants to try to move the goalposts of a Member’s chosen subject matter? If someone rolls their eyes at a Member, even before they have opened their mouth, does that not suggest discourtesy, even if Government Members do have other things on their mind—the results of the leadership contest were unfolding while the debate took place. Whoever decided to try to change the terms of the debate, does that not display a concerning disregard for scrutiny?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Lady for giving me notice of her point of order. I presume that she informed the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster) that she was going to raise this.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you. The business to be taken in Westminster Hall is determined by the Chairman of Ways and Means, the Backbench Business Committee or the Petitions Committee, not by Ministers or their officials. While the content of Ministers’ responses to debates in Westminster Hall is not a matter for the Chair, I would obviously expect those responses to address the content of the speeches in those debates. If the hon. Lady feels that the Minister’s responses to the points she made in the debate were unsatisfactory, I am sure that the Table Office will be able to advise on how best to pursue the matter. I do not know if the Minister wants to make any comments—
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Member for his point of order. He asked whether the Government were likely to make a statement. I am not sure whether this was raised in business questions just now, but I do not think the Leader of the House made reference to any statement and I do not believe that the Speaker’s Office has received notification that the Government intend to make a statement today. Government statements are not a matter for the Chair, but I am sure that those on the Treasury Bench will have heard the hon. Member’s points, which he has now put very firmly on record.
HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): We now come to the Select Committee statement. The right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson), representing the Home Affairs Committee, will speak for up to 10 minutes, during which time no interventions may be taken. At the conclusion of her statement, I will call Members to put questions on the subject of the statement and call Dame Diana Johnson to respond to these in turn. I should emphasise that the questions should be directed to Dame Diana Johnson and not to the relevant Government Minister. Interventions should be questions and should be brief. Those on the Front Bench may also take part in questioning.
HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Immigration
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the comments from the hon. Member, who is of course the Committee’s longest standing member. He is absolutely right that the Rwanda policy came about towards the very end of our deliberations on the issue. He is also right, as I think I said in my speech, that we have not yet come to a conclusion on the Rwanda policy. What we are very clear about, however, is that the evidence for the Rwanda policy has not been forthcoming. We have asked the Home Office to provide modelling and cost estimates, but we have not had any of that. He is absolutely right that we need to wait and see. I quoted the figures to see what has been happening in the past few weeks and months, and at the moment—I understand what he is saying—it does not look as though the policy is having that deterrent effect. I am very willing to concede that. I think the main point we were making was really that the policymaking was poor in this regard On the hon. Member’s second point, about pilots undertaken on French soil to determine asylum claims there, the Committee absolutely thinks that would be a good way forward; to test out that model, get the evidence and see whether it would work. Of course, that is dependent on the French agreeing to it. Like the hon. Member, we think that is a conversation that should be had with the French.
HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Immigration
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his comments. I, too, have seen the chief inspector’s report, which actually we have been waiting for—it was delayed for some time. The Committee is very concerned about the backlog in the Home Office. The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right; the figures show that by the end of last year there were supposed to be up to 1,000 case workers, and it has not reached that. We are also aware that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had offered to help the Home Office to triage the backlog, by finding ways of speeding up the process. We think that it would be very useful for the Home Office to take up that good advice. He is absolutely right; unless the Home Office has a workforce that is of the right number and it retains that workforce, because it takes a while for people to be trained up to make good decisions, this problem will carry on, unfortunately.
HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Civil Rights
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): The documents that came out of the court case came to light only after our report had been published. We were very much hoping that the Home Secretary would be able to attend the Committee’s meeting yesterday. Unfortunately, she was not available. Sadly, she was not available the week before either, even though that was a very long-standing date in the diary. Therefore, we have not had the opportunity to talk to and ask questions of the Home Secretary or Home Office Ministers about what has happened in the last few days. However, members of the Committee are very alive to the issue of human rights and to the concerns of the UNHCR and others, which have been raised with the Committee, and we will return to this issue. As I said, the issue is before the courts and no one has been removed yet, but we will want to follow very closely what happens in the weeks and months to come.
HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Immigration
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my right hon. Friend and her Committee for their work on this significant issue and for highlighting a lack of coherence and compassion on the part of the Government. Paragraph 48, in particular, is very significant; it talks about announcements being made prematurely, before issues have been properly worked through. Events at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, which I appreciate have been announced since the inquiry, show yet again how the lack of a strategy to deal with the backlog of asylum claims is causing the Government to announce initiatives prematurely. When the Home Secretary does eventually attend the Committee, will my right hon. Friend ensure that she raises the point of Linton-on-Ouse and the fact that there needs to be a coherent strategy rather than initiatives that are more about headlines than resolving the issue?
HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Immigration
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): We have pencilled in a date in September when we hope the Home Secretary will be able to join us, and I am certain that we will ask about the process for engaging with communities, local authorities and MPs when the Home Office is making decisions that will be important for local areas. I very much hear what my hon. Friend says. I am pleased that the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster), is on the Treasury Bench and will have heard that too, because we have had conversations about communications between the Home Office and key local stakeholders about decisions such as where to house asylum seekers.
HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Immigration
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): It is obviously a cross-party report and so had to be agreed by Committee members from all parties. I think we were quite clear about the need for the Government to address and expand safe and legal routes. It is worth mentioning that we are somewhere in the middle of the table: we are not the most generous and we are not the least generous country in taking asylum seekers. That is worth remembering. As I say, the report has cross-party support, and I actually think it is fairly hard-hitting about the situation in the asylum system and in respect of small boat crossings in the channel. I hope we will get a positive response from the Home Office in due course.
HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Immigration
Stephen Nathan Kinnock (Labour, Centre-left): I add my congratulations to my right hon. Friend on her Committee’s excellent and vital work. The report that we are discussing is just one of three reports published this week alone that have strongly condemned the Government’s approach to our broken asylum system. The Downer report identified serious failings in the Border Force, and the report published today by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration describes the Home Office response to the small boats crisis as "both ineffective and inefficient" Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Home Secretary’s failure to attend the Select Committee is essentially an admission that the Government are utterly failing to handle and grip this issue? Does she agree that it is completely unacceptable that this House is not going to have an opportunity to question Ministers about the deeply troubling findings in the damning Neal report by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, and that the Government’s sneaking that report out today is a clear attempt to avoid scrutiny, which is completely unacceptable?
Human Rights Abuses and Corruption: UK Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): We will now move on to the two remaining debates of the day. Before we start, let me stress that the Sir David Amess summer Adjournment debate, in particular, is extremely well subscribed, so we are going to have to impose time limits. In the first debate, we will start with a seven-minute limit, but that may have to go down quickly. Sir Iain Duncan Smith has very courteously suggested that I put a bit of guidance on the screens for the 15 minutes that he has allocated for his opening speech. I hope that throughout the afternoon we will be able to get an equal allotment for participating Back Benchers.
Human Rights Abuses and Corruption: UK Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Mixed Topics
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): I completely agree that we should have a foreign agents registration Bill. My understanding is that the Government are intending to put that in the middle of the National Security Bill, but only on Report. Is it not vital that we have proper debate on that, with at least two days on the Floor of the House to consider it, because it is a matter of constitutional security?
Human Rights Abuses and Corruption: UK Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Other
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is an expert in matters of procedure. He is also an expert in matters Magnitsky. If he thinks that that is the best way forward, I think it is the best way forward I do not wish to detain the House any longer, but I pay tribute to Bill Browder and all those people around him who, in the face of death threats, have continued their search for justice. We owe it to them to support them.
Human Rights Abuses and Corruption: UK Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Civil Rights
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): Does the hon. Gentleman recognise the phrase "seamless garment"? It refers to Jesus’s robe when it was taken off him and they decided to cast lots for it rather than cut it up. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that human rights are a seamless garment in that we cannot separate one category of human rights from another? Would he therefore also seek to condemn the execution in Iran of Mehrdad Karimpour and Farid Mohammadi for homosexuality in February this year?
Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Civil Rights
John Robert Cryer (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful for that intervention. I was going to mention the hon. Member for Keighley (Robbie Moore), because I have talked to him about this issue, and it is very much in his mind. He has raised it again and again, as have many MPs, but I wanted to pay tribute to my mum because she happens to have been one of the first people who raised it David Blunkett is owed our eternal gratitude, because he ensured that the law was changed so that six men could be sent to prison for crimes of rape, exploitation and underage sex. I suspect that if it were not for David, who is now in another place, that court case could have collapsed, as could future court cases. I will not name any of the people responsible, but the people—sadly, from my party—who lined up to attack my mum and smear her as a racist and for doing the British National party’s job for it should hang their heads in shame.
Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Mixed Topics
Jessica Elizabeth Morden (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Member for that intervention. I shall look at that with great interest as Members are very interested in this issue. Multiple Departments have a dire record on written parliamentary questions, particularly in relation to COP26 and the Department of Health and Social Care. The record on named day questions is not much better either The picture is not much brighter on general written correspondence. The most recent data shows that only 16% of MPs’ and peers’ letters on COP26 were responded to within the timescale set, with the Government Equalities Office and the Department of Health and Social Care faring only slightly better. That bleeds through to MP hotlines, which have been unreliable for some time. The Home Office said that it needs a recovery plan to support its hotline to return to acceptable service standards, and it is preparing that. However, the Home Office is not the only Department in need of a recovery plan. The recent chaos at the Passport Office shows how badly the Government need to improve. The passport issue was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch, the hon. Member for Harrow East and my hon. Friend the Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney. We thank the civil servants, including those in the Newport passport office, who work so hard. I also put on record our thanks to all those who have come to work in Portcullis House I am running out of time, but I will mention another group who are being let down by the Government: the victims of the contaminated blood scandal. Ministers have had more than enough time to respond to Sir Robert Francis’s report, which recommends interim payments for victims now and the full inclusion of family members who lost loved ones in a future compensation framework. That would be a final recognition of the suffering of families such as my constituents, the Smiths, who lost their seven-year-old son, Colin, after he received infected blood products from a prison in Arkansas. My right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson) is absolutely right that the Government must get on with this I am pleased, however, that progress is being made on the Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill, which will finally scrap the hated six-month rule. Much thanks is due to charities such as the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Marie Curie, which helped me with a ten-minute rule Bill on this issue. I am glad that the social security Bill will come through the House in September and I know that it will get cross-party backing.
Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Other
Jessica Elizabeth Morden (Labour, Centre-left): I am sure that the Deputy Leader of the House will address that issue Finally, I wish everybody a happy recess. We will all be working in our constituencies through the summer, but I hope that staff get a break.
Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Other
James Ian Mearns (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Deputy Leader of the House. It is a tough gig, answering this debate This has been an historic first Sir David Amess summer Adjournment debate. I thank Members across the House for taking part and raising a wide range of issues. I am sure that the letter writers in the offices of the Leader of the House and the Deputy Leader of the House will be busy for a few days following today’s contributions Finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish you and every Member of this House, House staff, all those working across the parliamentary estate, and all staff in constituency offices across the country, a restful, enjoyable and well deserved summer recess.
Freeports: Economic Impact — House of Commons, 2022-06-29
Topic: Mixed Topics
Mary Elizabeth Twist (Labour, Centre-left): There are five excellent bids from across Scotland for the two proposed green freeports. Each of the bids is of such high quality that it would be a great shame not to support the local economies in Inverness and Cromarty, Orkney, the Forth, the Clyde, and Aberdeen City and Peterhead. Will the Minister’s Department consider what support can be given to unsuccessful areas, and whether that support can be widened?