argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Anne Marie Morris), whose stirring speech I thoroughly enjoyed. Let me also commend the hon. Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster) for securing the debate, which I think will prove very useful The Great Western Railway is important to me, because, along with my Welsh colleagues, I use it regularly. I have used it for the last 15 years, and, if I am fortunate—I am assuming nothing—I may be using it shortly to travel back in that direction for the final time as I head down to the Welsh Assembly. It all depends on the electorate. However, as others have said, the railway is critically important not just to politicians who travel back and forth to work and to represent their constituents, but to the economies of the areas involved. As we heard from the hon. Member for Newton Abbott, the GWR will provide great GVA if we get it right I must thank the GWR for getting me here almost on time. I apologise to the hon. Member for Torbay for being a couple of minutes late; that is because part of my journey was on a coach. Fair play: the company ensured that the coaches were running, and managed to deal with the traumatic weather. I thank it for sorting that out for me, and for all the other passengers. However, it raises the issue—regardless of electrification—of run-of-the-mill resilience. Too many parts of our existing railway stock have a fluctuating ability to deliver the timetable that we need. All too often there is a shutdown, and even if it lasts for only two or three hours, trains back up in the wrong places, and the timetable has to catch up with where the rolling stock is. No doubt, following today’s debate, GWR, Arriva Trains Wales and the branch lines will be shuttling stock to try to catch up after the delays.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour, Centre-left): That is a very good point. I hope that what has been said today will be noted not just by the Minister, but by train operating companies and infrastructure companies. I hope that they will act on the suggestions that have been made by Members, so that their services can work better for commuters and other passengers Several Members on both sides of the House have drawn attention to the importance of the spine of the network to all the branches that flow from it. It is not just to do with high-speed links or electrification. I travel here from Maesteg, where I live with my family—it is north of Bridgend, up the Llynfi valley—and I am fortunate that we still have a branch line there. Thank goodness that, at the height of the Beeching cuts, there was local opposition and strong-minded leadership in the Labour authority, and people fought and said that they would be damned if that line would close. They managed to keep it open, and nowadays it is a tremendous success. That route from Maesteg down to Bridgend, and all the way up to Chepstow and beyond, is a very popular route and we need to go further. We talk about travel-to-work areas. The people in my constituency travel down from Maesteg and from all the valleys I represent to work in Swansea, Bridgend and Cardiff, and they need good reliable and affordable transport in order to do that. We are fortunate that we have that in the Llynfi valley and we need to keep it that way We are also fortunate that we were able to open a new station on the Great Western mainline spine. It is rare to see that happen nowadays. The station at Llanharan, between Cardiff and Swansea, was closed in the ’60s under Beeching, but after a fight lasting more than 40 years, we were able, along with local Assembly Member Janice Gregory and local councillors Geraint Hopkins, Roger Turner and Barry Stephens, to reopen it. It has had great benefits, with more than 2,000 homes being built in the area and possibly another 2,000 on the way. The station has been an economic boon to the area. People want to come and live there because it is not just a place along the Great Western spine route; it now has a station. The point has been well made that we must ensure that we do not bypass communities when we deliver the electrification and the mainline spine; we also need to connect the spine to the communities.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour, Centre-left): Ieuan Wyn Jones played a good hand in that campaign, and so did Andrew Davies, the Economic Minister at the time. His officials were telling him that the economic case for the station did not quite stack up, but he told them that it would when they saw the 2,000 new homes and the new schools that would come in as a result. My goodness, he was right. When I travel through the new station now, I see scores of people using it at every hour of the day as they commute to Cardiff for shopping or visiting relatives or to go to work. It has been a tremendous success, and we need to think more about these projects alongside the electrification Another critical aspect of using the spine along the Great Western railway is to ensure that it also connects to the south Wales metro. I use that name deliberately; I am not talking about the Cardiff Bay metro. This needs to be a genuine south Wales metro. In my area, linked to the Great Western line, we have the Llynfi line that was protected all those years ago, but we also have three valleys that have no connections to rail links at all. They need to be linked in to the First Great Western line when it is electrified and delivering faster services. That link might take the form of light rail, or perhaps good coaches and buses operating to the right timetable to enable them to make the connections at the right times of the day That kind of thinking has to happen, and representatives of Bridgend County Borough Council, under the leadership of Mel Nott, are now sitting down with the Welsh Government to work out how to join those communities that have no rail links to the Great Western spine, so that people in those communities can get to work and go to meet their friends and so that elderly people there can socialise with friends who live further away without having to get an expensive taxi.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour, Centre-left): I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman, but I hope that he will support my point that this project must be delivered on time as originally pledged and, hopefully, on budget as well. The hon. Member for Newton Abbot said earlier that too many people think that the south-west ends at Bristol. Well, too many people up here think that south Wales ends at Cardiff. Cardiff is a brilliant city—please go there and visit. Newport had the NATO conference and Cardiff has the greatest stadium in the land, with the only covered surface. Wales also has the best national opera company. Cardiff was third in the top 10 short break destinations in the whole of Europe recently. However, south Wales does not stop at Cardiff. Just beyond that line, there is Bridgend, and just beyond Bridgend is Swansea. Beyond that is west Wales So I fully agree with the hon. Member for Gower (Byron Davies), but I want to say to the Minister today, "Don’t short-change us through these delays." We have been talking about the economic benefits and we were told that the electrification project would be delivered to Swansea—not to Bristol, not to Cardiff, not to Bridgend, but to Swansea—and we want it to go to Swansea. Let us look at the developments that are happening in Swansea at the moment. There is the SA1 project and the new university campus out at Briton Ferry. These are tremendous jewels in Swansea’s economic crown, and they need to be joined up. South Wales does not stop at Cardiff—brilliant city though that is. It goes way beyond that, and we need this project to be delivered I agree with the hon. Member for Gower’s primary point that we need to get the electrification completed, but I hope that he would agree with me that we need to get it done promptly and on time, without the delays that we have been talking about. We have now been told that it is to be put back into control period 6. For those who do not know what that means, control period 6 is between 2019 and 2024, which would mean that the project would not be completed at the same time as the rest, around 2018. So in effect, Christmas will come late for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents and for mine. We are going to have to wait for our Christmas presents, and that is not good enough. His constituents are not second-class citizens of this nation and neither are mine. Let us have this project on time, at the same time as everybody else. I know that he agrees with me on this.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Law and Crime
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): This has been suggested to me once or twice before. In my experience, if one politely asks somebody making a noise in the quiet carriage to desist or move, they do so. It is a great example of British self-policing. I recommend that the hon. Gentleman try it, if he has not already done so.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman is making a fine speech. I urge him to look, when he has time, at the development of the south Wales metro concept, because it covers urban and rural areas, and valleys as well as major conurbations. It is a great idea, because it relies not only on rail, but on other modes of transport that work on time and are affordable. It has a way to go, but a south-west metro concept comes to mind.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Andrew Joseph McDonald (Labour, Centre-left): I will happily do so. Let me remind the hon. Lady of the pieces that we had to pick up when coming into government after the disaster of Railtrack and the deaths that were caused as a result of the privatisation of the railways. We do not want to hear any more about that—the investment was significant.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): Is my hon. Friend aware that, according to the Financial Times, Great Western also raised objections to the possibility of privatising Network Rail, saying it would fragment the system and remove the advantage Network Rail has currently in being able to buy in bulk—and therefore cheaply—on behalf of the taxpayer?
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Andrew Joseph McDonald (Labour, Centre-left): My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is a matter of huge concern that the critical mass of Network Rail is now under threat from this review. It makes no sense whatever to break up a national network. We all remember the days of the private enterprise adventure into our country’s rail infrastructure—and the consequences that flowed therefrom. I would therefore encourage Members strenuously to resist the proposals for the privatisation of Network Rail.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Order. I am going to help a little bit. I am not quite sure how the A303 fits in with a rail debate on the Great Western line. I know that the Minister wants to deal with the railways. Her reputation as the rail Minister is what I want to see tonight.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): It looks like I need to be even more helpful. If the Minister looks at the title of the debate, she should realise what it is about, and Members have tried to stick to that subject. I know the Minister has a lot to cover, and I want her to concentrate on what Members have said and on the railways. I know that that is what she wants to do, too.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour, Centre-left): In fact, the private sector has an important role to play in development and growth. However, as the Minister will know, the company that has achieved the highest satisfaction, the highest investment and the lowest bills is a not-for-profit water company called Dwr Cymru, which returns its surpluses to shareholders. Does she agree that the Wales consultation—it was launched on my birthday, 22 January—on a not-for-dividend model for the Wales and Borders franchise is a worthwhile exercise, given that it is considering a different way of delivering more value to rail users?
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Government Operations
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): I think what the Minister just said is welcome, but she used the expression, "We have negotiated a package." How much are the Government putting on the table compared with the local authorities, which have already put quite a lot on the table?
Rape and Serious Sexual Offences — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Tom Blenkinsop (Labour, Centre-left): Despite claims that we have the highest ever number of convictions, conviction rates for rape, domestic abuse and other sexual abuses have fallen in the past two years. How does the Minister intend to rectify that situation?
Rape and Serious Sexual Offences — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Colleen Margaret Fletcher (Labour, Centre-left): Providing effective and compassionate support for victims and survivors of sexual violence is pivotal to ensuring that more of these heinous crimes are reported in the first place, and, ultimately, that more offenders are brought to justice. Will the Minister tell me how the Government intend to improve victim and witness care within the criminal justice system?
European Arrest Warrant — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: What assessment the Government have made of the potential effect on the use of the European arrest warrant as a prosecutorial tool of the UK leaving the EU.; What assessment the Government have made of the potential effect on the use of the European arrest warrant as a prosecutorial tool of the UK leaving the EU.
Jonathan Neil Reynolds (Labour, Centre-left): The first piece of European legislation that I sat on in a delegated legislation Committee was a regulation that enabled us to track paedophiles more easily across different European countries. Why anybody would wish to end that kind of co-operation between European countries is beyond me. Does the Attorney General agree that the Brexit campaign is soft on crime and soft on the causes of crime?
European Arrest Warrant — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: What assessment the Government have made of the potential effect on the use of the European arrest warrant as a prosecutorial tool of the UK leaving the EU.; What assessment the Government have made of the potential effect on the use of the European arrest warrant as a prosecutorial tool of the UK leaving the EU.
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): Just to be clear, does the Attorney General think that if we were no longer part of the European arrest warrant, criminals from the continent would see Britain as a safe haven because of the extradition arrangements and the concern that they would not be taken back quickly?
CPS: International Co-operation — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: What steps the CPS is taking to work more efficiently with international partners to reduce the threat of serious crime in the UK and abroad.
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): I hope that the Solicitor General has seen that yet another accused criminal has fled to Pakistan this week. Is it not a fact that we need greater European co-operation because we have no extradition treaty with Pakistan? Where a serious crime has been committed, the perpetrator too often flees to Pakistan—and however heinous the crime, we cannot bring them back.
EU Withdrawal: Changes to UK Legal Framework — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): I appreciate that the Attorney General’s hands are tied somewhat, in that nobody in the Vote Leave campaign has been clear about what we would be leaving to, but surely his officials will have made some assessment of the amount of legislative time that would be taken up by this Parliament trying to unpick 43 years of our involvement in European laws, rules and regulations.
EU Withdrawal: Effects on Human Rights — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: International Affairs
Christina Elizabeth Rees (Labour, Centre-left): The shadow Attorney General, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull East (Karl Turner), cannot be with us today because he is busy changing nappies. May we congratulate him on the birth of his first baby, a beautiful daughter, Stella-Mae? We wish him and his partner, Leanne, all the best Does the Attorney General agree that if the UK left the EU, it would not only be human rights in Scotland that would be affected? Surely there would be a question over the whole devolution process in Wales and Northern Ireland. We should not forget that the agreement that gave us the institutions in Northern Ireland took membership of the EU as a given, and if the UK left the EU, it would lead to unwelcome uncertainties.
Prosecutions for Offshore Tax Evasion — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Macroeconomics
David George Hanson (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful for that answer, but the Attorney General will now know, through the revelations in the Panama papers, that industrial-scale money is going offshore. What role will his Department be playing in advising the Prime Minister’s taskforce on that tax evasion? Does the Attorney General expect any illegality to come out in that review? If so, what resources does he have to ensure that prosecutions take place?
Prosecutions for Offshore Tax Evasion — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Macroeconomics
Joanna Meriel Stevens (Labour, Centre-left): Tax evasion is not a victimless crime, and tax avoidance also has consequences. Both take money out of our hard-pressed public services and away from the people who work in them. This money could be used to fund more police, hospitals, schools and other local services, all of which have had severe cuts under this Government. There is a growing tax gap, and there have been a very limited number of prosecutions. How can the public therefore be confident that the Government are doing everything they can to crack down on overseas tax evaders, given the performance to date?
State Pension Age — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Labor
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): Nobody denies that the state pension age needed to be reformed, but it is the transitional arrangements that the Government have or have not put in place that have caused so much consternation. I cannot help wondering whether a cynical calculation has been made that those women will have reached retirement age anyway by the next general election. May I ask a straightforward question? Do the Government genuinely believe that the transitional arrangements are fair—yes or no?
Effects of 2016 Budget — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Social Welfare
James McMahon (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for that answer, but she might be aware that the Labour party has commissioned research which shows that, since 2010, 86% of the total amount of cash saved from benefit changes and tax savings has come from women, disproportionately. Since the autumn statement, that figure has increased by 5%. How much more do women have to take the brunt of this Government before action is taken?
Effects of 2016 Budget — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Catherine Jane Smith (Labour, Centre-left): The Opposition welcome the Budget announcement about the removal of VAT on tampons, following the campaign led by my hon. Friend the Member for Dewsbury (Paula Sherriff). However, given that the Chancellor has previously reassured me that the £15 million raised from this tax would be providing funds to domestic violence charities and women’s refuges, can the Minister clarify something for me? Did the Budget include a £15 million cut to women’s charities, and where is this Government’s long-term economic plan for women’s safety?
Gender Pay Gap — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Labor
Ruth Margaret Cadbury (Labour, Centre-left): The Women and Equalities Committee’s report on the gender pay gap showed strong and compelling evidence that increasing the availability of well-paid flexible work would make a significant difference in reducing the pay gap. What will the Government do to make flexible working easy and to encourage employers to offer it from the date of employment rather than having to wait for six months?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Victoria Jane Foxcroft (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I feel really frustrated that I stand here and ask questions of the Leader of the House about what I am supposed to do to get Government support for a commission to look into the root causes of serious youth violence, and about how they will respond to it. I know that many Members ask questions and do not get answers, but this is a really important issue. I have taken all the advice I have received, such as seeking a Back-Bench business debate on setting up the commission. How do I ensure that I get answers to these important questions?
Iraq Inquiry Report — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: International Affairs
Graham William Allen (Labour, Centre-left): The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that the Iraq war was the most appalling miscalculation and the most idiotic way of conducting foreign policy in living memory. As he is looking to the future, does he accept that the fracture within Islam that the war exacerbated and the Pandora’s box that was then opened of violence and extremism within Islam, both in the middle east and internationally, are sadly the gift of the Iraq war that will keep on giving, and that there may be decades’ worth of interventions from extreme Islamic elements across the globe?
Iraq Inquiry Report — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: International Affairs
Graham William Allen (Labour, Centre-left): Just to get the balance correct, if we go back to the time of the vote, a majority of the non-payroll vote in the Labour party—122 Members, and I was proud to be one of the organisers—actually rebelled against their own Government. Had the Conservative party supported us we would not have gone to war. Those are historical matters, but it is important to place on the record that the biggest ever parliamentary rebellion within a governing party was by the Labour party on the issue of taking us to war. Many of us at the time realised that it would be a disaster, but none of us realised what an appalling disaster it would be—one that would carry on for decades and influence us domestically as well as in the middle east.
Iraq Inquiry Report — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: International Affairs
Graham William Allen (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend accept that publication is necessary to purge our own party of the fault line that occurred around the time of the Iraq war and which continues to this day? It also besmirches the reputation of an otherwise very fine Prime Minister, who, until we admit the mistake of going to Iraq and opening this Pandora’s box, will forever be known as the person who took us to war on the coat-tails of George W. Bush against so many of his colleagues in the House at the time. The mistake needs to be corrected. That would be good for all of us on the Labour Benches, if nowhere else.