argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Thomas Georg John Tugendhat (Conservative, Centre-right): May I add the tributes of Kent to your speakership, Mr Speaker? May I also personally pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd), who has spoken up on human rights issues in this House for 30 years and has not tired of arguing for people around the world whose rights are challenged? May I also thank her for what she has done over the past two years, when she has been on the Foreign Affairs Committee and been an amazing friend, counsel and adviser? The last report that she has played her part in is on the human rights of this country and how democracies can defend themselves against autocratic influence from around the world. Does the Minister agree that there is much more we can do to defend academic freedoms in this country from Chinese influence and democratic freedoms from Russian influence?
Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights priority country, particularly because of its use of the death penalty and its restrictions of women’s rights, freedom of expression and freedom of religious belief. We have raised human rights concerns repeatedly with the Government of Saudi Arabia, with this most recently having been done by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary.
Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Congratulations to you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Tom Tugendhat), for his comments. I have very much enjoyed being a member of that Committee.Will the Minister clarify what steps have been taken to review all sales of arms to Saudi Arabia? I can hardly bear to say the word “Yemen”, but there have been thousands of Saudi air attacks on civilians targets—including homes, markets, weddings, funerals, schools, hospitals and buses—that have killed thousands of civilians, including many children. Surely, that is in breach of international law. I hope that we are taking all the necessary steps to highlight the complicity of countries such as the UK in the alleged violations of international law.
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to the right hon. Lady for her years of service to the House, particularly her years of service on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and for always keeping a laser-like focus on such issues. As she will be aware, we operate one of the most robust export control regimes in the world and take our licensing obligations seriously. When mistakes are made, things are investigated. As the Secretary of State for International Trade has said, the Government have apologised for the fact that export licences were issued in error, and we are investigating what happened.
Consular Support: UK Nationals Overseas — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I have seen her letter, and I will be responding to it later today. I am also happy to meet her. The details of this case are rather more complex than she has suggested to the House. I also gently suggest—[Interruption.] Wait until we have a meeting. I would rather discuss the full details of the case. If she looks specifically at Africa, she will see that we are opening five new missions there and recruiting hundreds more staff. Our consular services are first-rate across the globe. We are enhancing the network. We should be supporting our consular staff in the incredible work that they do. They are being not cut, but totally supported by this Government in their work with British citizens across the globe.
Consular Support: UK Nationals Overseas — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Theakstone Percy (Conservative, Centre-right): Mr Speaker, you might be from the wrong side of the Pennines, but it is a delight to see you in the Chair and for impartiality to be returned to that office As we continue to expand our consular network overseas, may I urge the Minister to look at the proposal that I recently wrote to the Prime Minister about with regard to a permanent consular post in Atlantic Canada, not only to support the very many Brits who travel there every year but to make better use of our trading relationship post Brexit?
Consular Support: UK Nationals Overseas — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): May I thank the hon. Gentleman for the tireless work that he does for his constituency and for the family in question? We are not always able to resolve cases as satisfactorily as we have resolved this one, but we will always try everything that we can to help British citizens in trouble abroad.
Consular Support: UK Nationals Overseas — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am reading the hon. Lady’s report, and, unfortunately, I find it rather one-sided. I know that my predecessor agreed to meet the all-party group, but the meeting never took place because a date was never arranged. That was not because my predecessor did not try to get that arranged. I have agreed with the hon. Lady to meet the APPG, but, again, that meeting has never happened, so rather than publishing one-sided reports, I wish that she and the members of that APPG actually worked with the Foreign Office, which has some incredible staff, dealing with some very serious incidents across the world. Last year, there were 4,000 deaths of British nationals overseas. We will always look at what more we can do and implement many of the Victims’ Commissioner’s recommendations and work with other non-governmental organisations to improve our service for people who die abroad. I only wish that we could have a more constructive approach from the all-party group.
Consular Support: UK Nationals Overseas — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa is doing everything he can for the hon. Gentleman’s constituent. Providing consular assistance in Yemen is, of course, far from straightforward, but we will continue to keep up the pressure and to do everything we can.
Consular Support: UK Nationals Overseas — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary will speak to the Iranian Foreign Minister later today. The treatment of British Iranians particularly is of grave concern. We repeatedly raise our concerns with the Iranian authorities, including through the Prime Minister, who raised this matter directly with President Rouhani during the United Nations General Assembly.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): Since the last oral questions, I visited the US to reaffirm our commitment to strengthening the special relationship. I spoke to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, affirming our leading role in NATO and our commitment to it. Above all, I am focused on supporting the Prime Minister in getting Brexit done so that this country can move forward as an open, outward-looking country with global reach and global ambition.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady’s point is one with which Members across the House would agree. We remain seriously concerned about the situation in Hong Kong and the recent violent clashes between protesters and the police. We condemn the minority of hardcore violent protesters, but also continue fully to support the right to peaceful protest. As the hon. Lady says, that ought to be a stepping stone to political dialogue, particularly with the forthcoming local elections on 24 November in mind.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: Does not the blocking of Joshua Wong as a council candidate offend against the very basic principles of the Sino-British agreement, and what is the Secretary of State planning to do about it?
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): As I mentioned in my response to the hon. Member for Blaydon (Liz Twist), the local elections on 24 November will be an important milestone to see whether there can be a de-escalation of tensions in Hong Kong, and a path towards political dialogue and engagement that is consistent with the joint declaration and one country, two systems. I share my right hon. Friend’s concern about the barring of Joshua Wong because standing for election is a fundamental right enshrined in Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which itself reflects the one country, two systems model. We continue to make our concerns known to our Chinese partners.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: Does not the blocking of Joshua Wong as a council candidate offend against the very basic principles of the Sino-British agreement, and what is the Secretary of State planning to do about it?; Let me be the first cockney MP to congratulate you on your new role, Mr Speaker; I look forward to your service in this House.Five of the 15 members of the Hamas political bureau have been designated as terrorists by the United Kingdom and the USA, but in the UK we proscribe only the military wing of Hamas. Is it not time that we proscribed the entirety of Hamas, rather than only Hamas as a military organisation and a terrorist organisation? Does my right hon. Friend agree that until Hamas renounces violence, celebrates peace and brings peace to the middle east, there will never be a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinian state?
Andrew William Murrison (Conservative, Centre-right): May I, Mr Speaker, extend my felicitations from Wiltshire on your advancement? I feel absolutely certain that my Wiltshire colleagues would join me in that I thank my hon. Friend for his important question. He is aware that we do of course proscribe the military element of Hamas, and we have a policy of non-engagement with Hamas in its entirety. Until Hamas sets its face against violence, accepts the Quartet principles and engages with the political process, it will be outside the tent.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Does not the blocking of Joshua Wong as a council candidate offend against the very basic principles of the Sino-British agreement, and what is the Secretary of State planning to do about it?; Let me be the first cockney MP to congratulate you on your new role, Mr Speaker; I look forward to your service in this House.Five of the 15 members of the Hamas political bureau have been designated as terrorists by the United Kingdom and the USA, but in the UK we proscribe only the military wing of Hamas. Is it not time that we proscribed the entirety of Hamas, rather than only Hamas as a military organisation and a terrorist organisation? Does my right hon. Friend agree that until Hamas renounces violence, celebrates peace and brings peace to the middle east, there will never be a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinian state?; Heartfelt congratulations, Mr Speaker.Will the Foreign Secretary comment on the report overnight of the capture of the sister of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in north-west Syria? Does not this, and the death of the Daesh leader itself, underline the importance of our international alliances to keep British citizens and our communities safe from the threat of terror?
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman and congratulate him on his new appointment as an adviser at the Home Office on counter-extremism and counter-terrorism—a role that I know he will perform very effectively We do not comment on operational matters, as the hon. Gentleman will know. We welcome the removal of Baghdadi, but there is a much broader counter-Daesh strategy that we need to pursue. We need to keep all our partners together—which is why, frankly, some of the latent anti-Americanism that is preached by Opposition Front Benchers is deeply unhelpful.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: Does not the blocking of Joshua Wong as a council candidate offend against the very basic principles of the Sino-British agreement, and what is the Secretary of State planning to do about it?; Let me be the first cockney MP to congratulate you on your new role, Mr Speaker; I look forward to your service in this House.Five of the 15 members of the Hamas political bureau have been designated as terrorists by the United Kingdom and the USA, but in the UK we proscribe only the military wing of Hamas. Is it not time that we proscribed the entirety of Hamas, rather than only Hamas as a military organisation and a terrorist organisation? Does my right hon. Friend agree that until Hamas renounces violence, celebrates peace and brings peace to the middle east, there will never be a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinian state?; Heartfelt congratulations, Mr Speaker.Will the Foreign Secretary comment on the report overnight of the capture of the sister of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in north-west Syria? Does not this, and the death of the Daesh leader itself, underline the importance of our international alliances to keep British citizens and our communities safe from the threat of terror?; It is great to have a no-nonsense northerner in the Chair, Mr Speaker. Google turns around over £10 billion in the UK, making a typical profit margin of 22%, so it should pay about £420 million in corporation tax, yet it pays only about £70 million due to profit shifting. Will my right hon. Friend do all he can to press for international action to end this kind of disgraceful tax avoidance?
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK is a world leader on tax compliance, with one of the lowest tax gaps in the world. The UK was a major sponsor of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting project and has adopted many of the recommendations. The Government also introduced the diverted profits tax, which came into effect on 1 April 2015 and counters the contrived arrangements used by some multinationals to divert profits from the UK.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: Does not the blocking of Joshua Wong as a council candidate offend against the very basic principles of the Sino-British agreement, and what is the Secretary of State planning to do about it?; Let me be the first cockney MP to congratulate you on your new role, Mr Speaker; I look forward to your service in this House.Five of the 15 members of the Hamas political bureau have been designated as terrorists by the United Kingdom and the USA, but in the UK we proscribe only the military wing of Hamas. Is it not time that we proscribed the entirety of Hamas, rather than only Hamas as a military organisation and a terrorist organisation? Does my right hon. Friend agree that until Hamas renounces violence, celebrates peace and brings peace to the middle east, there will never be a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinian state?; Heartfelt congratulations, Mr Speaker.Will the Foreign Secretary comment on the report overnight of the capture of the sister of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in north-west Syria? Does not this, and the death of the Daesh leader itself, underline the importance of our international alliances to keep British citizens and our communities safe from the threat of terror?; It is great to have a no-nonsense northerner in the Chair, Mr Speaker. Google turns around over £10 billion in the UK, making a typical profit margin of 22%, so it should pay about £420 million in corporation tax, yet it pays only about £70 million due to profit shifting. Will my right hon. Friend do all he can to press for international action to end this kind of disgraceful tax avoidance?; As the first Gavin Shuker MP to be called under your tenure, Mr Speaker, may I, too, offer my congratulations on your elevation?For 10 years in this place I have repeatedly raised with the Foreign Secretary and his predecessors the appalling human rights abuses in Kashmir. Further to our recent disappointing exchange of letters, can he give one single example of actions he has taken in robustly challenging the Indian Government’s revocation of article 370 of the Indian constitution?
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman has been a stalwart champion of human rights and has indeed taken a very close interest in foreign policy in relation to this region. He asks what we have done. As the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Mrs Wheeler), said earlier, fundamentally the issue of Kashmir needs to be resolved between the two parties, but we never duck the issue of human rights in any country. I have raised the issue of human rights in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi Foreign Minister and, particularly in relation to detentions, blackouts and internet blockages, with the Indian Foreign Minister. We will continue to do that because it is absolutely important. Even with some of our closest partners, we need to be able to have those candid conversations.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Does not the blocking of Joshua Wong as a council candidate offend against the very basic principles of the Sino-British agreement, and what is the Secretary of State planning to do about it?; Let me be the first cockney MP to congratulate you on your new role, Mr Speaker; I look forward to your service in this House.Five of the 15 members of the Hamas political bureau have been designated as terrorists by the United Kingdom and the USA, but in the UK we proscribe only the military wing of Hamas. Is it not time that we proscribed the entirety of Hamas, rather than only Hamas as a military organisation and a terrorist organisation? Does my right hon. Friend agree that until Hamas renounces violence, celebrates peace and brings peace to the middle east, there will never be a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinian state?; Heartfelt congratulations, Mr Speaker.Will the Foreign Secretary comment on the report overnight of the capture of the sister of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in north-west Syria? Does not this, and the death of the Daesh leader itself, underline the importance of our international alliances to keep British citizens and our communities safe from the threat of terror?; It is great to have a no-nonsense northerner in the Chair, Mr Speaker. Google turns around over £10 billion in the UK, making a typical profit margin of 22%, so it should pay about £420 million in corporation tax, yet it pays only about £70 million due to profit shifting. Will my right hon. Friend do all he can to press for international action to end this kind of disgraceful tax avoidance?; As the first Gavin Shuker MP to be called under your tenure, Mr Speaker, may I, too, offer my congratulations on your elevation?For 10 years in this place I have repeatedly raised with the Foreign Secretary and his predecessors the appalling human rights abuses in Kashmir. Further to our recent disappointing exchange of letters, can he give one single example of actions he has taken in robustly challenging the Indian Government’s revocation of article 370 of the Indian constitution?
Richard Michael John Ogilvie Graham (Conservative, Centre-right): In the eight years since I was first appointed the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to nations in south-east Asia and elected chair of the all-party China group, trade and investment in that region has increased sharply—as have challenges to our values in some areas. May I therefore thank officials at the Foreign Office and the Department for International Trade who balance these responsibilities so well? May I also welcome the Foreign Secretary’s first visit abroad to the ASEAN summit in Bangkok? Does he agree that we should do all we can to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and deepen our role with the nations of ASEAN?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-11-05
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Does not the blocking of Joshua Wong as a council candidate offend against the very basic principles of the Sino-British agreement, and what is the Secretary of State planning to do about it?; Let me be the first cockney MP to congratulate you on your new role, Mr Speaker; I look forward to your service in this House.Five of the 15 members of the Hamas political bureau have been designated as terrorists by the United Kingdom and the USA, but in the UK we proscribe only the military wing of Hamas. Is it not time that we proscribed the entirety of Hamas, rather than only Hamas as a military organisation and a terrorist organisation? Does my right hon. Friend agree that until Hamas renounces violence, celebrates peace and brings peace to the middle east, there will never be a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinian state?; Heartfelt congratulations, Mr Speaker.Will the Foreign Secretary comment on the report overnight of the capture of the sister of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in north-west Syria? Does not this, and the death of the Daesh leader itself, underline the importance of our international alliances to keep British citizens and our communities safe from the threat of terror?; It is great to have a no-nonsense northerner in the Chair, Mr Speaker. Google turns around over £10 billion in the UK, making a typical profit margin of 22%, so it should pay about £420 million in corporation tax, yet it pays only about £70 million due to profit shifting. Will my right hon. Friend do all he can to press for international action to end this kind of disgraceful tax avoidance?; As the first Gavin Shuker MP to be called under your tenure, Mr Speaker, may I, too, offer my congratulations on your elevation?For 10 years in this place I have repeatedly raised with the Foreign Secretary and his predecessors the appalling human rights abuses in Kashmir. Further to our recent disappointing exchange of letters, can he give one single example of actions he has taken in robustly challenging the Indian Government’s revocation of article 370 of the Indian constitution?
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to all my hon. Friend’s tireless efforts and work. The Asia-Pacific region covered by the trans-Pacific trade agreement and ASEAN is a hugely important relationship for us. They are growth markets of the future, and we have perhaps not invested in partners there as much as we could have. While ensuring that we remain strong trading partners and allies with our European partners, leaving the EU allows us to invest more and with renewed vigour and enthusiasm in that critical region. That will bring dividends in jobs, free trade and advantages for consumers at home, and it also allows us to project our influence and soft power, as we have been discussing in this House.