argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Supporting Democracy — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): Time and again in this House, the Labour party has raised the issue of the failure to act on the Russia report. The Government have been painfully slow at bringing forward the action that we need to implement its recommendations. With mounting threats of Russian hostility, can the Minister tell the House what discussions she has had with colleagues across Government on the proposed implementation of the counter state threats Bill, the new and refreshed Computer Misuse Act 1990, the reform of Companies House and the register of property ownership, so that London will no longer have the reputation of being the laundromat for the dirty money that comes out of such regimes?
Ukraine: Diplomatic Efforts — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
David Lindon Lammy (Labour, Centre-left): As we stand here today, peace in Europe faces its greatest threat in decades. Our darkest moments in history have taught us that aggression must be challenged and bullies must be confronted. Putin’s imperialism must be met with our utmost strength and resolve. Twenty-eight years ago, Britain, America and Russia promised that if Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons, its sovereignty would be assured. Putin has already run roughshod over that by annexing Crimea and backing separatists in the Donbass. Now he threatens Ukraine with full invasion. I ask the Secretary of State: at a time when arms control treaties have unravelled and non-proliferation efforts are under great strain, what message would it send to other countries in the world with nuclear ambitions, such as Iran, if those assurances to Ukraine were worth nothing?
Ukraine: Diplomatic Efforts — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
David Lindon Lammy (Labour, Centre-left): We owe it to the people of Ukraine to send a simple and united message: we support their sovereign democratic right to choose their own destiny and we will stand with them in this struggle against Putin’s reckless aggression. And we should send a firm, unambiguous message to Putin that any aggression will come at a high price, so will the Secretary of State assure me that any Russian military incursion or attack will be met with a full package of sanctions, unprecedented in depth and severity, cutting Russia out of the global financial system, blocking rouble conversion, halting exports of semiconductors and finally clamping down on the oligarchs who hide their ill-gotten wealth in this capital city?
Security Partnerships — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Sarah Deborah Champion (Labour, Centre-left): As the world becomes more dangerous and more uncertain, we need to tackle the root causes of security threats to the UK, namely poverty and instability overseas. I therefore find it very concerning that spending allocations for the conflict, stability and security fund show huge reductions to aid programmes around the world for this financial year: a 63% drop in funding in the middle east and north Africa, for example, and a 53% reduction in the western Balkans. Does the Minister agree that the Government’s cuts throughout overseas development are compromising UK security and global stability? What will the Government do to address that?
Iran: British Detainees — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Valerie Carol Marian Vaz (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for his answer, but that was in November. Anoosheh Ashoori is on hunger strike and he needs diplomatic protection. He is innocent. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, six years a hostage: innocent. Morad Tahbaz, an environmentalist: innocent. Mehran Raoof, a trade unionist: innocent. Will the Minister commit to working closely with the United States special envoy Robert Malley to bring these innocent hostages home?
Yemen — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for that answer, but this brutal conflict is in its ninth year. Recent deadly coalition-led attacks on children and civilians have rightly been condemned by the UN General Secretary. As the UK is the penholder at the UN for Yemen, does he believe that the continued sales of arms from the UK and the recent withdrawal of UK aid are helping or hindering diplomatic efforts?
Yemen — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Gillian Furniss (Labour, Centre-left): The situation in Yemen continues to deteriorate, and the attacks are ever more brutal. Just last week, three children who were out playing football were among 60 people killed when missiles struck Hodeidah and Saada. Does the Minister agree that this demonstrates the importance of re-establishing the group of eminent experts? What fresh efforts does he believe are needed within the UN Security Council to end this terrible conflict?
Yemen — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Charalambos Charalambous (Labour, Centre-left): We were all horrified by the atrocities of the airstrike on Friday, which led to dozens of deaths and was another horrific incident in this conflict. It adds to one of the world’s greatest humanitarian disasters, with an estimated 20 million Yemenis in need of assistance. As the Minister knows, the Saudi air and sea blockade means that hardly any humanitarian aid is getting through, so I ask him: what influence are the Government using to bring about a peace conference to end the blockade, so that people on the brink of starvation can get the humanitarian aid they need?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Lyn Carol Brown (Labour, Centre-left): Some 9.4 million people are going hungry in northern Ethiopia, airstrikes are killing civilians and the blockade is being used as a political weapon. I am glad that the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, the hon. Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford), met Abiy Ahmed last week. Did she make it clear that preventing humanitarian access is an abuse of human rights, that airstrikes on refugees are completely incompatible with UK partnership, and that a real dialogue to enable peace must start now and include the Prime Minister’s opponents?
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Government Operations
Angela Rayner (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you for granting the urgent question, Mr Speaker Well, well, well: all too soon, the Paymaster General and I find ourselves here once again—and once again, rather than dealing with the cost of living crisis and its impact on families, we are talking about scandals in Downing Street. [Interruption.] Conservative Members can chunter from their positions, but they are allowing this to happen. For two months, Cabinet Ministers have been working hard to make Sue Gray the most famous woman in Britain. In response to every question asked about the poor conduct, bad behaviour and rule-breaking culture that this Government have overseen, the Ministers have repeatedly told us that Sue Gray is the answer. Now there is a police investigation, and the terms of reference for Sue Gray, set by the Prime Minister himself, are clear: "if…any evidence emerges of behaviour that is potentially a criminal offence, the matter will be referred to the police".—[Official Report, 9 December 2021; Vol. 705, c. 561.] So it seems, Mr Speaker, that potential criminality has been found in Downing Street. What a truly damning reflection on our nation’s very highest office So I ask the Paymaster General these questions. Given this morning’s announcement, when will the Sue Gray report finally be published? Can the Paymaster General assure the House that the Sue Gray report will be published in full, not just as a summary, and will the accompanying evidence be provided? Can he clarify for the House what Sue Gray and her team will be doing while the police conduct their investigation? Can he tell the House whether the decision to delay the publication of the Sue Gray report was made by the Metropolitan police or the Government? Given this Government’s record on lost phones and missing messages and minutes, can he assure the House that all evidence from the Gray inquiry will be properly held by the Cabinet Office? Can he clarify whether the Chancellor, as a resident of Downing Street, is co-operating fully with the Gray inquiry and the police investigation, and whether he has been interviewed Just weeks ago, the Prime Minister told this House, "there was no party". How does the Paymaster General explain that? I know that across the country, people know enough. They have made up their minds about the Prime Minister. When will his party catch up?
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Government Operations
Andrew Joseph McDonald (Labour, Centre-left): My Middlesbrough constituents have obeyed the rules, done exactly what the Prime Minister demanded of them and abided by the laws that he initiated. Does the Paymaster General not understand that the continued refusal to do the right and decent thing only serves to damage our democracy and tarnish our reputation across the world? That will not be turned around until such time as the Prime Minister goes and brings this shameful business to an end.
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Geraint Richard Davies (Labour, Centre-left): Given that the police investigated and intervened on several parties across London on 20 May, can the Paymaster General explain why they did not intervene when enormous amounts of booze were being trundled into No. 10 with enormous amounts of noise? Does that make him fear some sort of fudging of the investigation? Perhaps another police force should intervene.
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Michael Whitley (Labour, Centre-left): Every day, in my constituency of Birkenhead, parents are going hungry so that their children can eat, while elderly people are living in freezing homes because they simply cannot afford to put their heating on. Will the Minister concede that the Government are more interested in their own internal turmoil than in helping those most in need? Will he now join the calls for the Prime Minister to step aside so that we can finally begin to get grips with this Tory cost of living crisis?
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): Given that it has taken six weeks since the Daily Mirror first broke the story of parties in Downing Street to have a police inquiry, what consideration have the Government given to appointing Pippa Crerar as the commissioner of the Metropolitan police?
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Government Operations
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Minister really think that it is in the interests of our country—our country, not the Prime Minister—that the Prime Minister remains at the helm, giving public health advice to the people of Newcastle and security reassurances to the people of Ukraine, while mired in scandal and facing criminal investigations?
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): The Home Affairs Committee has been looking into the consistency of enforcement of covid regulations, because we are well aware that failure to enforce consistently can erode public trust. The Committee will have an opportunity to question the Metropolitan Police Commissioner soon. However, as the police have primary responsibility for criminal investigations in this country, does the Minister think that it would have been much better to pass this on to the Metropolitan police as soon as these allegations came to light, and that we would now be concluding that Metropolitan police investigation and he would have to stop coming to this House to defend the Prime Minister?
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Government Operations
Justin Piers Richard Madders (Labour, Centre-left): On 8 December the Prime Minister told this House "there was no party". Paragraph 1.3 of the "Ministerial Code" says that anyone who knowingly misleads the House will be expected to resign, so why is the Prime Minister still in his job?
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Government Operations
Alexandra Mary Davies-Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Once again, the Paymaster General has been forced to come to the Dispatch Box to defend the indefensible, and no one is buying it. Honesty, transparency and leadership should be at the heart of this country’s Government, but they are severely lacking. Will the Prime Minister now come to this House to set the record straight and tell us exactly what gatherings and parties he attended at Downing Street? Or better yet, will he just resign?
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): The police were asked to enforce covid rules across the country and faced difficult challenges in doing so to keep us all safe, issuing tens of thousands of fines to people who broke the rules—even those gathering for birthdays. Does the Minister believe that the Prime Minister is above the law? My constituents are asking why these events took place, disregarding the rules. I say to Conservative Members who have attacked this business that these matters do concern our constituents—they do.
Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): In Kyiv and in Kramatorsk last week, we met politicians and community leaders who will not only be worrying for the future of their country, but be fearful for their own lives. I have been saying for a very long time that the arguments that President Putin uses about Russian speakers in Ukraine are exactly the same as Adolf Hitler advanced over the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s. I agree with the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Tom Tugendhat), that we need to see full implementation of the "Moscow’s Gold" report. I am sure there will be other sanctions coming—I do not quite understand why we have sanctioned only 25% of the people the American Government have already sanctioned. This House will stand ready alongside the Prime Minister if he needs, for instance, to introduce further legislation to seize Russian assets in the UK and to make sure that the unexplained wealth orders, which have worked in only three cases in the past four years, actually have an effect. We stand ready to stand by the Ukrainian people.
Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Prime Minister for his statement, and agree with him that should Putin invade Ukraine, tough sanctions will be necessary. However, the Putin regime exists because it floats on, and relies on, an ocean of illegal and illicit finance, much of which flows through the City of London. The Prime Minister has just said that the UK has the strongest laws against illicit money; I am sorry, but that is just not true. He should look at what our allies in the United States are doing. It is now time to attack what is happening, because that is the way to cripple this regime. Can the Prime Minister tell me when he will implement the recommendations of the Russia report? As my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) has said, if that requires us to pass emergency legislation, let us do it.
Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister is right to say that western unity is key. Can he therefore explain why the UK began withdrawing some of our diplomats from Kyiv this week, unlike most of the rest of NATO?
Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Hilary James Benn (Labour, Centre-left): The military reality is that President Putin knows that if he invades he will not be facing NATO troops, and therefore the sanctions that we put in place have to be the strongest possible. Is the Prime Minister not concerned, given the answer he just gave about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and the fact that discussions are still continuing about exclusion from the SWIFT system, that we are not demonstrating determined, united resolve at the very moment when we need the credible threat of strong sanctions to try and deter President Putin from invading Ukraine?
Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Nathan Kinnock (Labour, Centre-left): The Government’s position is that sanctions will be deployed against Russia if there is an incursion, but would the Government consider deploying some sanctions now, as a clear signal to Russia, and saying that if President Putin stands down his troops and withdraws his forces, further sanctions will not be deployed? Would that not be a more effective sequencing of the process?
Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Neil Coyle (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister describes Ukraine and Russia as equal parties, and we know he likes a party. He also said that "Ukraine has scarcely known a day of peace" since the 2014 Russian invasion and illegal annexation. Indeed, in December there were 128 shellings of Ukrainians in Donetsk, and three Ukrainian soldiers have been murdered by Russian-backed forces since January. The question is why the Prime Minister has not acted sooner, and why is he even now saying we must wait for full-scale invasion before further sanctions—including on access to SWIFT—and the "Moscow’s Gold" report recommendations are implemented? Why wait?
Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: International Affairs
Luke Pollard (Labour, Centre-left): The Kremlin does not act in isolation; it acts against a plan. Will the Prime Minister set out what additional support we will be providing to our allies on NATO’s eastern flank, especially that using UK forces already stationed in those countries, to deter any future Russian aggression after any invasion of Ukraine?
Consumer Protection (Double Charging) — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving notice of his point of order. Ministers should reply to correspondence in a timely manner; I do hope that the hon. Gentleman receives a full reply to his correspondence quickly. I know that Ministers on the Front Bench will have heard his point of order and my response, and I trust that they will take steps to make sure that a reply is sent soon Judicial Review and Courts Bill (Programme) (No. 2) Ordered, That the Order of 26 October 2021 (Judicial Review and Courts Bill (Programme)) be varied as follows: 1. Paragraphs (4) and (5) of the Order shall be omitted 2. Proceedings on Consideration— (a) shall be taken in the order shown in the first column of the following Table, and (b) shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the times specified in the second column of the Table Proceedings Time for conclusion of proceedings New Clauses and new Schedules relating to judicial review, new Clauses and new Schedules relating to coroners, amendments of Part 1 and amendments of Chapter 4 of Part 2. 4.00 pm at today’s sitting. Remaining proceedings on Consideration. 6.00 pm at today’s sitting. 3. Proceedings on Third Reading shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the moment of interruption at today’s sitting.—(Amanda Solloway.)
Judicial Review and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): When the shadow Minister stands up to move new clause 4, I will be grateful if others stand up to indicate whether they wish to participate in the debate on the first group of amendments New Clause 4 Publicly funded legal representation for bereaved people at inquests "(1) Section 10 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 is amended as follows (2) In subsection (1), after ‘(4)’ insert ‘or (7).’ (3) After subsection (6), insert— ‘(7) This subsection is satisfied where— (a) the services consist of advocacy at an inquest where the individual is an Interested Person pursuant to section 47(2)(a), (b), or (m) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 because of their relationship to the deceased; and (b) one or more public authorities are Interested Persons in relation to the inquest pursuant to section 47(2) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 or are likely to be designated as such (8) For the purposes of this section "public authority" has the meaning given by section 6(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998.’.".—(Andy Slaughter.) This new clause would ensure that bereaved people (such as family members) are entitled to publicly funded legal representation in inquests where public bodies (such as the police or a hospital trust) are legally represented. Brought up, and read the First time.
Judicial Review and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): I am not saying that we oppose the proposal—Labour legislation first put it on the statute book—but people in the magistrates courts will get higher sentences and may well feel the necessity to appeal, so we will potentially have more appeals.
Judicial Review and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2022-01-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): The Chairman of the Justice Committee, as always, talks very clear sense. If we are going to have all these training programmes, attract people to the magistracy and everything else, we will need resources, so will he join me in encouraging the Lord Chancellor to go banging on the door of the Treasury to say that it is time that we took this matter seriously?
Prayers — House of Commons, 2022-01-14
Topic: Government Operations
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving notice of her point of order. The issue she has raised is a very important one, on a matter in which the House is extremely interested. It would be entirely inappropriate and discourteous to this House for any findings of the inquiry to be released to the media before being announced to this House. I cannot be clearer on this matter: I expect the Government to announce the findings of the inquiry to this House first, and I would treat any failure to do so as a gross discourtesy to this House.
Education (Careers Guidance in Schools) Bill — House of Commons, 2022-01-14
Topic: Education
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): Let us start by congratulating the hon. Member for Workington (Mark Jenkinson) on reaching this stage with his Bill. I fully anticipate that he will ultimately achieve his aim of aligning academy provision with current state-maintained provision in the sphere of careers guidance, and I am pleased to give Labour’s backing for this small but important Bill. Careers guidance is an important component of any serious social mobility strategy. For many people, and certainly for people in my family and other young people I have spoken to in Chesterfield, careers guidance and work experience are often the first time that young people really get a chance to put their head up and start looking into the future.