argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for those comments and for his work in this area over the years. Some of the ideas in this policy area have come from his past writings, so he is right. I make the point that although people complain about secondary legislation, nearly 8,000 statutory instruments were used to implement European law under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972, so that attack is a little hypocritical. I thank my hon. Friend for his comments and commend him for his work in the past.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman loves his Henry VIII clauses—he thinks the public at large will believe this is some Executive fiat dating from the middle ages—but we are of course talking about a procedure that has been used throughout the past century and over which this House has complete control. That is the first point The second point is that I have been in Joint Ministerial Committee meetings with the hon. Gentleman’s colleague from the Scottish Government and representatives of the other devolved Administrations during the past six months or more. I have raised these issues there, as well as bilaterally, and I have said that we will have serious discussions about them. My preference is for more devolution, rather than less—that is my simple viewpoint—but the restraint on that is when there is a direct effect on the interests of the whole United Kingdom. Those interests include: the United Kingdom market, because it would be very bad for Scottish farmers and producers if the United Kingdom market became separated from them; issues of national security, which we need to deal with; issues of international negotiation; and observing international obligations, such as under environmental law. There are therefore plenty of areas in which it is clear that we need a UK-wide framework. That is the sort of criterion we will apply, and we will discuss it with the devolved Administrations at every stage.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
John Alan Redwood (Conservative, Centre-right): This measure should be called the continuity Bill, and it should be very reassuring for all remain voters because it is the means by which we will keep the rights and laws from Europe that they most like. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that any MP who wants to keep EU employment rights, for example, must vote for the Bill?
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Labor
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): I must tell my right hon. Friend that I lay some claim to the ideas behind the Bill, but not to its name. He is right that it is, to a very large extent, a continuity Bill, and it is the way in which we will protect a whole series of rights, including employment rights and environmental rights. He is also quite right that those who want to preserve those rights should vote, without any thought, for this Bill.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Secretary of State confirm that the directives to which the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr Clegg) referred are already in British law? We are talking here about what the Foreign Affairs Committee counted as the 6,987 regulations that must be applied in British law through the Bill. Will we have an opportunity to examine a number of the directives—the insolvency II directive, for example, which imposes significantly more costs on the equity release industry in the United Kingdom than a British law would—within the time limits that he will ask the House to apply to this legislation?
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend’s general point about the directives is right, and his specific point is right, in the sense that the whole point of the process is to bring such matters back to the United Kingdom. We will not by any means change everything—indeed, we will not want to change everything; we might want, as our own national decision, to maintain some parallel standards—but those matters will be brought back to this House of Commons, and we will make the decision on what is best for this country.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Foreign Trade
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): May I commend the Secretary of State for his statement and assure him that I always listen very carefully to what he says? I heard him explain on the radio this morning that what I thought was an absolute guarantee—that the deal would, in his words, deliver the "exact same benefits" on trade and customs—is now apparently an aim, but I am sure he will be true to that aim. This is really a great transfer Bill, so will the Secretary of State give an unequivocal undertaking that workers’ rights, environmental protections and consumer protections will in no way be changed as a result of the Bill—or, indeed, of anything else?
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Government Operations
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): The straight answer is yes. One of the reasons the White Paper has been published a little later than I would have preferred is of course that we do not have a Northern Ireland Executive at this stage. I waited for the three weeks in the hope that we would have one, but at this point we cannot wait any longer. We will continue to consult the devolved Administrations. In the run-up to the election in Northern Ireland, I invited the out-going Ministers to make sure we had such a mechanism. I will ensure that we have another mechanism for Northern Ireland. I am not yet quite sure what it will be—I would be happy to hear the right hon. Gentleman’s ideas—but I am sure we will have another mechanism, whether or not through the Executive, so that we can also consult with Northern Ireland.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
Julian Murray Lewis (Conservative, Centre-right): Leave campaigners will vote for the Bill as it is part of the process of withdrawal, but remain campaigners admire EU law and want its provisions to continue, so can the Secretary of State think of any good reason why the great repeal Bill should not be passed unanimously?
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman should know better. The Leader of the House, who was previously a Europe Minister, was here and he made it clear, in terms, that the Prime Minister was talking about the fact that existing treaty arrangements, which will end when we leave the European Union, will fall by the wayside, so we will have to find an alternative—not our internal legal rights and privileges, but the treaty arrangements. That is the important thing.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): I am going to seek your protection, Mr Speaker. That is two people who have finished my career today—I am being called "pragmatic" as well. The simple truth is that when we come to do the trade and other deals, there will be relationships between us, as there are with other countries, to ensure that we maintain common standards—the point the ex-leader of the Liberal party, the ex-Deputy Prime Minister, made about data protection and so on. There will be things that we will negotiate, but my hon. Friend would be surprised if I talked those negotiations out in this place at this time.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Law and Crime
Desmond Angus Swayne (Conservative, Centre-right): That UK judges will be less creative is an open question. The notion of incorporating EU regulation, and indeed case law, gives me the collywobbles, but I assure my right hon. Friend of my support in the Division Lobby because he has bigger fish to fry.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): As the White Paper says, we made a very explicit decision that we would aim to make this a Supreme Court-level precedent—to reduce the number of courts that can deal with this to just the Supreme Court itself. The Supreme Court is fairly careful about changing its own precedent; indeed, it does so relatively rarely. We expect that to continue to be the case, but anything it does this House can change.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): As the Prime Minister made plain yesterday, she wants to see a comprehensive agreement. People have interpreted that as comprehensive trade agreement, but it does not just mean that; it means a comprehensive agreement across all the issues where we have a relationship with the European Union.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (Conservative, Centre-right): Those who wish to remain in the EU bang on about EU rules and regulations. Surely the whole point of leaving the EU is that we in this place can live under our own rules and regulations, which are suitable for us and not necessarily for 28 countries, as things currently stand.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman continues with his habit of reading half of what we say and ignoring the other half when it suits him. One of the things I have said from the beginning of this process is that we will bring into British law all European law, including case law, except where there are significant—[Interruption.] This is what the Bill will do. It will of course require statutory instruments to modify technical aspects—[Interruption.] Well, up to 1,000, but we are talking about 40 years of law. I would be very interested to hear what he proposes we do about a law that refers to a European regulatory authority. Would he leave it that way, or maybe have a major debate on the matter? That does not strike me as very sensible. Material policy changes will be carried through in primary legislation and there will be a number of such Bills in the coming Parliament.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Government Operations
James Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend the Secretary of State for his approach to this complex matter, but any discussion of English devolution is absent from the White Paper. To what extent does he envisage an opening up of opportunities for further legal powers to be devolved to the English regions and how might that work?
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Government Operations
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): It is not in the White Paper, but my hon. Friend will know that the Chancellor announced further devolution of powers to London, for example. I have been talking to a great extent with the Mayor of London about issues for London on this matter. It is not in the White Paper, but part of the Government’s overall strategy is to bring government as close as possible to the people.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
Alun Craig Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend my right hon. Friend for his mature and considered approach to the devolved nations. May I press him on the principle that if, when powers come back from the EU, they do not affect the UK internal market, which is so important to my constituency and our Welsh nation, they will they be given to the devolved nations as soon as possible?
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said, I am not going to demur from the principles I already outlined. My hon. Friend is right. The UK single market is several times bigger for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland than the EU single market. The only difference in the case of Northern Ireland is that there is £1 billion a week of trade between it and Ireland. We will see a significant increase in the amount of powers given to the devolved institutions, but we will have to protect matters such as the single market in the UK, security, environmental agreements and so on.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Law and Crime
Sue-Ellen Cassiana Braverman (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to ending the role of the European Court of Justice in our domestic courts. Does he agree that this is the only option if we are to truly restore control over our laws to the British people, and reverse an ever-intrusive influence by the ECJ on social and economic policy areas and its operation as a federal court—things that were never envisaged at its conception in 1957?
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
Martin John Vickers (Conservative, Centre-right): I know we can rely on my right hon. Friend to be an extremely robust negotiator, but just for the sake of absolute clarity on the role of the European Court of Justice, can he confirm that it will have absolutely no authority in the UK and that he will not in any circumstances water down that commitment during the negotiations?
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): I was just going to say yes, but I will make very plain what we are saying: the European Court of Justice will have no reach into the UK. It is of course the case that when one sells a product in another country, one meets the rules of that country. If one does that in the United States, one meets the rules that reach up to the Supreme Court. The same will happen in Europe, but the ECJ will not reach here.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Government Operations
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): The 40 are not in the UK; they are across the Union. It may be appropriate and it may not. It depends. [Interruption.] If the hon. Lady stops heckling I will answer. If, for example, it is a question of adding to another regulatory body already in existence, a statutory instrument might well be appropriate. In other cases where a regulatory body is created, it might be appropriate to have rather heavier level of parliamentary debate and insight.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): As a result of this, that will certainly not happen. I can only talk about the White Paper, but throughout the process we have tried to maintain in British law rights that arise out of European law, and that is what we will do.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Government Operations
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): I have made two points about that, which I will reiterate to the hon. Lady. First, no decisions that are currently exercised by devolved Administrations will be taken away from them. Secondly, there will be an increase in the number of powers exercised by those Administrations.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): The White Paper does not relate to that, but the hon. Lady is right in saying that we have to negotiate reciprocal arrangements, and that is what we will do. That is why we have proposed a comprehensive negotiation and a comprehensive free trade arrangement. We believe that that is eminently achievable, because we already have common standards, which the Bill will maintain, and there are already outstanding levels of trade between us—£290 billion of trade from the European Union to us, which its members will want to preserve every bit as much as we do.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Government Operations
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): That returns us to the issue raised by the spokesman for the hon. Gentleman’s party, the hon. Member for North East Fife (Stephen Gethins). We shall be talking to the devolved Administrations about the extent to which this will have an impact, and ensuring that there are increases—not decreases—in the powers available to them.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): No, not at all. The whole point of this is to bring those laws back within the control of Parliament and our own courts, and our courts will continue to interpret them as they see fit. They may continue to obey precedent, or they may decide to change it. That will be a matter for them, and, ditto, it will be a matter for the House of Commons to decide whether it wants to change such matters as well. Let me add, as an aside, that the Supreme Court often looks at what is done by other courts around the world—not just the European Court of Justice but, for instance, the American courts—in order to make its decisions.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Lady will have seen, there is an entire section on overseas territories and the like. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State has been engaging in continuous discussion with Gibraltar about these matters, and we will seek to defend its interests as best we can.
Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman shouts out, in French, "How many?" I am not going to try and give him a sort of "never mind the quality, feel the width" answer. The simple truth is that all EU law will move into UK law.
Animal Welfare — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Agriculture
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That this House notes that current penalties for animal welfare offences in England are among the lowest in Europe; believes that while the Government's plans for a new licensing regime for dogs in England is welcome the Government should consider a ban on the third party sale of dogs; and calls on the Government to increase the maximum penalty for animal welfare offences to five years, as recommended in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s Third Report, Animal welfare in England: domestic pets, HC 117 It is a great pleasure to introduce the debate. The report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, published in November last year, was the result of a long inquiry into aspects of animal welfare involving domestic pets such as dogs and cats, as well as horses. We took evidence from animal welfare charities, local government, the National Police Chiefs Council, industry representatives, veterinarians, academics and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to name but a few. We visited Battersea Dogs & Cats Home to learn about its work and also visited a commercial breeder and an animal rescue centre in Wales The Committee was unanimous on animal cruelty sentences: the current penalties for animal welfare offences in England are far too low. The maximum sentence for animal cruelty is six months in prison and an unlimited fine.
Animal Welfare — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Law and Crime
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for his intervention, and he is absolutely right. I just feel that if we have a stronger sentence and there is more flexibility in the courts, the magistrate will be able to impose that sentence for the very worst of cases. My right hon. Friend is right, but sometimes the current sentence of six months is just not long enough.
Animal Welfare — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Law and Crime
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman makes a good point: I believe that there is huge public support for stronger sentencing, and I hope that the Government are listening. Given the number of people in our prisons, I accept that we do not want huge sentences for every crime, but those who beat dogs, cats and other animals to death and plead guilty get an automatic 30% reduction in their sentence; they get four months. I do not believe any of us think that that is long enough.
Animal Welfare — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Law and Crime
Alun Craig Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend my hon. Friend on securing this debate, and I wholeheartedly support him, while of course declaring my interest of having a dog as part of my family. Our sanctions against people who commit these horrendous crimes compare poorly globally; will he comment on that?
Animal Welfare — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Law and Crime
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a good point. Our sentences are lower than those in Scotland and Northern Ireland, too, so there is far stiffer sentencing even in our own countries of the United Kingdom. We should also consider the message that it sends if the sentence for beating to death a sentient being that relies entirely on human care is less than that for, perhaps, stealing a computer; it really is not on. I am sure my hon. Friend the Minister is listening carefully; I know he is very keen on animal welfare. It is probably not always his remit to increase sentencing, but we must get this message out, loud and clear.
Animal Welfare — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Agriculture
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman and agree entirely. Many aspects of animal cruelty are reported, but others are not. Having stronger sentencing would be a deterrent; we want to prevent the cruelty from happening in the first place. Having a sentence of at least five years would send the right message. Then it would be up to the courts to decide what sentence they dish out in the end.
Animal Welfare — House of Commons, 2017-03-30
Topic: Agriculture
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady raises a good point. The use of air guns against cats and dogs can have terrible consequences. Lead pellets often cause a lot of injury and subsequent pain To make a broader point, we need to do much more in schools and the education system to make sure people know how to look after an animal. Most people do know how to look after animals. Unfortunately, animal cruelty is going on in some families, and perhaps the children do not know of anything else but what is happening at home. We must try to tackle that.