argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): The Brexit Secretary and I—indeed, the whole Cabinet and the whole Government—are behind the agreement, the deal and the progress report that we have negotiated in relation to moving on to phase 2. We are of one accord on that. The only party that is not of one accord is the Labour party.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): Across the Government Benches, there is complete unanimity about congratulating the Prime Minister on securing the agreement. If I may say so, it was a pitiful performance from the Leader of the Opposition, and I still do not know whether he actually welcomes the agreement, but he should support this major step forward. Looking to the future, around this time next year we should have begun to conclude the trade negotiations towards the trade deal, so does the Prime Minister anticipate that we will have details of our new trading relationship with the EU, or will there be a set of heads of agreement?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): We have always said that we will be working to negotiate our full agreement on the future relationship that we have with the EU. Of course, it will not legally be possible for the EU to sign up to that agreement until after we have left and become a third country, because it is not possible for such an agreement to be signed while we are in the EU. The pieces of work that will now go forward will include the details of the implementation period, the details of the withdrawal agreement, which will have to go through certain parliamentary processes in European member states and will also be put to Parliament here in the UK, and our future relationship with the EU on trade, security and other areas.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): There is a huge assumption underlying the right hon. Gentleman’s question, because he says that the Labour party actually agrees with us on membership of the customs union and the single market, but there are many views on that in the Labour party. It is not at all clear that it agrees with the Government on the future relationship with the internal market and the customs union, because it keeps taking different positions. If the right hon. Gentleman has inside information on the Labour party’s position, I would be very glad to hear it.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend welcome the outbreak of unity on the Government Benches regarding the outcome of the progress report? Does she agree that a number of matters still need to be resolved? Serious questions will be addressed, and the European Scrutiny Committee will be paying serious attention to those questions. Does she also agree that the Opposition have demonstrated not only today but over past weeks a complete inconsistency on every point of principle and detail? They are simply a national disgrace.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly agree with my hon. Friend, and I am grateful to him for his reference to the statement of unity. I know that the European Scrutiny Committee has always taken its role very seriously and will continue to do so. Its role is particularly important as we reach this point in time and as it considers these particular arrangements. Yes, there are serious issues that still need to be addressed and will be addressed in phase 2 of the talks, but the important thing was getting on to phase 2 so that we can look at such issues in much more detail. As he says, the Labour party has distinguished itself only by the fact that it has had 12 different Brexit plans over the past 18 months. It really does not know what its view is on this at all.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): The Cabinet has had a number of discussions on various aspects of the negotiations, and it will continue to have those discussions. The Cabinet was united behind the Florence speech, which set out the objectives, and it was behind the Lancaster House speech. The objectives for the Government have not changed, and they have been agreed by the Government.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
John Alan Redwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I wish the Prime Minister every success in negotiating a comprehensive free trade deal. Does she agree that when we leave, with or without a deal, we will be trading under World Trade Organisation terms, which now include the extremely helpful and comprehensive trade facilitation agreement that allows good progress over borders for all WTO members? Does not that strengthen our position when she negotiates a good deal?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend refers to the developments at the WTO, and they will of course be interesting to us as we look ahead and negotiate our deal for the future. I hope the optimism that has been shown by the European Union as we progress on to the next stage will give everybody confidence and reassurance that we can indeed agree the comprehensive free trade agreement we want for our future relationship with the European Union.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a misinterpretation of what the Environment Secretary said at the weekend. I have been very clear that there will be no second referendum on this issue. This Parliament overwhelmingly voted to give the British people the decision on membership of the European Union. The British people voted, and we will now deliver on their vote.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman and a number of others keep talking about membership of the single market and the customs union. The point is that the European Union has made it very clear that the four pillars are indivisible. We are leaving the European Union, and therefore we will be leaving the European single market and the European customs union. What we will negotiate is a separate trade deal, which we want to be as tariff-free and frictionless as possible.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Louis David Fabricant (Conservative, Centre-right): Constituents of mine who have parents and grandparents living in the European Union are very concerned by comments made by the Labour party, which wanted to conclude an early deal that would rightly protect Europeans living in the United Kingdom, but would sell down the river those British citizens who live in Europe. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the primary role of the Prime Minister is to defend the interests of British citizens? Will she explain in a tiny bit more detail precisely what the protections will be for British people living in Europe after Brexit?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): May I say to the right hon. Gentleman that I am grateful for the contributions that were made, as I said in my statement, by the DUP and others who were concerned about the Union of the United Kingdom? The joint progress reported was strengthened to make it absolutely clear, as he says, that of course under the Belfast agreement we recognise the principle of consent, but nothing in that agreement will lead to a separation of Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): Full alignment means that we will be achieving the same objectives. I set out in my Florence speech that there are a number of ways in which we can approach this. There will be some areas where we want to achieve the same objectives by the same means. In others we will want to achieve the same objectives by different means. If we look at the areas covered currently by north-south co-operation, we see there are six of those areas. Two of them are not covered generally by the acquis—education and health—but there are other issues, such as the environment, waste and water management, the electricity market, agriculture, and questions relating to road and rail transport.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): For the avoidance of doubt, I should say to the whole House that I regard any reference to Geoffrey Boycott as a compliment. What is said in the joint progress report is that these payments will be made as they fall due, unless otherwise determined by the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady asked me to confirm that anybody wanting to leave the single market and the customs union effectively wants to stay in the EU; I think she meant that anybody who wants to stay in the single market and the customs union wants that. [Interruption.] She is nodding her affirmation. Yes, that is absolutely right. It is clear that actually leaving the EU means leaving the single market and the customs union.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): That is the whole point. Once we are outside the European Union, we will be able to determine our regulations and where we wish to diverge from the regulations of the European Union. As I said in my response to my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), in any trade agreement there is an agreement about the rules, regulations and standards on which both sides will operate, but also an agreement about what happens when one side wants to diverge from them. The important point is that this Parliament will be the body deciding those rules and regulations.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): The point I made in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) was that decisions about the future rules and regulations on which this country operates will be made by this Parliament. We have said very clearly that we will avoid, and guarantee that we will not have, a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. In any trade agreement, a decision will be taken as to those rules and regulations on which we wish to operate on the same basis, those areas where we have the same objectives but will operate on a different basis, and those areas that are irrelevant to the issue of the trade agreement.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Stephen Crabb (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate the Prime Minister on the skill and pragmatism she has shown in steering a course to this point. Does she agree that the very positive response of business over the weekend underlines the importance of maintaining an approach that is both pragmatic and ambitious? Those are the qualities on which we need to stay focused if we are to land that free trade deal with the EU.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right, and I am pleased that business has welcomed the progress we have made as we move on to the next stage of the negotiations. It is important that we retain that optimism and ambition for the future. It is possible to achieve a really ambitious comprehensive trade agreement with the European Union, and that will be not only to our benefit but to the benefit of the EU27.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. and learned Lady started off by referencing the issue of the status of this joint progress report. It is a joint progress report on the agreements that have been reached so far in the negotiations, which has enabled the European Commission to determine that sufficient progress has been made to pass on to the next stage of negotiations. Further details on certain aspects of withdrawal will need to be determined as we go ahead in the coming months, alongside the work on the implementation period and the future partnership with the European Union. As I have said on a number of occasions, that withdrawal agreement will be put into legislation here in this House.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate the Prime Minister on what has been achieved thus far, which we must hope will translate into mutually beneficial withdrawal and trade agreements, but given that that cannot be guaranteed, will she give instructions for the sum set aside by the Chancellor in his Budget last month to be expended on upgrading our customs infrastructure, in order to secure smooth international trade after Brexit and reassure business in this country?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): As my right hon. Friend knows, in addition to the £700 million already allocated by the Treasury to the current year for the changes that will be needed for the contingency arrangements to be put in place, £3 billion was put forward in the autumn Budget. That will be allocated to Departments, obviously, according to their need and requirement. On the specific issue of customs arrangements, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is moving forward on them, and will have in place what is necessary in order for us to have a customs system when we leave the European Union.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): Full alignment means that we will ensure that we can operate in a practical sense on a basis that will enable that continued trade to take place between Northern Ireland and Ireland. We have put forward a number of suggestions in relation to the customs union arrangements that currently exist and the customs arrangements that we will have in the future. One of those included different arrangements in relation to the external tariff. We will ensure that there is no hard border, but I think that we can come to a customs arrangement that will mean that we can have that tariff-free and frictionless trade between the United Kingdom and the whole of the EU.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Philip Andrew Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister said that there has been give and take in these negotiations. Of course she is absolutely right: we are giving the EU tens of billions of pounds, and the EU is taking them. She said that the money will not be paid unless there is a final agreement. By definition, that must mean that we are not legally obliged to make these payments because otherwise that option would not be available to us. Will she explain why she is paying tens of billions of pounds that are not legally due to the European Union when she is continuing a policy of austerity at home? Many of my constituents simply do not understand where all this extra money is coming from.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I said in my statement, and have repeated, that the offer we have made is in the context of us achieving that agreement on the future partnership between the United Kingdom and the European Union. I said in my Florence speech—I have repeated this on a number of occasions—that we are a country that honours our commitments, and it is important that we do that.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): We will get the legislation when we have agreed the details that are required to have that withdrawal agreement. The European Commission negotiator, Michel Barnier, has said that he wants to achieve that detailed withdrawal agreement by October next year.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate the Prime Minister on a very detailed agreement. Paragraph 73 says that the UK "may wish to participate in some Union budgetary programmes…post-2020" as a third country. Is it likely that those programmes could include co-operation on the three S’s—security, scientific research and student exchanges?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We recognise the importance of Dover as a border port and, indeed, that of other ports around the United Kingdom. The future customs relationship will be a key part of negotiating the trade deal. We have said that we want to be as tariff-free and frictionless as possible, and that is what we will be working to.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Robert Henry Halfon (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my right hon. Friend on displaying almost Zebedee-like qualities of resilience in terms of the Brexit magic roundabout, but on the figure she has quoted of up to £39 billion, will she confirm that there will not be any more offered in the continued negotiations? Could she also set out a detailed cost-benefit analysis that I can present to my constituents?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): As I indicated, if we look at the scope and analysis that has been done, the estimate is that the sum of money would be £35 billion to £39 billion, but we have said, as my right hon. Friend will have heard in answer to previous questions, that there may be some programmes of which we do wish to remain a member, and therefore we would be willing to pay an appropriate price for the cost of that. But a very good piece of work has been done on these financial arrangements, and, obviously, we take that forward, as I said, in the context of agreeing that future relationship.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): No. If the hon. Gentleman looks at the joint progress report, he will also see that these things are all set in the context of agreeing the future partnership and the future trade arrangement between the United Kingdom and the European Union, but I remain of the view that no deal is better than a bad deal.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): I came to the Chamber today thinking that we were going to leave the European Union on 29 March 2019 and that the whole House agreed. We now know from the Leader of the Opposition that Labour wants to stay in indefinitely. Will the Prime Minister confirm that we will come out in 473 days’ time and that that date will be put in the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend, and I can confirm that we will be leaving the European Union on 29 March 2019. I think the fact, as he reflects, that the Leader of the Opposition was so equivocal about the Labour party’s view on this issue shows that the Opposition want to try to play to two houses: they want to say at the start that they are confirming the referendum and respecting it; and yet, at the same time, they do not want to accept that we will be leaving the European Union—and we will be leaving.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): No. What we have said is that we will put practical arrangements in place to ensure that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, but we have also been clear that we will respect the internal market of the United Kingdom. That means no border down the Irish sea.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Laurence Anthony Robertson (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Prime Minister agree that one of the many benefits of leaving the EU customs union is that we will be able to forge our own trade deals with countries across the world—deals that the EU has failed so far to strike? Is it not the case that that would benefit the whole United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, which would actually lose out if it stayed in the customs union, because it would not then get that full benefit?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a very important point. We will be able to strike those trade deals around the world, and Northern Ireland will benefit from those trade deals, as will the rest of the UK.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Andrew James Bridgen (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for confirming very clearly that the so-called EU divorce bill will be paid only if we are successful at negotiating an acceptable trade deal with the European Union. Does she agree that this will certainly focus the minds of EU negotiators and is our best chance of obtaining an acceptable outcome for the UK?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I am optimistic about getting that good trade deal for the United Kingdom with the EU, because actually it is in the EU27’s interests for their businesses to be able to continue to trade on good terms with the UK.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the details of the implementation period are to be negotiated. Assuming that the EU Council takes the decision to move ahead on Thursday or Friday of this week, that will happen very quickly. He talks about leaving the single market and the customs union. We will do that when we leave the European Union in March 2019, but we will then have a relationship with the European Union during the implementation period to ensure that businesses and individuals have the reassurance of not needing to make two stages of adjustments to our future partnership.
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Shailesh Lakhman Vara (Conservative, Centre-right): May I congratulate the Prime Minister on her sheer determination and stamina in reaching the stage of having this joint report? To the extent that we do have an agreement in March 2019, and that thereafter, for many years to come, we do make payments to the EU as agreed, will she consider publishing the amount of money that we are not paying to the EU so that the British people can see the benefit that they are deriving in the years to come?
Brexit Negotiations — House of Commons, 2017-12-11
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his suggestion. I think that in due course we will be able to show not only the amount of money that we will not be spending through the European Union, but the positive ways in which we can spend that money here in the UK.