argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-20
Topic: Mixed Topics
Tulip Rizwana Siddiq (Labour, Centre-left): I want to spend the short time I have focusing on the disproportionate effect these tax credit cuts will have on the black and minority ethnic communities. Some 88% of these communities are based in the poorest boroughs in the country. They tend to have larger families and these families are often sustained by people who have part-time jobs. Fresh from my Royal Statistical Society training this morning, let me give some statistics that are staggering. A recent survey found that 5% of white men had part-time jobs, as opposed to 12% of black African men and 35% of men of Bangladeshi origin. When this lifeline is taken away from these communities, racial inequality in our society will widen. When the Government talk about looking after families, they are not talking about looking after families from the BME communities We must also look at these cuts in context. We cannot view them in isolation. Hampstead and Kilburn has a housing bubble and rents are soaring higher than ever. If we couple that with taking away tax credits from people who are working, we have to ask how people will survive. Six out of 10 of my constituents are paying £288 a week for a studio flat. Are we allowing the ethnic cleansing of London? Don’t take these credits away. Join us in voting against these cuts; whether it is the Mayor of London, "ConservativeHome", or The Sun, we must oppose these draconian measures.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-20
Topic: Mixed Topics
Peter Christopher Dowd (Labour, Centre-left): The 2015 Conservative manifesto promised to improve the lives of the millions "who work hard, raise their families, care for those who need help, who do the right thing" The tax credit changes will do exactly the opposite and instead penalise them heavily. There is no hiding from that. This is not the right thing. Why do the Government not accuse all people on tax credits of being feckless? That is what they really think. They do not bother even to make an artificial distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor. They do not care. If people are poor, deserving or otherwise, they do not care From what I can see, that is what those on the Government Benches think. They want urgent action to tackle the burden of tax credit expenditure, but take a mañana approach to tackling the issue of low pay. Some Conservative Members have expressed concern, but that is as far as it goes. Hand wringing, tutting, head shaking—conscience salved. But Conservative Members will be reminded time and again of their support for these proposals. It might get a bit tedious, but so be it The Chancellor says the changes are fair, so let me give a few facts. Facts can be stubborn. First, during this Parliament cumulative income loss will be between £6,000 and £9,500. Secondly, 3.2 million hard-working families will be hit. Thirdly, the changes will mean less pay, with some low income families keeping just 3p of every extra pound. Fourthly, child poverty will increase. Fifthly, the cuts are not compensated by other changes and have not been impact assessed. This is dreadful and the Government should think again.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-20
Topic: Other
Frank Field (Labour, Centre-left): What I said in my speech was that I hoped we would soon be able to debate a motion of the House, and that is what will happen when we have a full day’s debate on Thursday week. I also said that that is when we should make proposals for how to pay for it. I did not say we should do that in today’s debate.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-20
Topic: Other
Wesley Paul William Streeting (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I was wondering whether it was disorderly or simply discourteous that in his winding-up speech the Chief Secretary to the Treasury neglected to congratulate the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Heidi Allen) on her maiden speech.
Delegated Legislation — House of Commons, 2015-10-20
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 3 and 4 together Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Modern Slavery That the draft Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Transparency in Supply Chains) Regulations 2015, which were laid before this House on 7 September, be approved International Development That the draft Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (Initial Capital Contribution) Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 7 September, be approved.—(Margot James.) Question agreed to. Business of the House Ordered, That, at the sitting on Thursday 22 October, the Speaker shall put the questions necessary to dispose of proceedings on the motion in the name of Chris Grayling relating to Standing Orders (Public business) not later than 4.00pm; such questions shall include the questions on any amendments selected by the Speaker which may then be moved; proceedings may continue, though opposed, after the moment of interruption; and Standing Order No. 41A (Deferred divisions) shall not apply.—(Margot James.)
Defence Expenditure (NATO Target) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-23
Topic: Other
Gordon Marsden (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman is making a very substantial speech; I thought it would be in support of his colleagues, although it now seems otherwise. Far be it from me, a novice in these matters, to intrude on the debate, but does the Minister not recall President Reagan’s famous words when asked whether he trusted the Soviets? He said that he trusted the Soviets, but that he worked on the principle of "trust but verify".
Defence Expenditure (NATO Target) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-23
Topic: Other
Natascha Engel (Labour, Centre-left): As the hon. Gentleman knows, I am in no position to say whether that assumption is correct. However, just because Members on the Government Benches shouted "No", that did not oblige them to take part in the vote.
Defence Expenditure (NATO Target) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-23
Topic: Other
Natascha Engel (Labour, Centre-left): As the hon. Gentleman knows, having received the same advice from the Clerk as I did, it does not have to follow that just because people have shouted "No", they have to participate in the Division. They cannot vote in the opposite Lobby, but they do not have to participate.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Gerald Bernard Kaufman (Labour, Centre-left): In the summer of 1939, my parents took into our home a young Jewish girl, Johanna, who had arrived in Leeds on the Kindertransport. Her sister and others had arrived on the same Kindertransport, and Neville Chamberlain facilitated the arrival of these young children more than this Government are facilitating such things now. It is sad that this Government are doing less than Neville Chamberlain did. The right hon. Gentleman says that he is going to take in 20,000 refugees over five years. The Germans took in 10,000 on one day. What kind of comparison is that? I recognise the financial problems and the assimilation problems, but if we do not do it now, we will live to regret it for the rest of our lives. The message from my constituents, in a huge postbag and at every event I attended in my constituency over the weekend, is: "Let them in! We’ll welcome them. We’ll do what the Germans did. Let’s get on with it!"
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
Kevin Denis Brennan (Labour, Centre-left): There is perhaps a sad inevitability about the news that my former constituent Reyaad Khan has been killed, having joined ISIL, but I think that the House will have been surprised to learn that the manner of his death was a drone strike against a British citizen in Syria. There will therefore be many questions that Members will want to ask, and that I as his constituency MP and members of his family will want to ask. In the light of the action that the Prime Minister has outlined to the House today, I would like an assurance that he will be as forthcoming as possible, given the security situation, in explaining the nature of the threat that this 21-year-old man posed to the United Kingdom.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
George Edward Howarth (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement, but does he accept that the generous spirit the British people have demonstrated in the past few days gives him wide scope to do even more than he has proposed today? Will he give us some more indication of the number of refugees he proposes to take—children and those in other categories—in the coming months? He has talked about 20,000 over the course of this Parliament, but how many will come in the short term and in the medium term? Can he tell us about that?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Alison McGovern (Labour, Centre-left): When I asked the Prime Minister a question in June, he told me he was convinced that our country was doing all it should to help vulnerable child refugees. It took tragic events in August and the signatures of half a million British people to get him to change his mind. May I ask him to change his mind again and take refugees out of his migration target?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Stephen Pelham Pound (Labour, Centre-left): I think the whole House is grateful to the Prime Minister for his statement, responding to a unique outpouring of sympathy, tempered with horror, from the nation—well articulated, if I may say so, by the shadow Home Secretary—but he is now talking about 5,000 travel documents being issued to 5 million people in Lebanon and Jordan alone. What criteria will be used to make that dreadful "Sophie’s choice"? Will it be the UNHCR, or will he—as I hope he will—make use of the religious leaders in the camps, particularly among the Assyrian Christian community, to help him in this terrible, difficult task?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Keith Anthony Vaz (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement and remind him that it was the Ugandan Asians arriving in Leicester that so transformed that city. I agree with him that direct recruitment should be from the camps; however, there will be exceptional cases of people who have arrived in mainland Europe, some of whom I have met in Calais, who have ties with the United Kingdom and who may need to be processed. Will he look at those cases? In particular, will he please stress to the EU the need to support Europol? That is the organisation best placed to deal with the criminal gangs and Daesh, and we should give it more support.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has said that Britain will take in 20,000 refugees over the next five years, but he has paradoxically said that we will not accept them as refugees—they will not be given refugee status. He said they would be given status as being under humanitarian protection. As he knows, that is a discretionary leave to remain that does not entitle them to settlement. These are people who desperately need security and stability in their lives. How is he going to reconcile that with the status that he is proposing to give them?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): May I remind the Prime Minister that many of us in the Chamber are quite closely linked through our ancestry to migrants and refugees? In my case, my Huguenot Protestant ancestors were hounded out of France by the Catholics. Most of us in the Chamber will come from that sort of background. Should we not build on the generosity of spirit that has been shown by the British people? I do not think that the Prime Minister has yet gone far enough. I hope that he will go further. All of us must realise that none of us has clean hands and many of us are so responsible for the instability in the middle east that caused this problem in the first place.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Ann Clwyd (Labour, Centre-left): It is ironic that it has taken a photograph of one little boy washed up on a beach to focus world attention. This has been going on for months if not years: thousands of people have already drowned, but that one little boy has certainly focused attention. Our response, while welcome, is insufficient. One person in my constituency rang up today as I was driving up in the car and said, "I’ve got places for 20 families." My local authority, which is a poor local authority, has already offered places for 20 families. That little boy came from Kobane, which was liberated by Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, not by us, and that little boy’s father has gone back to Kobane. We owe such people something more. It is this country’s individuals who have shown the way, and I would hope that the Government will follow.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Ian Colin Lucas (Labour, Centre-left): In January the Prime Minister committed us to taking 500 refugees from Syria under the vulnerable persons relocation programme. Why are only 217 people here, despite 150,000 people going from Turkey to western Europe, as he described?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
Yasmin Qureshi (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister must be aware that there has been a sharp rise in crimes against Muslims and in anti-Muslim sentiment in the UK and Europe. Will he, as Prime Minister of this country, assure me that religion will not be a criterion to grant humanitarian relief? Will he resist the temptation to use the term "Islamic terrorism"? It is not Islamic. It is just pure terrorism.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
John Eugene Joseph Dromey (Labour, Centre-left): Our country has a long and honourable tradition of providing asylum and we warmly welcome those who will come to our shores—to Birmingham as they did to Berlin. Leadership is key at this time of the greatest refugee crisis since the war, and so, too, is the tone that that leadership sets. Will the Prime Minister therefore assure the House that there will be no more talk of swarms of marauding migrants, when there are hundreds of thousands of people fleeing for their lives?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Luciana Clare Goldsmith (Berger) (Labour, Centre-left): The city of Liverpool has a very proud tradition of welcoming those fleeing from oppression and we stand ready to welcome refugees from Syria. From the hundreds of pieces of correspondence I have received in recent weeks from my constituents, I know that they, like me, will be bitterly disappointed by the lack of ambition from the Prime Minister today. How quickly, after the statement from the Home Secretary next week, can we expect the British programme to start?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David Lindon Lammy (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome what the Prime Minister has said today, but he will know that when Turkey invaded Cyprus, we took 50,000 Cypriots; that during Idi Amin’s reign in Uganda, we took 30,000 Asian Ugandans; and that we took more than 20,000 Vietnamese boat people in a short space of time. Why has he limited his help for Syrians to 4,000 a year?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Diane Julie Abbott (Labour, Centre-left): The British people are indeed, as the Prime Minister said, a generous people, and they will find his proposal for taking 4,000 Syrian refugees a year derisory, but above all, long after this refugee crisis is no longer on the front pages, there will be a need for a sustainable, Europe-wide strategy. It cannot be right for Greece and Italy to be left alone to deal with incoming migrants from across the Mediterranean. It cannot be right that we refuse to take our quota. Syrian refugees are not the only issue; migrants from the horn of Africa and north Africa are drowning in the Mediterranean every day. The Prime Minister needs to look to a more sustainable strategy that is more genuinely about working closely with our European neighbours, because hundreds of thousands of lives depend on it.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): In a few weeks’ time, it will be the first anniversary of the murder of my constituent, Alan Henning, by ISIL. Alan gave his life to get vital aid through to Syrian children, but as we saw last week, Syrian children are still in desperate need of refuge and support. It is in respect of the scale and lack of immediacy of the Government’s response today that my constituents in Eccles and Worsley will be disappointed. They want to see a more immediate response and a more generous offer to Syrian refugees. Will the Prime Minister think again?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Jenny Chapman (Labour, Centre-left): In the 1990s, families in Darlington welcomed Bosnian refugees into their homes, and it is a credit to them that they are willing to welcome refugees again. Our voluntary sector is already collecting toys and clothes. Those people know what to do, and the local authority is on board. What they do not know—they are trying to plan, and the success of the scheme will be greatly assisted by an ability to plan properly—is when this is going to happen. They have no idea when it will happen. The Prime Minister said "straightaway", but we need more than "straightaway". We need to know whether the Prime Minister is talking about days or weeks. What does he mean?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Prime Minister agree that there are great advantages to both local communities and refugees if they are located evenly and proportionately throughout the kingdom? Does he know that in the fine city of Newport, we successfully host 459 asylum seekers and Cardiff has more than 900, but the constituency of the Chancellor has only two, the Home Secretary has only five and the Prime Minister has none? How many of the 20,000 will be located to his constituency?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): Over the past 10 years Hull has taken many refugees under the Home Office’s Gateway programme, and they have been successfully resettled. At the Freedom festival over the weekend, nearly 1,200 people signed the petition established by Sue Hubbard to get more support for Syrian refugees. A few months ago Hull offered to help by taking in more Syrians, but the Home Office dragged its feet and nothing happened. What assurance can the Prime Minister give me that the Government will now take up Hull’s very good offer?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Nia Rhiannon Griffith (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has mentioned the five-year protection visa. Will he give assurances that people who have that visa will be allowed to work and travel, and that there will be an automatic assumption of the extension of proper resettlement rights to them if they so wish?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Housing
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): When the Prime Minister started speaking, I felt really proud that Britain was going to take 20,000, but then we were told that it would be over five years and I have to say that my heart sank. The local council in my constituency of Bridgend has said that, despite £50 million in cuts over five years, it will take in 10 families. Many of these families cannot wait five years for us to offer them a home. Their need is now. Why cannot we move the 20,000, start taking people now and have a regular statement from the Prime Minister telling us how many have come so that we can get a sense of movement and take our 20,000, certainly before five years is up?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has set out the action that he intends to take in and around Syria, and also here at home. He has been very clear about not becoming involved in the EU quota system. Given that, and given the very real pressures faced by the countries on the frontline—particularly Greece and Italy—is there any assistance that the United Kingdom can give those countries with the processing of the applications and with the refugees?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): It is exactly a month since I wrote to the right hon. Gentleman’s Minister to ask why the vulnerable persons relocation scheme was failing for refugees from Syria and why it had not been extended to Iraq, but I have had no reply. I hope the Prime Minister’s statement today will begin to answer the first part, but what about the second? Given his conflation of the military threat from Daesh in Iraq and in Syria, what difference is there between refugees fleeing from Daesh in Syria and in Iraq?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): Would the Prime Minister concede that perhaps the Government have been a little slow out of the traps in responding to this crisis, perhaps because Ministers are a bit befuddled by an artificial debate that conflates economic migrants with refugees, and indeed that conflates economic migrants with the European Union debate that Conservative Members are having? Would he also care to comment on the editorial policy of newspapers that deliberately include provocative articles by deliberately provocative writers saying it is absolutely fine to send gunboats to stop refugees, and change their position straightaway when there are pictures of dead little boys washed up on the beach?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Melanie Onn (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has made repeated reference to how much effort this country has put into dealing with the refugee crisis over the past months, but back in June my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire) tabled an early-day motion on Operation Mare Nostrum. That operation was estimated to have saved the lives of half a million refugees in the Mediterranean area, but the Government cancelled it, saying that it was a pull factor. Does the Prime Minister regret cancelling it? Is it time to reinstate it?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): I have also been inundated with offers of support from constituents in Oldham and Saddleworth. How will the Prime Minister speed up the asylum process? It can take many months, if not years, and many refugees have specific skills that are in short supply in the country; I have a family of engineers from Syria who want to work and have been in the country for a few years Will the Prime Minister also confirm whether he will publish the Attorney General’s guidance on the legal basis for the killing of a UK citizen, so that this House can scrutinise the decision making?