argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Kevin Shinkwin (Conservative, Centre-right): Leave out from "that" to the end, and insert "this House declines to approve the Regulations because (1) they are drafted in such a way as to promote the stereotype that those with non-fatal disabilities are worthy of less protection in law than those who are not disabled; (2) to that extent they do not comply with the recommendation in paragraph 85 of the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s report Inquiry concerning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland under article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, published on 21 March 2018, in particular that legal grounds for abortion should be expanded ‘without perpetuating stereotypes towards persons with disabilities’; and (3) to that extent they are counter to the decision of the House on 17 July 2019 in amending the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Bill to implement the recommendations of paragraph 85 of that report."
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Rodney Elton (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, CEDAW has often been cited in support of the regulations. It is notable that abortion is actually never mentioned in it. My noble and learned friend Lord Mackay has pointed out that Parliament cannot bind its successors. There was a great dereliction when a proper opportunity to give Parliament a chance to reconsider repeal of Section 9 was missed. However, the words that have moved me most in this debate have been those of the noble Lord, Lord Empey. He pointed out that this has been a disgraceful misuse of parliamentary procedure, denying the proper level of consideration by your Lordships and the other House, and the fact that the Joint Committee has not drawn this to your Lordships’ attention makes it essential that its composition is revised in the future.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Ian Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, if this were the only occasion on which we had debated this legislation I might have some sympathy with those who tabled the amendments, but it is not. The last time that we discussed this, a great deal of time was spent on forecasts and predictions. There were to be rogue clinics, unusual practitioners, a whole range of elements. Time has passed, and they have not happened Women in Northern Ireland have, for the first time, the rights which we across the waters have. It is time we recognised that this is a step forward. Having 1,000-plus women crossing the Irish Sea to come to England to have their rights exercised is not sensible, nor is it fair. These amendments are not worthy of support and it is time to move on. It is time to support these regulations.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Nicholas Bourne (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, we have essentially already voted in favour of this law. I shall support the regulations; they provide greater clarity and certainty, protecting the health, safety and human rights of women. I understand the emotions on this matter, but I think it is right that there should be decriminalisation in Northern Ireland as in the rest of the United Kingdom. I also think that the human rights law dimension is very clear, particularly the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Supreme Court judgment, as well as broader human rights law. It is a simple matter ofthe rights of women. Although I understand the devolution element, the noble Lord, Lord Hain, was absolutely right that this was passed because, at the time, there was no Assembly, and we were right to act.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Patrick Cormack (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I speak as a former chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in another place, and I approach this from a constitutional position. I was very moved by the speeches of the noble Lord, Lord Shinkwin. the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, and the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, and I came to the same conclusion as they did. It is quite wrong, first of all, to rush this through with one-minute speeches and—now that we have a fully functioning Assembly that has made its concerns abundantly clear—for us to ignore the devolution settlement. We are not ignoring devolution in the battle against Covid-19, and nor should we. The four constituent countries of the UK are taking differing approaches in details. It is absolutely necessary, if you believe in devolution, to honour devolution and to let this decision be taken where it should be: in Stormont.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Richard Balfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, first, abortion is legal in Northern Ireland. Regulations are already in operation, and this is a framework. The BMA, which I sometimes suggest is a trade union for doctors, welcomes the regulations. It has three observations. First, as has been mentioned, it does not believe that healthcare workers should be subject to criminal sanctions. I agree with that. Secondly, it believes that abortion should be decriminalised across the UK. I agree with that. Its third observation—this is an issue that has not yet been mentioned—concerns the omission of the creation of exclusion zones outside confidential abortion services. That matter should be pursued, and if the Northern Ireland people are unhappy, they should reflect on the fact that for years they talked to themselves rather than address the needs of their population.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Ellen Eaton (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, Regulation 3 allows abortion for any reason up to 12 weeks’ gestation with no exclusions. New tests are available that determine the child’s sex before 12 weeks; thus sex-selective abortion is now lawful in Northern Ireland. Last Monday, the Minister said: "I make it clear … that the abortion regulations do not allow abortions on the grounds of sex selection."—[Official Report, 8/6/20; col. 1626.] Brett Lockhart QC has responded: "I confess to being entirely unclear as to how one could legally have come to that opinion" Writing in ConservativeHome today, leading human rights activist Jasvinder Sanghera responded: "Unless … there is a provision in the regulations currently held from sight by invisible ink, this assertion seems plainly wrong" She continued: "The last thing we need now is for the Government to send the message that its resolve to address sex selective abortion is weakening and indeed, as far as Northern Ireland is concerned, evaporating." I will vote "Content" in favour of the amendment proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, and against the regulations.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Philippa Stroud (Conservative, Centre-right): I urge the House to reject these regulations by voting to support the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan. This is an urgent issue of democracy and of disability equality. As we have heard, the Northern Ireland Assembly has already said no to these regulations. If that was not clear enough, support for rejecting the regulations only increases when people understand that non-fatal disabilities have been included in these regulations, including Down’s syndrome. Taking this into account, 75 of 90 MLAs rightly rejected the disability discrimination inherent in these regulations. One Parliament cannot bind the hands of another on a devolved matter. Do not be deceived: these regulations go significantly beyond what was required by CEDAW and impose on Northern Ireland what we would never accept here. I urge this House to understand the importance of respecting the Northern Ireland Assembly. I urge this House to stand up for democracy and stand for disability equality and support the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, and vote "Content", sending a message to the Government that they still have time to think again.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I apologise to the Minister for not getting to his briefing meeting on 12 June, but I have no wi-fi or telephone at home at the moment. I also express some disappointment that he is not able to be with us in the Chamber this evening. I will ask a series of questions arising from the SI, starting on page 3. Regulation 2(4) is about increased fines. I am not quite sure why fines are being changed at this stage. Is it because people are just paying no attention to the fine, or for some other reason? It would be helpful to the House and others if we knew how many fines have been issued and the geographical spread of those fines I note that, under Regulation 2(5)(b), new paragraph 43 is entitled "Garden centres". I express my disappointment that they were excluded right from the start. They were the ideal place to go to get flowers, vegetables, et cetera. Later on, we read that there has been no consultation with the public, but if anybody had asked anybody, garden centres—albeit that you would have had to close the cafés—would have been the first thing on the list to be opened. At the moment, the media is full of the idea of pub gardens. I say to my noble friend the Minister that there is no hope of opening a pub garden if the pub itself cannot be open. The economics just do not work Turning over the page, I express some disappointment that, according to paragraph 3.1 of the Explanatory Memorandum, it has been a month before we—and some of us have considerable experience in these areas—could debate the regulations Page 3 of the Explanatory Memorandum talks about collecting "goods from any business which have been purchased in advance by phone", blah blah blah. The point of buying online is that it is delivered to your home, not that you have to go out and collect it from somewhere; really, that is no different from the retail trade. All you are doing is undermining the retail trade, which does not seem sensible On the same page, paragraph b mentions "open space". I am afraid that the Countryside and Rights of Way Act does not cover the seashore, so there is an omission there. As far I know, you can go to the seashore Under "Consultation", the Explanatory Memorandum states: "There has been no public consultation" However, for consultation you do not have to go out and tell people; you can do it through all sorts of research organisations. But if it is left to government departments or SAGE, you can see why mistakes are made On "Monitoring & review", I will make one point to my noble friend. I do not want to hear any more about one metre until there are some real plans for it to come in, giving people in the hospitality industry adequate time to do it. It has to happen—and soon.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
David John Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, first, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on his never-failing energy and courtesy at the virtual Dispatch Box, where he performs on a daily basis. I have a point about the latest guidance, which is not in these regulations. From today, everyone has to wear a face mask when travelling on public transport, except for the disabled. I am sorry, but exempting the majority of disabled people is fundamentally wrong, sends the wrong signal and will bring disabled people into disrepute Of course, there are disabled people with breathing difficulties or who need an inhaler, and there are autistic children and some others for whom a face mask may be frightening and therefore unwearable. However, for the vast majority of wheelchair users, the blind and the deaf, what is the problem? I am in a wheelchair, as many noble Lords will know, and when I eventually get out, I shall be wearing a mask, and I hope my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, will approve. I shall wear it everywhere, including when I get back to the Chamber. So I ask the Minister to please look at this again, and make it clear that only disabled people with breathing difficulties or other select illnesses should not wear a mask As other noble Lords have said, these regulations are catching up on history, and while they are okay in themselves and I support them, they are now pretty pointless. Take Regulation 3, which allows people to visit a public open space either alone, with one or more members of their household or with one member of another household. However, for the past two weeks, we have seen mobs of tens of thousands packed together protesting, and the police incapable and unwilling to do anything about it. Indeed, some senior officers condoned mobs tearing down statues. Last weekend, 6,000 people were packed into a rave in Manchester, with stabbings and a rape. How can we expect the public to obey the new rules when they see mobs getting away with it Let us have no more hypocrisy from the Guardian and left-wing politicians and commentators, who were desperate to destroy—and are still mentioning—Dominic Cummings, who did not break the law or the guidelines, but are now praising demonstrators gathered in their thousands and breaking all our coronavirus laws. If coronavirus takes off again in these areas, we know who will be to blame, and it is not Dominic Cummings. I am not opposed to these regulations, but I regret that they will never be enforced.
Probation Services — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Immigration
Richard Keen (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the right reverend Prelate makes an extremely good point. We are concerned to ensure that these smaller organisations will be in a position to deliver the sort of rehabilitation and resettlement services in which they have excelled in the past and in which we are confident they will excel in the future. We have endeavoured to make the bidding process under the dynamic framework as light-touch as possible and have engaged Clinks, the umbrella organisation, to try to ensure that the whole process will be open to the sort of charitable and voluntary organisations that the right reverend Prelate has referred to.
Probation Services — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Immigration
Richard Keen (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the CRCs’ contracts will terminate in June 2021 and will not be extended. In so far as we are putting out to tender matters of rehabilitation and resettlement, they are going out not to the CRCs but, essentially, to the voluntary and charitable sector, albeit with others coming forward to provide those services if they feel they are in a position to do so. I cannot comment on the Swedish model to which the noble Lord referred, but I will endeavour to take instruction on it and to discover just what analysis, if any, the Ministry of Justice has made of that system. I am confident that we will have looked at comparable systems. I will give it consideration.
Probation Services — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Immigration
Richard Keen (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, we have endeavoured to ensure that the process of seeking these contracts for rehabilitation and resettlement will be as light-touch as possible, so that it should be accessible to smaller organisations without expertise in bidding for such contracts. In the light of earlier observations, I am conscious that we should look in particular at the ability of voluntary organisations and charities that represent the BAME communities, so that we can ensure they are properly represented in this process.
National Minimum Wage (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-03-18
Topic: Other
James Stopford (Conservative, Centre-right): That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 13 January, 3 and 11 February be approved Relevant documents: 4th, 6th and 7th Reports from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. Considered in Grand Committee on 16 March.
Arrangement of Business — House of Lords, 2020-03-18
Topic: Other
James Stopford (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, there will be a short adjournment between the end of Questions and the start of the debate on the Budget to allow Members to maintain social distancing if they are taking part in that debate but do not want to be present for Oral Questions. I beg to move that the House do now adjourn during pleasure for 10 minutes.
Budget Statement — House of Lords, 2020-03-18
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I appreciate the opportunity to say a few words in the gap, arising out of phone calls that I made last night First, a number of noble Lords will know that I was Member of Parliament for Northampton. The answer that I got from those phone calls was, "Michael, wake up. Demand has collapsed. Cash flow is at a critical point. We recognise what the Chancellor has done on business rates, and well done him, but there are two other problems—VAT and national insurance—and we need some help in that area." Secondly, we are not good at communicating to people in business what the Government are doing. I had the privilege of doing all the advertising for the COI on the three-day week. Every day there was different copy in every single national paper and all the trade papers. I say to my noble friend on the Front Bench that we need to communicate to reassure all people in commerce and trade about what is happening. That includes the trade associations, along with the chambers of commerce and chambers of trade and so on My third point, on which I will finish, is that I have the privilege of being president of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. The sporting world is our next problem. You have only to look at what is happening in football, with people playing and nobody watching. Rugby is in the same situation. All those clubs are in potential financial difficulty. Cricket is due to start next month and after that will come tennis. I say to my noble friend on the Front Bench: please get the Minister of Sport involved now so that some anticipatory work can be done to ensure that those great sports, which our whole nation likes to watch, can start on time and not be in financial crisis.
Budget Statement — House of Lords, 2020-03-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Theodore Agnew (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am a huge fan of pump-priming. If there is a credible business case, I think it is worth taking the matter back to the Treasury, so I agree with the noble Lord. I am conscious that I am running out of time.
Budget Statement — House of Lords, 2020-03-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Theodore Agnew (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, of course. I am afraid I have not had time to answer various noble Lords’ specific questions, so I will ensure that they are all copied in to my replies To sum up, there have been many calls today for the Government to move faster—not just by putting more money into the system but by being ever more restrictive of people’s liberty and way of life. Indeed, I was at a meeting with the Prime Minister last night. He said to the assembled group, "Even in the war, we didn’t stop people going to the pub." We have to try to bring the country with us as we do some of the most profound things to happen in our lifetime I want to finish on a slightly more positive note. For those noble Lords interested in history, it is worth remembering that it was in difficult times like this that the Education Act 1944 was introduced for its Second Reading that January, nearly five months before D-day and nearly 18 months before the war was won. Parliament had the vision then to introduce legislation that would change the lives of young people in peacetime well before we had any sense that we had achieved peace. I hope we will be able to look back on this Budget in 18 months’ time and say something similar, but for the whole economy and everyone who lives in Britain.
Fisheries Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2020-06-17
Topic: Other
John Eric Gardiner (Conservative, Centre-right): That the amendments for the Report stage be marshalled and considered in the following order: Clauses 1 to 8, Schedule 1, Clauses 9 to 13, Schedule 2, Clauses 14 to 18, Schedule 3, Clauses 19 to 22, Schedule 4, Clauses 23 to 27, Schedule 5, Clauses 28 to 33, Schedule 6, Clause 34 , Schedule 7, Clauses 35 to 42, Schedule 8, Clauses 43 and 44, Schedule 9, Clause 45, Schedule 10, Clauses 46 to 51, Title.
Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill — House of Lords, 2020-06-17
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not want to go any further than what I said in my reply. I have been in correspondence with the Pre Pack Pool and we have arranged for officials from my department and from the Insolvency Service to meet with it further to discuss its concerns.
Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill — House of Lords, 2020-06-17
Topic: Other
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): In principle I have no objection to releasing that; obviously, I would need to speak to officials and to the recipients to check whether they are all happy with that. I do not know whether it was sent confidentially basis or whether it is available for publication, but I will certainly look at that.
Arrangement of Business — House of Lords, 2020-06-17
Topic: Other
Ian Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, proceedings will now commence. Some Members are here in the Chamber and others are participating virtually, but all Members will be treated equally. For noble Lords participating virtually, microphones will unmute shortly before they are due to speak. Please accept any on-screen prompts to unmute. Microphones will be muted after each speech. If the capacity of the Chamber is exceeded—which I doubt—I will immediately adjourn the House. I ask noble Lords to be patient if there are any short delays between physical and remote participants. The usual rules and courtesies in debate apply We now come to the Motion in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Vere of Norbiton. The time limit is one and a half hours.