argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Roy Lidington (Conservative, Centre-right): It is indeed complex and challenging sometimes to get an agreed negotiating position across 28 different countries and give the mandate to the Commission to negotiate collectively on our behalf, but the weight—the leverage—that derives from negotiating as a marketplace of 500 million people is very significant indeed. It makes other Governments, even of large countries, more willing to endure the political hassle that they themselves face with their own business interests in order to bring about free trade agreements which, I believe, are a win-win for both sides.
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: International Affairs
David Roy Lidington (Conservative, Centre-right): It is the United Kingdom that is the member state of the European Union. I remind the hon. Gentleman that his party in May this year was against giving the people of Scotland or anywhere else in the United Kingdom the chance to vote on their future in Europe.
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew William Murrison (Conservative, Centre-right): I respect my right hon. Friend very much indeed, but does he seriously believe that Timmermans’ grudging enjoinder, "Europe where necessary, national where possible", iterated in the Tusk letter and reiterated in his speech today, is a sufficiently ambitious lodestar for the UK’s negotiations?
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Foreign Trade
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is in both our and the EU’s interests to trade more freely with the high-growth-potential Commonwealth economies, and that if the EU continues to move glacially on this issue, we should build more free trade agreements with the Commonwealth on our own?
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Roy Lidington (Conservative, Centre-right): The Commonwealth countries, important though they are, account for only 17% of global GDP, taken all together. I agree with my hon. Friend’s emphasis on the need to forge free trade agreements with emerging economies as well as with developed economies, but I caution against thinking that it would be quicker and easier to strike such a deal if the United Kingdom, with 65 million people, were negotiating rather than the European Union, with a 500 million-strong market.
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: International Affairs
Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative, Centre-right): At this time of renegotiation, those who have their minds set on what they are going to do are almost irrelevant. However, will my right hon. Friend send a message to Europhiles like the political scientist Professor Hix, who gave evidence to the European Scrutiny Committee and felt that no matter what the renegotiations achieved, the dangers lie in those who believe that this country would vote to stay in if nothing is achieved? The default position at the moment, as I read the Prime Minister’s statement, is that if nothing changes we will opt to leave.
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: International Affairs
David Roy Lidington (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is understandably inviting me to speculate about a post-referendum outcome when the Government are focused on what happens during a referendum. I suggest that he might like to study article 50 of the treaty on European Union, particularly subsections (2) and (3), which will give him a lot more detail on the matter.
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for his statement and the fortitude he is showing in answering so many questions. Does he agree that the crisis in the eurozone means that the eurozone countries need to move together and agree a single fiscal policy for their single currency, but the key for our negotiations has to be that for the non-euro countries, Europe needs to do less and do it better?
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Foreign Trade
Robert Edward Jenrick (Conservative, Centre-right): As hon. Members have said, the EU is very slow at concluding important free trade deals around the world, and that can harm our international competitiveness. Are the Government still committed to negotiating a means to fast-track important free trade deals in Europe?
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Roy Lidington (Conservative, Centre-right): We believe that Europe needs to take forward with much greater energy and determination the work in securing free trade deals with other countries and regions of the world. The trade strategy recently published by the Commission demonstrates a new and raised level of ambition that we very much welcome, but we want this agenda to be turbocharged.
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: International Affairs
David Roy Lidington (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are clear that we need some very clear agreed reforms in order to make the recommendation to the British people that the Prime Minister said that he wishes to make, but also the British people will need to see serious reforms if they are to be persuaded to vote in favour of continued British membership. Beyond that, Europe as a whole would benefit from the sort of reforms that we are advocating because there are too many jobless young people in Europe who need greater European competitiveness, and in very many European countries we are seeing a sense of dissatisfaction and alienation from the way in which decisions are currently taken in Brussels.
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: International Affairs
Michael James Tomlinson-Mynors (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend rightly said at the beginning of his statement that we have a mandate to renegotiate thanks to our securing an outright Conservative victory at the general election. Does he agree that the reforms need to be permanent and irreversible as well as sufficient, because otherwise residents in my constituency and elsewhere will simply vote to leave?
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Jon Wood (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that the referendum at the end of these negotiations must be final and that there can be no question of second chances or further renegotiation if people choose to leave the European Union?
Europe: Renegotiation — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: International Affairs
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): Thank you, Mr Speaker May I thank the excellent Europe Minister for making this statement, and for his long tenure in office and the way in which he has managed to change position so many times? On occasion, I almost believe him. I thank the Prime Minister for his honesty today in coming forward with a renegotiation package that makes it clear that if the package is successful, we will still be in a political union and still have free movement. That allows Eurosceptics to say, "No longer do we have to pretend there’s going to be a substantial renegotiation—we can get on with campaigning to come out." Will the Minister pass on my thanks to the Prime Minister?
Speaker’s Statement — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Law and Crime
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I have received a report from the Tellers in the No Lobby about Division No. 112 on the Scotland Bill, which took place yesterday at 8.40 pm. They have informed me that the number of those voting No was erroneously reported as 269 instead of 289. The Ayes were 56 and the Noes were 289 Bill Presented Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (Duty to Investigate) (Amendment) Bill Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57) Ann Coffey presented a Bill to amend the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 to provide that a person who dies while deprived of their liberty under Schedule A1 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 shall not be considered to have died while in custody or otherwise in state detention for the purposes of section 1 of the 2009 Act; and for connected purposes Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 29 January, and to be printed (Bill 93).
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Oliver James Dowden (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the hon. Gentleman explain to constituents of mine in Hertsmere, many of them hard-working commuters who will welcome the protection against unjustified strikes, why London should have a veto over these measures when they would not have a say under his proposals?
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Richard Quentin Fuller (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for taking successive interventions. I was not a member of the Bill Committee. He is talking about the application of higher thresholds for industrial action. What consideration was given in Committee to the potential for wildcat union action as a consequence of the higher thresholds, because trade union leaders might be unwilling to take a vote for fear of not meeting the threshold?
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Transportation
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): It was a pleasure to serve on the Bill Committee and the hon. Gentleman was a wily performer. He talks about Keith Joseph and says that we are not in the real world. I remind him that we heard evidence right at the beginning of our consideration from the chief executive of Arriva buses, who said that on a vote of 17% of the staff of his firm, 50% of all buses in London were stopped. Think of the disruption that that caused for real people out there in the real world.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Richard Quentin Fuller (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way because I am trying to develop a theme with my questions about the Committee. I asked about thresholds and what consideration the Government gave to wildcat action. Will the hon. Gentleman speak about the restrictions on facility time and what the Government say about the potential for wildcat action if there is less time for trade unions to deal with workplace disputes?
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Oliver James Dowden (Conservative, Centre-right): I shall try to entertain the hon. Gentleman. If he believes that turnout is so high for all these industrial actions, why is he so concerned about having a threshold that requires four out of 10 trade unionists to turn out and vote? If turnouts are high, where is the problem?
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Jonathan Simon Djanogly (Conservative, Centre-right): I rise to speak to new clauses 5, 6, 7 and 9. In overall terms and despite the heat coming out of the Bill, I think we can all agree that we have moved a very long way in industrial relations and strike laws towards consensus and away from the polarisation we saw in the early 1980s The Trade Union Act 1984 requirement for compulsory industrial action ballots to be put in place for there to be statutory immunity was a very significant step, although it did cement the rather odd situation whereby there is, technically, no right to strike. Rather, we give unions in certain circumstances statutory immunity for the tort—civil wrong—of inducing a breach of the employment contract. That being as it may, I think we can all agree that voting before a strike is vital, and that the vote itself should be carried out in a free and fair manner that reduces, so far as possible, any chance of coercion, threat or intimidation to the voter. It is certainly the case that the Bill addresses ballots insofar as voter turnout requirements and how the questions are put, but it does not address the question of how the ballot itself is physically conducted. This is now being put to the test by the Opposition in their amendments. New clause 7 argues for secure workplace ballots and new clause 5 suggests implementing electronic voting in ballots for strike action My first observation is that those two concepts do not necessarily sit very well together. Namely, if the Opposition believe that e-voting is the future and the way to go, why are they proposing returning votes to the place of work? The problem is actually more profound, of course. The security of a postal vote sent to a person’s home does remove a large area of risk in terms of intimidation that could attach to returning votes to the workplace. The benefits of the 1984 ballots and the use of post were hard won. They have been of great benefit to working people; not perhaps to the union organiser or the militant activist, but to the everyday working man and woman who has benefited from being able to reflect calmly on the merits of a strike ballot in the safety of their own home.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Education
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): Talking about women, who do we seriously think is most affected when schools close because of ballots with low support? In Committee, we heard about the effect of school closures in 2011 on millions of parents. In most cases, those strikes had the support of well under 40%.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Jonathan Simon Djanogly (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman says he does not have enough time, but how could he come to this place today having not tabled amendments on, for instance, trade union funding or the vote percentages? Everyone, including all the union members who have written to Members, has been talking about these things, yet there is not a single amendment dealing with any of them.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the hon. Gentleman accept that when an employer and an employee enter into a contract, it is agreed between them that the employee will turn up for work and will not engage with others to disrupt the employment—[Interruption.] May I finish? The unions’ power to engage in collective activity is an exception to that principle—an exception that must be exercised only in circumstances in which it is justifiable and legitimate.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): Trade unions play an important role in protecting the rights of employees: through their collective power, they have the ability to balance the scales against an employer, who invariably has greater economic and social power than the employees in its workforce. Last week, I met a few trade union officials from my constituency, and was struck by the passion and desire they have to do their job in representing others. But therein lies the crux of this legislation: it is a union’s job to represent its workforce, so its actions must represent their wishes. It is important that when a union has the power to bring a school, hospital or factory to a temporary standstill, its actions actually reflect the will of its members. I say that for three reasons.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): I ask the hon. Lady to let me develop my argument a little further. First, those who suffer most in a strike are not the employees or employers but the public. The employees do not suffer, because any loss of income from the strike may well be covered by the union. The employers of the large concern do not suffer, because they will be paid their salary in any event. It is the public, and only the public, who suffer, first as the consumer and later, when the bill comes in, as the taxpayer. The public end up picking up the tab for both sides In the winter of discontent, the main victims of the low pay offensive in the public service were the old, the sick, the bereaved, children and the poor. It is not only this Government who have made the point that it is right that action by a trade union should reflect the mood of its members. The need for democratic accountability by the union was also recognised by the Labour Government. Their White Paper in 1998 entitled "Fairness at Work" specifically drew attention to the need for accountability: "Laws on picketing, on ballots before industrial action and for increasing democratic accountability in trade unions have all helped to improve employment relations. They will stay." It is for that reason that it is right that these measures, which are right as a matter of principle, should apply to the whole of the UK .
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): I am about to finish The vote taken by the union will not garner public support and public trust that the representation of the unions demands, and it is for that reason that we should pass clauses 2 and 3 without amendment at this stage.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman has been talking about the time we are in. It is pretty clear, as I understand it from what Labour Front Benchers are saying, that we are in a time of increased militant union activism. The shadow Chancellor has said: "We will support all demonstrations in Parliament or on the picket line. We will be with you at every stage." Can the hon. Member for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery) not see that what we are trying to do is to protect the public through increased accountability and transparency?
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): I will speak primarily to amendments 15, 16 and 21, tabled by the Scottish National party, which relate to the clauses on thresholds and the termination of the ballot mandate. My understanding is that if they were added to the Bill, they would, in effect, be completely redundant because they would require the provisions to be agreed by all the devolved authorities and, interestingly, by the Mayor of London, who I expect would very strongly agree It was a privilege to serve on the Public Bill Committee, my first as a Member of Parliament. I can genuinely say that I, for one, have a great admiration for the union movement. As a new MP, I found it stimulating and interesting to cross-examine the five most powerful union leaders. I went up to them afterwards and shook their hands. In fact, Sir Paul Kenny, perhaps sensing my inexperience in these matters, asked me whether I would like to come and join him on a picket line to find out what it was like. I am not sure which picket line he was referring to—perhaps the Chief Whip’s—so I declined it on that occasion.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): Well, he gave me an invitation I must confess that there are many parts of the Bill on which I would not have been an expert had I not sat on the Public Bill Committee, but many members of the public think the same. If we were to talk about parts of the Bill to people who were not au fait with the details of unions or who were not themselves unionised, they would not necessarily be familiar with or see its significance. I do not say that with any disrespect to such issues, which I recognise are important to many Opposition Members For most members of the public, the key issue is the threshold. This is about the large strikes that, although relatively small in number, have had a massive impact, such as the London tube strikes. I would say to the hon. Member for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery), who made a very impassioned speech, that if he wants to see fury and people considering civil unrest, he should go and watch London commuters trying to fight their way on to a bus because the tube was out of action because of a ballot on lower than the threshold we will require.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): Too often, we hear Labour Members talk about the inconvenience of a strike. In fact, a strike can cause major disruption. Surely we should focus on that. We need clear accountability to ensure that such disruption is minimised wherever possible.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend puts his point very well I would remind the House that when we took evidence, we heard from Roy Rickhuss—I hope I have pronounced that correctly—the general secretary of the Community trade union. He is of course very busy, at this very difficult time, with the steel industry. When asked about thresholds, he said that "it is about having proper industrial relations and having a partnership approach. I do believe a threshold of 50% plus one is fair and reasonable, because that is what we have—that is our democracy.––[Official Report, Trade Union Public Bill Committee, 13 October 2015; c. 26-27, Q66.]
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): No, I am not saying that. If the strike took place with the strong support that has to be achieved under these provisions, the public would at least understand that it had full consent. They are angry about the strikes—we heard about them in evidence given to us by bus companies, rail companies and others—in which, on relatively small turnouts, massive disruption has been caused to millions of people.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill does not ban or prohibit strikes, but ensures that the hundreds of thousands or even millions of people who are affected by strikes in vital public services can be reassured that there is a genuine mandate for such action?
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Transportation
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend puts it extremely well I finish with this point. The hon. Member for Wansbeck asked what support there was for the Bill. We have heard from the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce, bus companies, rail companies and, above all, the people who use the services. Even Len McCluskey issued a letter to the Committee supporting the 50% threshold. I accept that that was with e-balloting, but there is strong principled support across the country for changes on thresholds. I will leave it there.
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-10
Topic: Labor
Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (Conservative, Centre-right): We have heard fierce argument in Committee and today from those who would seek to exclude some areas of Great Britain from the reach of the Bill, or who would seek to allow coverage in those areas only with the consent of the bodies to which certain other responsibilities have been devolved. Nothing in the Bill need cut across the positive relationships that we have heard about between unions and Government in Scotland and Wales There is nothing to stop union representatives using paid facility time to fulfil their union duties to help represent working people. All the Bill does in relation to facility time is introduce measures that have already been introduced in the civil service, and union duties are still admirably and adequately fulfilled in the civil service It is important for the productivity and prosperity of Great Britain as a whole that arrangements pertaining to employment matters apply consistently across the whole country. Employers do not see boundaries when engaging staff. Many employers have employees in all three countries, in London and in various English authorities. Having different employment laws applying would produce a complex situation, involving much confusion and cost for business.