argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): There were lots of questions from my right hon. Friend. She made some remarks about my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s votes last week. I voted exactly the same way as he did—I voted against an extension in the free vote One of the points about the votes on Thursday was that it was absolutely vital that the House voted against the Benn amendment, which, if it had been successful, would have bound the hands of not just this Government but future Governments. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State did exactly the right thing by voting to reject the amendment—and, as I remember, it was rejected by three votes. That is exactly what I did, and that is exactly why he voted the way he did With regard to the last vote, it was a free vote. My right hon. Friend said, as I did, that we would not seek to extend article 50. However, as Members of the House know, the House did vote to extend article 50. As a consequence, I set out clearly in my statement the process that will be followed. As I said, we will, as soon as possible following agreement at EU level, bring forward the necessary domestic legislation to amend the definition of exit day. That legislation will take the form of an affirmative statutory instrument, which will be laid before the House after the agreement with the EU, next week.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): A very amusing interjection The Government have made clear, and the Prime Minister made clear a couple of weeks ago, that in the event of the meaningful vote not getting through, there would be a number of votes on consecutive days outlining what the process would be. [Interruption.] Members say that they have heard that before. That is because of the process that is unfolding. What we will do now is seek an extension of article 50. [Interruption.] That has been very clearly expressed As for the meaningful vote, Mr Speaker, you made your opinion clear in your statement, but I do not want to prejudge whether any meaningful vote will come to the House, or to prejudge its success or otherwise. We have made it very plain that if we are given the meaningful vote, we will seek a short extension, if we get that through the House, and if we do not, we will seek a longer extension. I am pleased to be able to inform the House exactly what the position is.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: Foreign Trade
John Alan Redwood (Conservative, Centre-right): May I urge the Government not to seek any extension in the event that their agreement is not successfully put through the House? The Government’s long-term, consistently stated policy has been that we will leave on 29 March 2019, and that is what those who voted for both main parties will expect following the clear statements that were made at the time of the 2017 election. Will the Minister persuade the Government to go to the important meeting with our European partners this week and to table a fully comprehensive free trade agreement? I think that they would be willing to discuss that if the alternative were leaving without such an agreement, and then we would not need to impose new barriers. What’s not to like? Will the Government get on with it?
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted, and not wholly unsurprised, by my right hon. Friend’s intervention. I have followed his speeches and declarations in the House with interest for many years The referendum happened, but we must also get legislation through Parliament. We live in a parliamentary democracy, and last week the House made very clear its view that we should take no deal off the table and seek an extension of article 50. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister outlined a series of measures whereby she and her Government would try to follow the directions of the House in respect of the extension and in respect of taking no deal off the table.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman produced a whole battery of questions. He asked why we had not sought an extension. The European Council will start on Thursday; at that point a letter will be sent, and we will seek an extension. He also asked about the statutory instrument and what my vote would be. Perhaps I am part of a tiny minority in the House, but I still think that there is room for a vote on the deal. I think that that may happen, and I do not want to prejudge the situation.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Gino Francois (Conservative, Centre-right): Given that the European Council is only three days away, may I ask the Minister three questions? First, how long an extension will we ask for, or has Olly Robbins not yet told the Cabinet? Secondly, what is the purpose of the extension? Thirdly, will the statutory instrument be debated on the Floor of the House, rather than upstairs in Committee, and will the Government allocate a whole day for the debate You chair the House of Commons Commission, Mr Speaker, and today is D minus 11. If, as a result of these historic events, we do leave the European Union at 11 pm on 29 March, will you, Sir, use your influence with the House of Commons authorities to ensure that Big Ben chimes at 11 pm, so that we can celebrate our freedom?
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend asked, essentially, two questions. He asked how long the extension would be. That depends on whether the meaningful vote goes through. If we have a deal and if the deal goes through, we will ask for a short extension. If, for whatever reason, the vote does not happen, or is frustrated, or the deal is voted down, we will probably ask for a long extension. [Hon. Members: "How long?"] That would be a matter for the EU, and for our Government, to decide My right hon. Friend’s second question was about the statutory instrument. As a former Whip, he will know that such matters are for the usual channels—for the business managers in the House. I am sure that we will have further clarification later in the week.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): On the first part of the right hon. Gentleman’s question, I am not here to wrangle with him about the meaning of his amendment; all we know is that the amendment was rejected so what its force would have been is of academic concern. It was rejected, thankfully, and we can move on On the right hon. Gentleman’s comments on the extension, I said—very clearly I hoped—in my opening statement that the Prime Minister would write a letter and the length of the extension would be agreed between the EU and the UK Government.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): The motion debated by the House last week envisaged a short extension, and as my hon. Friend pointed out there has to be a purpose to a short extension. Given the absence of a withdrawal agreement will the Government look again at the potential of using such a short extension to apply to join the EFTA pillar of the EEA agreement to which we are a party, and thereby rely on our existing legal rights under that treaty?
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend will remember, there were two options. If the deal is adopted by the House, the Government will apply for a short extension of the article 50 period. If it is not—if the deal is voted down or for whatever reason is frustrated—we would have to seek a longer extension. It is not currently the Government’s intention to seek to join EFTA or any other of those organisations. We made it very clear that this was a binary choice: we would have the deal, in which case we would ask for a short extension, or we would have to ask, regrettably perhaps, for a longer one.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I was very struck during last week’s events about this so-called people’s vote, because my understanding was that the Labour party had suddenly changed its policy in favour of it, but then of course when the amendment came from the hon. Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston), the Labour party refused to back it, so I and others are in a lot of confusion about the nature of the so-called people’s vote. I am not going to prejudge things; I still think there is a chance that the deal can come back and go through the House, but perhaps I am an eternal optimist.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew William Murrison (Conservative, Centre-right): Given the centrality of Northern Ireland to the Brexit process, does the Minister agree that a solemn and binding change that involved Stormont in the future arrangements in the political declaration or the unilateral declaration would constitute a very significant change to any meaningful vote that was brought before this House?
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right: Northern Ireland is at the front and centre of this current debate, and the Government’s intention is absolutely that Stormont, if and when it is reconstituted as a Government, will have a complete role in moving forward both the deal and further Brexit discussions.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): So far the Minister has not explained, to my satisfaction anyway, why we need an extension at all, certainly given the votes last week, and, secondly, why on earth would we want a long extension? What is the rationale behind that? Is the Minister also aware that Mr Guy Verhofstadt has just said that the UK could be refused an extension if the Prime Minister fails to get agreement in the Commons on the meaningful vote, and, secondly, does he know that Elmar Brok is saying that the Italians are almost certainly going to refuse an extension anyway?
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very pleased that my hon. Friend has asked a question. He is a great parliamentarian: he has ample experience over many years in the House of Commons, and he will have noticed that there was a vote on Thursday in which the House said we should extend the article 50 process. It is on the back of that that I have made this statement relating to extending the article 50 process, and that is why my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has presented these two choices. I am not prejudging the meaningful vote. Many people in this House have condemned it already; I am not prejudging that, but that is why we are going to extend the period My hon. Friend may rely on other Governments vetoing the extension of article 50. That may well be the case; I cannot prejudge that. But what we do know is that many people in Europe have said they would accommodate the United Kingdom if it were the case that the Government should extend the article 50 period.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister set out a series of votes that took place last week. We all know the results of those votes. At the end of the process, in the final vote on the Thursday, the result was roughly 420 against 202. The House voted by two to one to extend article 50, and that is what the Prime Minister has said she will do. We have a parliamentary democracy, and the Prime Minister very clearly set out what would happen.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I would love to do that, but my hon. Friend knows that the way to have done so would have been to vote for the deal so that we could have left on the required date. If the extension is two years, of course I cannot rule out the possibility that these elections might be held, because my understanding is that it is a matter of law that we should have representation in that Parliament.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that my hon. Friend is a passionate believer in Brexit, but it has been very clear from the events last week that there is no majority in this House for leaving without a deal. The Prime Minister and her Government believe that we should take some instruction from the House to take no deal off the table, and that is what happened.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): In my brief time as a Minister, I have been very clear about the way to get out of the mess. The obvious way was to vote for the deal—a reasonable deal. The Opposition voted it down and now they turn around and have the effrontery to say, "What shall we do?" They have been totally negative. That is exactly why I have calmly set out the next steps for the extension of article 50.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): That ball is now rolling, I am afraid. My right hon. Friend is still trying to expand on the fantasy of no deal, but no deal has been taken off the table by this House, and that is why we are talking about extending article 50.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Henry Edward Millar Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): You correctly said in your statement to the House earlier, Mr Speaker, that in December we had three days of debate on the withdrawal agreement before the Government pulled that vote. I think we had another five days of debate in January before the first meaningful vote. I think I am correct in saying that, at that Dispatch Box, the Prime Minister said 108 times that we would be leaving the European Union on 29 March This is a very important matter for the country, and the Minister just said that we would need ample debate on an SI to change the date. May I have assurances that we will have at least a week’s worth of debates in this House to ensure that we discuss it properly?
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): Mr Speaker, you and I have been in this House together for nearly 22 years, and I do not think that I have known such grave times as those that we are experiencing at the moment. They require serious questions and serious answers. In the not entirely unreasonable event of the EU Council deciding at the weekend not to grant any extension at all to put us out of our misery, what will the Government’s response be?
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Marcus John Hudson Fysh (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Government be tabling the memo that was sent to them by the alternative arrangements working group on 13 February in order to try to get changes to the package of documents that might enable the withdrawal agreement to be approved?
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her concern about my answers. They were actually produced after Mr Speaker spoke—[Interruption.] Things move very fast in this place, as she knows. It is not currently our intention to have indicative votes, and I cannot be clearer about that. However, we are going to lay an SI to extend the article 50 period, and I have said that many times.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): If my hon. Friend is asking me whether the timeframe is short, of course it is short. However, as I have said many times, the House voted last week to extend the article 50 process, and the Government will have to table an SI in order to do that. However, that has to be done after the March EU Council meeting, which takes place on 21 and 22 March. That is the logic behind the timetable.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have repeated many times, we have a process, and this urgent question is all about the process, which I have outlined. I know that people are saying that this is impossible, but if the meaningful vote goes through, we will ask for a short extension to get the necessary legislation through. If it does not go through, we will ask for a longer extension. In both scenarios, we would have to lie—[Hon. Members: "Lie?"] Forgive me, we would have to lay—[Laughter.] Let me rearrange the phrasing: a statutory instrument would have to be laid in order to extend the article 50 process. That is the world in which we live.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Andrew Pritchard (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend the Minister for batting very well on a difficult wicket. I hope that he moves up in the reshuffle batting order after today. He has done very well—[Interruption.] I think my time has passed Was it not the Government’s position that if the House agreed to the withdrawal agreement, they would seek a short technical extension? Given that the Prime Minister will probably go to the EU summit without a withdrawal agreement having been passed, is it not likely that the EU, which will then be in the driving seat, will ask for a long extension That being the case, would it not be a little premature of the Prime Minister to take a letter ahead of a possible third meaningful vote next week—subject to a change in the motion, as outlined by Mr Speaker earlier? Would it not perhaps be better to wait until next week to see whether we can get the meaningful vote on the Order Paper and voted through and then ask for a short extension, rather than have a long extension dictated to this House and this country by the EU?
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted that my hon. Friend sees the world the way I do. In fact, the Government’s choice would have been to get the withdrawal agreement through the House and then leave on 29 March, but the House had other ideas and the deal was voted down, so we are now seeking to extend the process. I happen to think that the meaningful vote could get through—maybe next week, but who knows? But in the event that it does not, we need a way to extend the article 50 process. That is what I have been outlining this afternoon.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): Or amendments to have a second referendum and all the rest of it. It is therefore unlikely that such a motion would get through the House, and it is not the Government’s intention to revoke article 50. As I have said, there is the meaningful vote—the deal—and we will then get a short extension, but if we vote it down, it will be a longer extension.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I cannot stress enough how interested I am in the fact that the hon. Gentleman does not feel that we have set out a plan for an extension. I mentioned the SI that would be laid next week, and I set out that there would be a debate. The Government listened to the House last week, and we are committed to extending article 50, as I said in my initial answer.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): In respect of no deal, the House has made its voice very clear. In respect of extending article 50, the House, once again, has made its voice very clear and the Government have responded to that. That is why we are going to ask—I could not be clearer—for an extension of article 50. The debate is about how long that will be. I still hope there will be a deal, in which case we will ask for a short extension but, if not, we would have to look at another timeframe.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): Let me reassure the hon. Gentleman that the Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker), has met the Welsh Government many times and has had constructive dialogue with them. It is worth remembering that the Welsh Government gave their legislative consent to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 last summer. So that is something where we worked together admirably and we got a good result.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The idea that I or anyone else is treating this as a parlour game is completely irresponsible. In 2016, 17.4 million people, including many of the hon. Lady’s constituents, voted to leave the EU and we are taking our responsibilities extremely seriously. She may think it is a parlour game, but we do not agree with her. I have stressed many times that we will be seeking an extension, either a short one if the meaningful vote goes through—[Interruption.] People are laughing that out of court. I still have some hope that it will go through. If that is voted down, we will seek a longer extension. In both of those cases we will seek to lay an SI.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My understanding was that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster’s commitment related to the period after we had decided to extend the article 50 period—that was when potential votes of the nature the hon. Gentleman describes would take place. I cannot stress more passionately to him that I still believe there is a binary choice: we still have the prospect of a deal or not. I still believe that that is an option. He has ruled it out, as have many others, but I still believe there is an option—[Interruption.] The Speaker did not rule it out.
Article 50 Extension Procedure — House of Commons, 2019-03-18
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The SI is not pointless at all because, as a matter of law, in the withdrawal Act, the exit day is 29 March. The hon. Gentleman will understand that, if we are going to extend the article 50 period, we have to amend the exit day as described in that Act, so the SI is absolutely necessary.