argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Energy
Questions: I share my right hon. Friend’s commitment to building back better, building back greener and levelling up, and I have a project that would deliver on all those things: rebuilding the ageing Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. I have shown him the pictures of the 200 props holding up its decaying roof, so will he make the Queen Elizabeth one of the eight new schemes giving people in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire the hospital they need?; I thank the Prime Minister and the Government for securing our fantastic Stoke-on-Trent levelling-up funding. If we are truly to level up opportunities and access to opportunities in Stoke-on-Trent, we must also improve our poor public transport, so will my right hon. Friend agree to look at the possibility of bus franchising in the Potteries?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am a massive enthusiast for carbon capture and storage around the whole UK. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the Acorn project in Aberdeen remains on the reserve list. He should not give up: we will come back to this issue and, of course, we want to make sure that we have a fantastic industry generating clean hydrogen around the country. The right hon. Gentleman should not despair. In the meantime, we are supporting amazing Scottish plans to get clean energy from wind, hydrogen and all sorts of means. I thank the people of Scotland and the people of Glasgow for the way they have helped to produce what has been, so far, a fantastically well-organised summit.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: I share my right hon. Friend’s commitment to building back better, building back greener and levelling up, and I have a project that would deliver on all those things: rebuilding the ageing Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. I have shown him the pictures of the 200 props holding up its decaying roof, so will he make the Queen Elizabeth one of the eight new schemes giving people in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire the hospital they need?; I thank the Prime Minister and the Government for securing our fantastic Stoke-on-Trent levelling-up funding. If we are truly to level up opportunities and access to opportunities in Stoke-on-Trent, we must also improve our poor public transport, so will my right hon. Friend agree to look at the possibility of bus franchising in the Potteries?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am trying to encourage the right hon. Gentleman to be a little bit less gloomy about the prospects of this initiative. I understand exactly what he says, and we are working with the Scottish Government, whom I thank for their co-operation and all their support for COP in the past few days and weeks and for what they are doing. We will come back to this issue. What I think is working well is the spirit of co-operation among all levels of government in this country, and what does not work is confrontation.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Energy
Questions: I share my right hon. Friend’s commitment to building back better, building back greener and levelling up, and I have a project that would deliver on all those things: rebuilding the ageing Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. I have shown him the pictures of the 200 props holding up its decaying roof, so will he make the Queen Elizabeth one of the eight new schemes giving people in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire the hospital they need?; I thank the Prime Minister and the Government for securing our fantastic Stoke-on-Trent levelling-up funding. If we are truly to level up opportunities and access to opportunities in Stoke-on-Trent, we must also improve our poor public transport, so will my right hon. Friend agree to look at the possibility of bus franchising in the Potteries?; House prices are rising in East Devon, with the dream of home ownership becoming out of reach for too many local people. New-build developments must be affordable, with protections in place to restrict the number of properties becoming second homes. The loophole that allows second-home owners to avoid paying council tax should be closed quickly to help local authorities. Will the Prime Minister meet me and colleagues from across the south-west to discuss this growing crisis across our region?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): What the COP26 world can see is the astonishing achievements of Scotland and the rest of the UK in developing clean energy sources. I have said to the right hon. Gentleman, the leader of the hon. Gentleman’s party in Westminster, that we will come back to the Aberdeen—[Interruption.] Sorry, forgive me, the hon. Gentleman is a member of a different party, but it has substantially the same agenda. We will come back to this. What I have found encouraging about the past few days is the spirit of co-operation and joint enterprise that I now detect that will enable us to deliver massive carbon cuts across this whole country.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Transportation
Questions: I share my right hon. Friend’s commitment to building back better, building back greener and levelling up, and I have a project that would deliver on all those things: rebuilding the ageing Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. I have shown him the pictures of the 200 props holding up its decaying roof, so will he make the Queen Elizabeth one of the eight new schemes giving people in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire the hospital they need?; I thank the Prime Minister and the Government for securing our fantastic Stoke-on-Trent levelling-up funding. If we are truly to level up opportunities and access to opportunities in Stoke-on-Trent, we must also improve our poor public transport, so will my right hon. Friend agree to look at the possibility of bus franchising in the Potteries?; House prices are rising in East Devon, with the dream of home ownership becoming out of reach for too many local people. New-build developments must be affordable, with protections in place to restrict the number of properties becoming second homes. The loophole that allows second-home owners to avoid paying council tax should be closed quickly to help local authorities. Will the Prime Minister meet me and colleagues from across the south-west to discuss this growing crisis across our region?; Darlington station is receiving £105 million thanks to this Government’s plans to make it HS2 ready. I want to make sure that Darlington benefits from high-speed rail, so will my right hon. Friend meet with me and regional colleagues to discuss the eastern leg of HS2 and the reopening of the Leamside line to allow the full region to be better connected?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for everything that he has done for Darlington. He should wait for the interim rail plan to come out, but, in the meantime, we are upgrading Darlington station. There are plans in place and my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced £310 million of funding over the next five years to transform local transport networks in the Tees Valley.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Transportation
Questions: I share my right hon. Friend’s commitment to building back better, building back greener and levelling up, and I have a project that would deliver on all those things: rebuilding the ageing Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. I have shown him the pictures of the 200 props holding up its decaying roof, so will he make the Queen Elizabeth one of the eight new schemes giving people in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire the hospital they need?; I thank the Prime Minister and the Government for securing our fantastic Stoke-on-Trent levelling-up funding. If we are truly to level up opportunities and access to opportunities in Stoke-on-Trent, we must also improve our poor public transport, so will my right hon. Friend agree to look at the possibility of bus franchising in the Potteries?; House prices are rising in East Devon, with the dream of home ownership becoming out of reach for too many local people. New-build developments must be affordable, with protections in place to restrict the number of properties becoming second homes. The loophole that allows second-home owners to avoid paying council tax should be closed quickly to help local authorities. Will the Prime Minister meet me and colleagues from across the south-west to discuss this growing crisis across our region?; Darlington station is receiving £105 million thanks to this Government’s plans to make it HS2 ready. I want to make sure that Darlington benefits from high-speed rail, so will my right hon. Friend meet with me and regional colleagues to discuss the eastern leg of HS2 and the reopening of the Leamside line to allow the full region to be better connected?; The Prime Minister says that he is fanatical about buses, but what about trains, and not just in Darlington? I am talking about the Leamside line. Last Wednesday, I was notified that a joint bid to reinstate the mothballed Leamside line had not been successful in attracting the next stage of the feasibility funding from the Government as part of the restoring your railway fund. Will the Prime Minister tell us what specific plans the Government have to invest in the north-east, in places such as Gateshead and south Tyneside in my constituency, and when will he get serious about levelling up in our communities instead of just using the term as a meaningless, populist slogan?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady must wait for the integrated rail plan, but the north-east will be the beneficiary of the biggest investment in our rail infrastructure beyond HS2 that we have seen for a century. We will be putting in about £96 billion more, and we want the local and regional authorities to work with us to ensure that we promote the projects that the people really want.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Macroeconomics
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): Given that we are now taxing people at a higher rate than at any time since we were impoverished under the Attlee Government, and given that despite the fact that we produce only 1% of global emissions and China produces 27% we are now loading further controls on our industry that are not being matched in China or India, further eroding our competitive advantage, will the Prime Minister grip all his spending Departments and ensure that we root out waste and incompetence and create a genuine enterprise, low-tax economy?
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, and that is why we still have among the lowest corporation taxes in the OECD, in spite of the measures that we have been obliged to take because of the pandemic. That is why we put in, for instance, the 125% super deduction for companies to invest in capital, invest in infrastructure and expand their businesses. The results—the benefits—are already being seen, just in gigabit broadband alone.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): First, on climate finance for the world, the right hon. Gentleman makes a valid point, because it is essential that the developed world supports the developing world on the path to decarbonisation. That is why the $100 billion per year is so important. Contributions such as the one we saw from the Japanese yesterday, what the French have done, what the Germans have done and what Joe Biden did the other day are important steps, but there is much more to be done. But be in no doubt: the right hon. Gentleman should be very proud of what the UK is committing—the £11.6 billion that we committed two years ago, plus another billion the day before yesterday. These are big sums now that the UK is giving, and we are way out in front The right hon. Gentleman is right to raise Afghanistan. We had sad but good discussions about Afghanistan, and we are determined to work together to concert our humanitarian relief to do what we can, notwithstanding the difficulties that there are obviously going to be with our relations with the Taliban On the global vaccine roll-out, the right hon. Gentleman will have heard the commitments made by countries around the world. I think the UK can be very proud of what we are doing on top of the 1.5 billion AstraZeneca doses, with another 100 million doses by June next year.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Environment
Liam Fox (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome all the progress made so far at COP26 and congratulate all those involved, including my right hon. Friend, but what will we do if we do not get agreement on article 6 and persuade countries such as China to properly price carbon into their economies? Our businesses in the UK are carrying their share of costs to deal with climate change. Why should we allow them to be undercut by competitors that keep their prices down by using highly polluting industrial production techniques? Surely that is not something that the free world economies can tolerate.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Environment
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend knows a great deal about this issue, and he is right to draw attention to article 6 and the carbon credit issue. That is something on which our negotiators will be working flat out until the final hour of COP.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Environment
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): I strongly congratulate the Prime Minister on throwing his heart and soul at COP26; no one can have worked harder The UK is responsible for 1% of global carbon emissions; China is responsible for 28%. Since 2000, two thirds of the increase in global carbon emissions has come from China. Is China’s commitment to reach peak coal in 2030 an aspiration or a binding target?
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I think what President Xi Jinping would say is that China keeps its promises. We will have to hope that that is true. I think the people of the world will want to hold all of us, all Governments, to account, but my hon. Friend is completely right to focus on the particular pressure that China faces from us and from the whole world.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Energy
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): What I can tell the hon. Lady is that we continue to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels of all kinds, and we will be going for complete net zero in our power production by 2035, moving beyond coal by 2024. I think it was a Scottish National party Minister who said that oil was still a part of Scotland’s future. I will say nothing about the Cambo oilfield. What I will say is that there is a future for hydrocarbons in so far as we can liberate hydrogen and make clean energy.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Environment
James Whiteside Gray (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister knows very well that the north of Scotland is closer to the Arctic circle than it is to London. For any delegate at COP26 who doubts the climate emergency, all they have to do is glance at the retreating ice or the melting cover frost, and the methane being released as a result, to be convinced that this emergency really is happening. The Chinese in particular will benefit from the withdrawal of ice as the northern sea route opens up, particularly for bulk carriers carrying coal. Does the Prime Minister therefore not agree with me that the Chinese have a doubly important moral obligation to stick by their commitment to reduce the production of coal in China, otherwise we in the west will be burning their coal?
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Environment
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): First of all, this country is moving to zero-emission vehicles. The right hon. Gentleman talks about gas-guzzlers; we are supporting jet zero aviation. His big objection is to the science. He is obviously a complete climate sceptic. He should look at the graph that David Attenborough produced on the first day of the summit, showing the clear correlation between the huge anthropogenic spike in CO2 and the current rise in temperatures, and the way that temperatures have tracked CO2 volumes in the air over the last thousands of years. The science is absolutely clear. I think the people of this country know that it would be an economic disaster not to address it. What the people of this country know is that clean, green technology can deliver higher wages and fantastic jobs for generations to come. They see a great future in this.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Environment
Stephen James Metcalfe (Conservative, Centre-right): I want to reinforce the point the Prime Minister has just made. Will he reassure my constituents that the goal of achieving net zero is not a burden to be borne, but an opportunity to be grasped to create new innovative jobs and new sectors in which we can lead the world?
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Energy
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Our green industrial revolution alone, the £26 billion we are putting in, generates 440,000 more jobs in battery technology, electric vehicle manufacture, wind farms and maintenance. The opportunities are vast for this country and we are at the cutting edge.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Environment
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): There is a very clear climate reason for putting up duty on long-haul flights, because they account for 96% of emissions. In the case of our own United Kingdom, with its far flung islands represented by some distinguished Members on the Opposition Benches, it is a useful thing to remove barriers to movement.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Environment
William David Wiggin (Conservative, Centre-right): Given the phenomenal success to end and reverse deforestation, I was tempted to tease my right hon. Friend about build back beavers. However, will he meet me to discuss what can be done, using institutions such as Kew Gardens, to reverse the spread of deserts through the better planting of trees?
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Energy
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): This is a point I have now heard several times from those on the Opposition Benches. Without having perhaps all the technical expertise, I am very impressed by the tidal proposals I have seen. What I will undertake to the right hon. Gentleman is not an absolute commitment on contract for difference or the strike price for tidal power, but I will certainly go away and look at it again.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): What we are doing is putting hard cash into supporting countries around the world. The right hon. Gentleman makes a good point about the SDRs. We are looking at that as well, but we are prioritising cash up front.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Energy
Mark Ian Jenkinson (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend knows that I am a fervent supporter of his efforts for the UK to lead the world in decarbonisation, and I know that he would not wish to impoverish anyone here or abroad on the way. No country has yet leapfrogged our path to prosperity from wood, coal and gas to nuclear. In asking developing countries to consign coal power to history, my concern is that we risk sustaining their poverty if we do not provide an alternative. Does he agree that, with his historic climate finance agreements and our existing development aid, we have a huge opportunity to export UK small modular reactor technology around the world to hasten their path to prosperity instead?
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for an exceedingly thoughtful question. He is absolutely right in the logic of what he says. We must help the developing world to leapfrog. All sorts of technologies are very attractive, including the one that he suggests. The opportunity there is to generate fantastic British jobs as well.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I study the people’s feelings about this. What so changed in this COP from Paris, which I attended, or from Copenhagen, which I was also at, is that this time, it is from the public. I have great respect for colleagues around the House who say that this is all going too far, too fast and that people cannot afford it. Actually, I do not think that we can afford not to do it. I also think that it is economically a massive opportunity for this country and that that is where people increasingly are. Calls for a referendum on this will fall on stony ground.
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Energy
Richard Michael John Ogilvie Graham (Conservative, Centre-right): I spent the past couple of days at COP26 with south-east Asian nations’ representatives. The situation is exactly as the Prime Minister described, with real progress on cash, coal and trees and particularly momentum in signing up to the forestry declaration. My right hon. Friend will know that the UK pavilion is symbolically opposite next year’s G20 Chair, Indonesia. Does he agree that using the clean, green finance initiative is a real opportunity for us to do more to help them to transition from coal-fired energy to renewable energy, often in collaboration with UK partners on wind, solar and marine energy?
G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit — House of Commons, 2021-11-03
Topic: Energy
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for everything that he has done with ASEAN—Association of Southeast Asian Nations—partners. He has absolutely been leading the charge for us in that region, particularly with Indonesia, and they are great partners of ours. What is coming out of COP is the idea that countries who are finding it tough, as he said, to move beyond coal need a coalition of countries to help them, with a portfolio of programmes that they need to get done, whether it is hydropower or carbon capture and storage—whatever it is—that we can help to finance and de-risk, in order to leverage in the trillions from the private sector, as we did with wind power in our country. People are seeing this model as the way we can do it—not with endless grants and handouts from Governments in the richer countries around the world, but through stimulating the private sector to come in and deliver a quantum leap in the infrastructure concerned.