argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: The latest fiscal sustainability report was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility just over an hour ago. Knowing what a quick reader my right hon. Friend is, what assessment has he made of the implications for the long-term health of the public finances?; The autumn statement revealed the Brexit bombshell that growth will be a massive 2.4% lower than previously predicted. What further impact does the Chancellor expect that leaving the single market will have on GDP growth in the years to come?; Businesses, including restaurants and guest houses in my constituency, curtail their business to keep within the VAT threshold, but that has a negative impact on economic activity and jobs in west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Will the Chancellor consider increasing the VAT threshold as soon as the opportunity arises?; Last week, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority began a statutory consultation on UK Government plans to cut final salary pensions across the nuclear estate, which will have an impact on 16,000 workers, including hundreds in my constituency. Is the Chancellor aware that this is a betrayal of promises made by Margaret Thatcher to nuclear workers when the electricity industry was privatised?; The Solent region has a deficit of 6% in its gross value added compared with the rest of the south-east. Much of that is due to the lack of investment in local transport infrastructure; for example, there has been no significant rail investment for 50 years. Can Ministers confirm that the new national productivity investment fund can be used to address that deficit?; The Halifax reports that the number of first-time buyers is at its highest since 2007 and cites Government schemes such as Help to Buy as making a major contribution. What more can the Government do to back aspiration and get more people on the housing ladder?; The Government are investing in major infrastructure projects, including Heathrow airport, HS2 and, I hope, a new A36-A46 link road through my constituency. What is my right hon. Friend doing to ensure that we provide sufficient funds so that this work can be conducted in a timely fashion?; The Government will be aware that north Wales has among the lowest productivity rates in the UK, at about 73% of the UK average. With that in mind, what plans do they have to work with the six north Wales councils, the Mersey Dee alliance and the Cheshire and Warrington local enterprise partnership to deliver a local growth deal?
Stuart Campbell McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The International Monetary Fund yesterday highlighted widening inequality and stagnation as key drivers of social dislocation, while the Institute for Fiscal Studies has recently warned of the biggest pay squeeze in the UK for 70 years. What is the Chancellor’s strategy to ensure that growth in our economy benefits everybody?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: The latest fiscal sustainability report was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility just over an hour ago. Knowing what a quick reader my right hon. Friend is, what assessment has he made of the implications for the long-term health of the public finances?; The autumn statement revealed the Brexit bombshell that growth will be a massive 2.4% lower than previously predicted. What further impact does the Chancellor expect that leaving the single market will have on GDP growth in the years to come?; Businesses, including restaurants and guest houses in my constituency, curtail their business to keep within the VAT threshold, but that has a negative impact on economic activity and jobs in west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Will the Chancellor consider increasing the VAT threshold as soon as the opportunity arises?; Last week, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority began a statutory consultation on UK Government plans to cut final salary pensions across the nuclear estate, which will have an impact on 16,000 workers, including hundreds in my constituency. Is the Chancellor aware that this is a betrayal of promises made by Margaret Thatcher to nuclear workers when the electricity industry was privatised?; The Solent region has a deficit of 6% in its gross value added compared with the rest of the south-east. Much of that is due to the lack of investment in local transport infrastructure; for example, there has been no significant rail investment for 50 years. Can Ministers confirm that the new national productivity investment fund can be used to address that deficit?; The Halifax reports that the number of first-time buyers is at its highest since 2007 and cites Government schemes such as Help to Buy as making a major contribution. What more can the Government do to back aspiration and get more people on the housing ladder?; The Government are investing in major infrastructure projects, including Heathrow airport, HS2 and, I hope, a new A36-A46 link road through my constituency. What is my right hon. Friend doing to ensure that we provide sufficient funds so that this work can be conducted in a timely fashion?; The Government will be aware that north Wales has among the lowest productivity rates in the UK, at about 73% of the UK average. With that in mind, what plans do they have to work with the six north Wales councils, the Mersey Dee alliance and the Cheshire and Warrington local enterprise partnership to deliver a local growth deal?
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Thank you, Mr Speaker; it is your presence that makes me happy While the Chancellor has been answering questions, the Prime Minister has said in her Lancaster House speech that the UK will most likely continue to pay into EU budgets. Will the Chancellor acquaint the House of that?
Northern Ireland Assembly Election — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Deidre Leanne Brock (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State for giving me notice of his statement. I support the calls made yesterday for the election to be conducted in a manner that looks to the future and anticipates difficult but reasonable negotiations for the establishment of an effective Administration after the election. No one will get everything that they want from this election or from the formation of the new Executive, but the people whom the politicians serve deserve our best and most faithful efforts. The victory in this election should belong to the people, not to political parties. This election has been brought about by circumstances that have their genesis in Belfast and that will also have their solutions in Belfast. We will be onlookers to a great extent, but there are some areas in which the efforts made here might help. I am pleased that dialogue between the Secretary of State and the parties in Northern Ireland will continue throughout the election period, so that the ground is prepared for the negotiations over holding office in March. Can he tell us whether he will take those opportunities to reassure the parties that funding will not be cut, particularly from the support for addressing the legacy issues? The Assembly suffers from the austerity fetish as much as the rest of the UK, but it carries additional burdens and needs those extra resources The past couple of months in the Assembly have been marked by some serious allegations. What support will the Secretary of State be able to offer the Assembly to have those allegations properly investigated and to find resolutions? The uncertainty of this election, with the peculiarities surrounding it, adds to the uncertainty of the Brexit mess. What support can the Government offer to people and businesses in Northern Ireland to smooth the next few months? Also, will he clarify what special arrangements he is putting in place to consult on the Brexit negotiations while the election is ongoing?
Northern Ireland Assembly Election — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Ferrier (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): After the Assembly election in March, agreement will need to be reached on a new power-sharing Executive. However, if that does not happen, there is a very real possibility of a return to direct rule from Westminster. Does the Secretary of State think that it is acceptable for the people of Northern Ireland, who voted to remain in the European Union, to witness the triggering of article 50 while they live in total political limbo?
Northern Ireland Assembly Election — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Martin John Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Secretary of State said in his statement that, with strong leadership, issues that might once have brought down institutions have been resolved through dialogue. Can he therefore assure the House that, with the Taoiseach, the Prime Minister will give that strong leadership? As vice-chairman of the all-party group on Ireland and the Irish in Britain, I echo the sentiment of the hon. Member for St Helens North (Conor McGinn), the chair of the all-party group, in calling on the Prime Minister to put her foot on the pedal and get that 100% support.
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State for the advance copy of his speech, and for recognising the correct place to make this statement; it certainly was not at Lancaster House. Today, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State have completed an unholy trinity of worthless Westminster promises to the people of Scotland. They promised to take account of the 62% remain vote in Scotland and to consider all options for Scotland’s future. They have broken that promise today. They promised during the referendum campaign and in their election manifesto that leaving the EU does not mean we have to leave the single market. Today they are breaking that promise. As for the promise they made in 2014 that remaining in the United Kingdom would guarantee Scotland’s place in Europe—well, we all know where that has gone. I hope the Secretary of State will pass the message back to his boss that if she insists on giving Scotland only one option to remain in the European Union, Scotland will take that option We know with certainty that Brexit means hard Tory Brexit. We do not know what it might be disguised as, but we know what it will be. Will the Secretary of State accept, even at this late stage, that the promises that he and Prime Minister made must be honoured? Exactly how does he propose to recognise the 62% remain vote in Scotland and the overwhelming—nay, unanimous—view in Scotland that our membership of the single market and free movement of people into and out of Scotland are essential for our wellbeing? Has he actually read the Scottish Government’s paper, "Scotland’s place in Europe"?
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Government Operations
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Given that he is nodding, will he give an undertaking that the paper will be properly and thoroughly discussed at the Joint Ministerial Committee meeting next week? Finally, will he give an undertaking that before any non-returnable steps are taken, the Parliaments of all our devolved nations will be given a chance, even on an advisory basis, to consider the Government’s plans before they are implemented?
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Ferrier (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The second of the Prime Minister’s Brexit principles is that leaving the EU will mean that our laws will be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. In the spirit of principle 1, which is that the Government will provide certainty wherever they can, will the Secretary of State now provide details to the House of what further devolution—the right powers, as he called them—there will be to the devolved Administrations following our exit from the EU?
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Martin John Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is a pity that the Secretary of State was unable to be present for the statement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. If he had been present, he would have recognised that the White Paper—that is what the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union called it—is a catastrophe. Will he assure us that the Ireland Act 1949, which he has mentioned and on which I have pressed him several times, will not be revoked either before or after Brexit, and that the United Kingdom Government will confirm that they will not impose a hard border with their closest European Union member, Ireland?
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Neil Charles Gray (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Given that nearly everything that has been said by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State today is incompatible with the Scottish Government’s "Scotland in Europe" compromise document, how do the UK Government plan to honour the promise to take those proposals seriously, unless they now plan to explore all options to support continuing Scottish membership of the single market?
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): At the weekend it was reported that Michel Barnier, the EU’s negotiator, was prepared to contemplate a special deal for the City, and the UK Government have indicated in the past that they might look at special sectoral deals for the City and for Nissan. Does the Secretary of State accept that there is scope for the differentiated deal that the Scottish Government seek if he and his Prime Minister have the political will to support it?
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Prime Minister ended her speech this morning on a very gracious note: she said that the victors in the Brexit debate in the UK should be magnanimous towards those who lost. I put it to the Secretary of State that magnanimity means accepting that Scotland wants to stay in the single market and that the discussions from now on should at least leave the door open to that ask from Scotland.
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Thomas Sheppard (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Three quarters of my fellow citizens in the great city of Edinburgh voted not to turn their back on the EU, Mr Speaker, so you will forgive me if I wholeheartedly do not welcome today’s statements. However, I welcome the Secretary of State’s now repeated suggestion that he will take seriously the proposals of the Scottish Government, so let me press him on this matter. Some in his party have said that there can be no differential arrangements in the regions and nations of the United Kingdom post-Brexit on principle, even when it can be demonstrated that they will benefit the UK as a whole. Does he share that view, or will he consider proposals on their merits?
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The new Britannic isolation that the Government now seek must not be at the expense of EU nationals in this country—or indeed, I accept, UK nationals in Europe. The Secretary of State has said that he has tried to resolve this issue and wanted to do so some time ago, so can he tell us exactly what the problem is? What barrier is in the way that is stopping him resolving that, and how do we best get it lifted?
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Stuart Campbell McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Prime Minister’s fixation with leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice clearly jeopardises the extent of our ongoing co-operation in EU justice and home affairs issues, which she says she values. If those ambitions collide, surely the Secretary of State will agree that security co-operation must trump leaving the European Court’s jurisdiction.
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): "No deal is better than a bad deal": I am slightly perplexed by that. How could a negotiated deal possibly be worse than something that the Secretary of State refers to as a "cliff edge"? Is he really that bad at negotiation?
New Partnership with the EU — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Government Operations
Patrick John Grady (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Of all the laws and regulations that will be democratically repatriated to this Parliament by the great repeal Bill, which is the first that the Secretary of State himself would like to see reformed or repealed? When the great repeal Bill goes through, can he guarantee that the rights of this Parliament to scrutinise legislation will be maintained and the great repeal Bill will not be the great power grab?
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I beg to move, That this House is concerned at the possible impact upon the rural economy of the Government’s aim for the UK to leave the EU; and calls upon the Government to present to Parliament a clear statement of its aims for the rural economy in negotiations with the EU prior to triggering Article 50, and to give assurances on the future of agriculture, particularly with regard to funding, and fisheries after 2020 We want to use this debate to consider the significant and tangible benefits that EU membership has afforded the Scottish rural community through funding, trade and freedom of movement. Those benefits must be acknowledged and the Government must offer, prior to the triggering of article 50, a clear statement on how they intend to mitigate the impact of leaving the EU on rural areas. They must do so now because the combined threat of the loss of direct funding, an end to tariff-free trading and the abolition of the free movement of people could have devastating consequences for rural communities throughout Scotland and, indeed, the rest of the UK The Prime Minister set out 12 points in her speech, but people in my constituency are not reassured, because it lacked detail and certainty. We are told that Brexit is about a more global Britain, and that the process will represent a clean break. Well, let me be absolutely clear in stating how far removed from reality that rhetoric is. Under the Government’s current direction of travel, Brexit will not be a clean break for the sheep farmers in my constituency, whose produce could face prohibitive tariffs and whose direct support payments could be wiped out Brexit will not be a clean break for the fish processors in Shetland—where in 2015 more fish was landed than in the entirety of England and Wales—whose access to the largest seafood market in the world is now under question. Nor will it be a clean break for the soft-fruit farmer in Angus when the plug is pulled on the seasonal labour that his business needs to function. It will not be a clean break for the most remote highland communities, which are now contemplating the loss of hundreds of millions of pounds of European regional development funding. We again find ourselves facing a combination of Tory indifference to the needs of the Scottish economy, and a dramatic democratic deficit.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): If the hon. Gentleman spends a little more time with us, he will find that we are optimists at heart, but this debate is about the realities and the implications for the rural economy. I will, with great delight, return to fisheries later in my speech.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): No; I would like to make a little more progress, but I promise to give way in time As the many complex challenges of Brexit pile up, we need to remember that real political leadership is about finding solutions, not soundbites.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I promise I will in one moment This debate is necessary to ensure that the Government do not overlook or downplay all the possible outcomes of Brexit. They must not walk away from the policy vacuum that is opening up before our eyes.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The right hon. Gentleman, who is highly respected, usually makes excellent contributions, but I am afraid that that was a poor one. There are many ways in which we would be delighted to improve agricultural policy, so long as his Government do not make a power grab as powers are returned from Brussels.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Michael Fraser Weir (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend also agree that something like 70% of farmers’ incomes comes through the common agricultural policy, which is not subject to the Barnett formula, but it may be if it all comes back to the UK, which would lead to a significant reduction in funds available to rural Scotland?
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent contribution, which brings me on to one of the first areas that I want to look at. Nowhere is the policy vacuum more apparent than on the issue of farm payments. Whatever its flaws—
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Lady. It is something on which I would like us to focus in this debate. I am talking about the importance of these support payments to the prosperity not just of farming, but of the whole rural community.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I wish to make a bit more progress. We have two debates squeezed in today As I was saying, nowhere is the policy vacuum more apparent than on the issue of farm payments. Whatever the flaws, the moneys invested in Scotland and indeed in all the rural communities in the UK through the CAP are absolutely vital in underpinning the rural economy. As my hon. Friend the Member for Angus (Mike Weir) mentioned, farm payments account for two thirds of total net farm income in Scotland. We have about 8.4% of the population, but 32.5% of the land mass, and our distinct topography means that Scotland received 16.5% of UK CAP funds.
Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy — House of Commons, 2017-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Hill farming—sheep farming—is one of our most fragile industries. I have deep concerns about its support in the future. I want to make a point about the level of funding because we need the Government to step up. I would like to talk about lamb when we look at trade, because it is one of the most threatened trade areas.