argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend speaks with such clarity from her personal experience. She has shared with me copies of some of the threats that she received, and they are truly appalling. I modestly pay tribute to her strength of character and ability to stand up and to continue to fight her case, for which I have enormous respect. Given that everybody knows the level of abuse that is taking place towards MPs and more widely in public life, everybody should consider very carefully the language that they use so that it does not incite the sort of activity of which we have seen too much, and to which there is such a high cost, not only to the individuals involved but, as has been stated, to the enthusiasm of other people to join us in public life. We need to think very carefully about the type of language that is used in order not to give succour to the type of violence that can follow.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. and learned Lady for her constructive comments. By being here to make those points and to stand up against the harassment, she is herself a great example that I hope other women will be inspired to follow. It is so important for other women to have these sorts of role models who have the courage of their convictions to stand up and oppose the abuse, and to say how they will attack it The Government have just received the publication. We will look carefully at its recommendations, which are varied. I share some of the concerns raised by the right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) about whether additional legislation is required for people in public life. I share her view that people in public life should not necessarily have additional coverage, because all abuse is unwelcome, but we do not yet rule out legislation. I would welcome an early conversation with her, and with the hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry), to discuss that. The hon. and learned Lady made the very important point that, in a bid to increase diversity in this House, we have an extra duty to combat this abuse.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve (Conservative, Centre-right): We are not exactly shrinking violets in this House, and I think that most of us are perfectly capable of engaging in robust debate. I have to say, however, that I have been shocked by the level of vitriolic abuse that I have received in the past week, and shocked also to realise that actually this is the new normal for large numbers of Members of this House—a sort of hidden unpleasantness that dominates our lives. I am concerned that, while undoubtedly some of it comes from people who may be a little unhinged, the stimulus for it undoubtedly, as has been suggested, comes from some sections of the national media choosing to report the politics of this country in a way that is designed to entertain but also to intimidate. This is all the more remarkable because when, about a year ago, I criticised one national newspaper, the Daily Mail, for its attack on the judiciary over article 50, its response was to threaten to sue me for libel One really has to wonder how this extraordinary unpleasantness has crept in. I think that the Home Secretary may agree that we are going to have to stand up for decency in public discourse and face this down. If we do it collectively, then we do not need to change the law—we can prosecute those who cross the boundary. Then we may be able to face down what seems to me to be a deeply unpleasant phenomenon in our society at present.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Other
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I share the view of my right hon. and learned Friend that this must not be allowed to become the new normal. That is why I am here to make this statement. It is also why so many colleagues across the House—and you, Mr Speaker—feel so strongly about this issue. Let us make this a tipping point where we call it out and say "No more". We in the Government will take action. We have set out elements of the action that is already being taken. We have the Committee’s recommendations, and we will look carefully at them. I will certainly join my right hon. and learned Friend in making sure that we call this out and ask for a new type of behaviour, so that colleagues do not receive the sort of intimidation that they have experienced.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): Let us be very clear about what is happening here. Wherever the abuse comes from, it is a deliberate action to remove from the public space certain voices that these people do not agree with. I applaud all the comments that have been made so far, particularly those made by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve), who called on us all to act collectively Does the Home Secretary agree that it is not enough simply to say that such abuse is appalling? We have all got to think about every word that we use. We are all used to robust political debate, but the way in which we manage ourselves and our teams, the way in which Departments are managed, the way in which the Front Bench teams are managed and the way in which party leaders allow their campaigners to operate, conduct campaigns and put material on social media all contribute to how people see our politics and our democracy. It will put people off going into public life if the Members in this House today do not call out such unacceptable abuse every time they see it unfolding online or in the press.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the right hon. Lady’s inquiry into online abuse, which she is taking forward tomorrow. I also welcome Twitter’s statement today about taking down a number of particularly hateful accounts; it shows that action is being taken. Google has announced that it will be publishing transparency reports. At least action is being taken in an area that has, I know, caused a great deal of harm and concern to very many of us I repeat that I believe that the real issue is the attackers, who are potentially launching their hate and abuse. As far as the media are concerned, it covers not just national newspapers but internet companies, commentators and television. I hope and expect that the level of discourse here today, and further in response to the Committee’s investigations, will start to engage them; and that they will notice that their language must reflect the fact that MPs are beginning to talk about hate threats and threats of violence as the new normal. We need their assistance to step down from that.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Antoinette Geraldine Sherratt (Sandbach) (Conservative, Centre-right): Like many of my colleagues, last week I was subjected to hundreds and hundreds of emails, many of which were abusive. The situation was not helped by Members calling for deselections. There is a clear link between abuse and certain parts of particular political parties calling for deselection. Will the Home Secretary condemn that linkage and work across this House to ensure that Members, who are democratically elected by their constituents, can stand here, speak for their constituents and vote in accordance with their conscience without such threats hanging over them?
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Other
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is an exceptional Member of Parliament. She is always speaking out on behalf of not just our constituents, but what she believes in. I absolutely believe, as I think most colleagues in this House do, that she is exactly the sort of Member of Parliament that we should have here. Members such as my hon. Friend enhance our democracy, so she has my entire support.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman raises such an important point. It is tragic to hear about the attacks on him, so I am pleased that he has had the opportunity to put them on the record. I hope that we will start to turn this around, and I wholly agree with him that we need to see more action from communications service providers. As I have said, I am delighted that the Home Affairs Committee is playing its part, and we in the Government will certainly play our part in making sure that they do more, act faster and go further to protect everybody.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): The most important point that the hon. Gentleman makes is about language. I completely agree with him that the language that was used by Nigel Farage, as he described, is the sort of inciting language that is completely unwelcome in an environment where we are trying to protect not just MPs, but anybody in public office and the people who will come after them. I urge media companies—online and offline—to consider that very carefully, because of the atmosphere in which some of these debates are taking place.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Sarah James (Wollaston) (Conservative, Centre-right): Sadly, abuse and intimidation are directed not just against those in public life, but against their families and those who work alongside them. I am sure the whole House will want to join me in paying tribute to our amazing teams in our constituency and parliamentary offices—in my case, Nina Smith, Lucy Mannion and Daragh Quinn—who deal with people with unfailing courtesy and respect. It is a great shame that, after I am targeted as a traitor by organisations such as the Daily Mail, the extent of the abusive calls is unfortunately so great that I have to ask them to work from home, and that when Members listen to this stuff—when we go in and work alongside them the next day—we find that it is truly shocking and unacceptable.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): I am beginning to think that it is almost impossible to mix politics with Facebook and Twitter. These platforms are just made for anonymous abuse, and they do not contribute to modern civilisation. They encourage people to instant outrage, because they have to react immediately, without any pause for reflective thought. There is just an automatic direction towards abusing somebody, rather than towards debating, discussing and, importantly, listening because these platforms are for the transmission not the receipt of ideas. To my mind, they do not enhance our democracy in any way at national level, but also, importantly, they do not do so in relation to local councillors at local level.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes such an important point. That is largely, but not exclusively, where a lot of the hate comes from. For my own part, I no longer look at my Twitter timeline, but I know that plenty of people, particularly younger people, live online and they should not be put off coming into public life because they would then be expected not to engage on Facebook or Twitter. We must have an environment in which such people can continue to engage in their normal communications and go into public life if they choose to do so.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I wholeheartedly condemn that. It sounds as though it was dealt with appropriately, so I commend the officers engaged with and delivering on that. If the hon. Lady felt that we should be doing anything in addition, I would welcome an early appointment with her, so that she can tell me what that is. I urge her to have a look at the recent report from Lord Bew to see whether anything should be added.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I agree with my hon. Friend. We cannot have a situation in which people are expected to disengage from social media to avoid the abuse. As I have said, I am delighted that the Home Affairs Committee is taking this forward as well.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Housing
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady raises a very important point in an appropriate and delicate way, but I think everybody knows exactly what she is highlighting. I share her views. We need to clean up our own houses as well as working across houses. I hope that her party, as well as mine, will listen carefully to the points she raises.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Mark Andrew Menzies (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the sentiments of the Home Secretary and what she has said today, but when it comes to social media, the time for pussyfooting is over. These are multibillion-pound companies that have the resource to tackle this issue if they want to. What is the Home Secretary doing to tackle those who hide behind anonymous accounts, making it very hard to close them down and to pursue them through the courts? That is something that she should be tackling with the social media companies.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Thomas Christopher John Pursglove (Conservative, Centre-right): There is a fine line, is there not, between disagreeing with someone and being deliberately disingenuous with a view to inciting hatred and harassment, often repeatedly and often for political advantage? Does my right hon. Friend agree that that is corrosive for our political discourse and that it has to stop, but that in order for it to stop we need leadership from across the political spectrum?
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Other
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree that there is nothing wrong with argument and a little bit of rudeness, but that the sorts of examples that we have been quoting are absolutely unacceptable. We need to work across the House to ensure that we have a proper answer and strategy to combat them.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Other
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree completely with the hon. Lady. I had a similar experience when I was a Back-Bench MP, when somebody said, "Well you’re an MP—you can take it." MPs are not blushing wallflowers, but nor should we have to take that sort of abuse. I would welcome the sort of approach she sets out.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Nigel Paul Huddleston (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Home Secretary agree that we must all take personal responsibility on this issue and that any Member of this place whose name or hashtag is persistently associated with hate-filled comments on social media must do everything to distance themselves from such campaigns? Otherwise, they deserve the disdain of the entire House.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a very good point about something constructive that each of us can do. When we see one of our colleagues in the House receiving this sort of hate crime, we can go out of our way to call it out or, at the very least, not participate in any sort of endorsement, which sometimes does take place.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Other
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): What I would like to say is that the people to blame are the people making the threats and the attacks. It is not just about one media channel, but the whole arena. It is about making sure that we all call out the language. The hon. Lady may have one particular target and other MPs may have different particular candidates they want to call out, but I am very clear that any use of that sort of language to denigrate MPs can lead to the sorts of attacks that should not take place.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Other
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman refers to the language used. The point I have made in my statement and in answer to questions is that we should all—media companies, too—consider very carefully the sort of language used in our debates. I would also ask him to consider very carefully some of the language used by those on the shadow Front Bench about some of my fellow MPs on the Government Benches. We have to be very careful about the type of language used, not just by media companies but by individuals in this House.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Other
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not familiar with the individual case the hon. Gentleman raises, but if he would like to write to me about it I will certainly take a look at his recommendation. It is interesting to hear his view about the requirement for additional legislation. No doubt we will be looking at that when we consider the Committee’s responses.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very sorry to hear that horrific and hateful personal example from the hon. Gentleman. It must have been very distressing for him and his family. We have changed the rules so that candidates no longer have to put out their home address when they stand for election, but I will certainly look at that. I would be grateful if he sent me a note about it.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution. It is distressing to hear that example, because we are beginning to see some progress from Twitter. If he would like to write to me about that particular example, I will certainly take a look at it. Abuse online is not only just as unwelcome but just as illegal as abuse offline.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I thank the Home Secretary for her statement, the shadow Home Secretary for her response and all hon. and right hon. Members for their remarks this afternoon. Let us be absolutely clear: making death threats or other threats of violence will always, everywhere, without exception, be wrong. In a political context, making death threats or other threats of violence against people on grounds of their views is, whether the authors know it or not, a kind of fascism that must be explicitly and unequivocally denounced. Today, thankfully—and I am extremely grateful to colleagues across the party divide from the highest level—it has been You will hear me, as your Speaker, call Divisions. The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) referred to the freedoms of this place, and when the Chair calls Divisions the Chair is calling on hon. and right hon. Members to vote as they think fit, and I would go so far as to say that they not only have a right to vote as they think fit but have an absolute bounden duty to vote as they think fit, and I am confident that that is what all of you—if I may speak to you very personally—do. How you vote is always a matter for you and not for me, but you must be conscious, as I am sure you are, of your duty in this matter. I want, in the light of what has been said and of the experiences of some of my colleagues in recent days, simply to conclude by saying that in voting as you think fit on any political issue, you as Members of Parliament are never mutineers. You are never traitors. You are never malcontents. You are never enemies of the people. You are dedicated, hard-working, committed public servants doing what you believe to be right for this country. If there are people who cannot understand that basic concept of principled conduct, perhaps they need help to ensure that in future they do.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): The Finance Bill makes changes to the bank levy, in particular restricting its scope to UK activities. These changes support our vision to help keep UK banks globally competitive. They reflect improvements in international banking regulation that reduce the risk of overseas operations to the UK, and they complete a set of changes announced in 2015 and 2016 that significantly increase the tax we raise from our banks. Let me be clear from the outset that this Government believe that banks should make a significant contribution to the public finances, beyond general business taxation, that reflects the risk they pose to the UK economy. That has been the record of Chancellors since 2010. As part of that, in 2011 the Government introduced the bank levy on the balance sheet equity and liabilities of banks and building societies, but this additional tax contribution made by banks has to support our broader objectives for the sector. It therefore needs to be responsive to international commercial and regulatory changes in banking. Any tax changes should ensure that we can continue to secure the additional contribution from the banks from a sustainable tax base, and they also need to ensure we retain a strong, stable and competitive banking sector that supports the wider economy by lending capital to both businesses and individuals.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Alberto Castrenze Costa (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that in pursuing the policies he has just outlined in a strong and stable way we can have sustainable banking that gives the significant contributions to the Treasury that are much needed, and that the policies espoused by the parties opposite would do great damage to our economy and our public services?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for that perceptive and helpful intervention. There is no question but that a healthy banking system is absolutely central to a healthy economy, which is why we have invested so much time and energy since 2010 in making sure that the regulation of the banks is tightened up, which was, of course, part of the original rationale for the bank levy. The fact that we are reducing the bank levy over time from 2015 and moving towards taxing profits is in itself an indication of the health of our banking system.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman will know, the Bank of England carries out stress tests on our banking system. In the latest round, the banks came through very strongly—not a single one failed. The tests stress the system to a greater extent than the effect of the last financial crash in 2008, so we can be certain that the measures the Government have put in place, the operation of the independence of the Bank of England and carrying those things through are having the desired effect that he rightly seeks.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Alex Burghart (Conservative, Centre-right): After 2008, a bank levy was needed because there was not much profitability in the banks to enable their assets to be taxed, but as we have improved regulation it is now worth moving to tax their profitability. Does the Minister agree that this is the right time to make this shift in raising revenue?