argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Saudi Penal System — House of Commons, 2015-10-13
Topic: International Affairs
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The power of the urgent question indeed. This is a victory, if we believe press reports, for the Secretary of State himself, but also for the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, which has been vociferous in challenging the decision This is not, of course, an easy issue. The contract was being negotiated against a backdrop of a Government who have beheaded more people than Daesh, who are about to lash a British pensioner 350 times, potentially crucify a teenager and have sentenced a blogger to a slow death sentence, so I can genuinely understand why a Government would seek to involve themselves in changing how they manage the justice system. However, questions need to be asked about the whole approach to and relationship with Saudi Arabia, and about why the Government have dropped abolishing the death penalty as a priority in their international work abroad. What assistance did this Government give to the Government of Saudi Arabia so that they could chair a committee on human rights within the United Nations? Why did the British Government sanction flags flying at half-mast when the King of Saudi Arabia died—something that the Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson called "a steaming pile of nonsense" I welcome today’s move, but this cannot be the end of our examination of our relationship with Saudi Arabia. One thing the Justice Secretary could do would be to place all papers relating to this deal in the public domain, so that Parliament can examine them retrospectively.
Saudi Penal System — House of Commons, 2015-10-13
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Ferrier (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I have made several representations to both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Office—I am glad to see the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), in the Chamber—over the case of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr. I have yet to receive a reply. This young man is still due to be brutally executed by beheading and crucifixion. Would the Secretary of State perhaps like to comment on this case now within the context of the Saudi prison contract, and also in light of numerous brutal and repeated human rights abuses within Saudi, such as that of Mohammed al-Nimr, not to mention the fact that one person is executed every two days, often by gruesome and medieval methods? There is also the growing number of civilian deaths in Yemen by air strikes conducted by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition. I am wondering—and others will be as well—how the Government can continue to have such a close, intertwined relationship with the Saudis. [Interruption.] What can the Secretary of State tell us today to reassure people that the Government will not continue to support and facilitate human rights abuses? I have heard in the Chamber as well that safety and security—[Interruption.]
Tax Credits (Free School Meals) — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals; What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals.
Lisa Cameron (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The proposed changes to tax credits will see 22,000 children in Scotland lose their entitlement to free school meals, although our First Minister has pledged to safeguard that entitlement. Will the Minister make a similar pledge to ensure that children from the most vulnerable backgrounds in the rest of the UK remain eligible for free school meals?
Tax Credits (Free School Meals) — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals; What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals.
Carol Frances Monaghan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Straightaway we can see from the Minister’s answer that there will be budgetary impacts on Scotland from decisions on which Scottish MPs will no longer be able to vote. Can he assure us that when there will be funding implications, Scottish MPs will not be barred from voting?
Data Breaches (Consumer Protection) — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Technology
John MacKenzie Nicolson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Wednesday’s cyber-attack on TalkTalk has illustrated the problems faced by a Government who have failed to protect the interests of consumers through their lightweight regulation of telecoms. For the third time in less than a year, the 4 million customers of TalkTalk have had their confidential details compromised and, once again, the Government and TalkTalk have fallen short in their response TalkTalk has attempted to downplay the impact of the attack on its website, stating that the core system was not affected, but that ignores the broader use of personal data in fraud and identity theft. It is estimated that the value of a credit card number to a criminal increases by 500% when combined with the personal details of the individual. Although credit card numbers expire and can change, self-evidently people’s names, addresses and dates of birth do not. Once a criminal has those details, they can use them for numerous purposes. TalkTalk is clearly not taking that seriously enough In the United States, AT&T was fined £17 million for failing to protect customer data. In the United Kingdom, the ICO can only place fines of up to £500,000. For a company that received an annual revenue of nearly £1.8 billion, a fine that small will clearly not be terrifying. The regulation of telecoms must be strengthened to protect consumers Does the Minister agree that telecom providers must be held fully responsible for failing to protect confidential data? Regulation needs to be strengthened to ensure that; I am afraid that free counselling from TalkTalk is meaningless twaddle.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
William Arthur Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the right hon. Gentleman. I do not think I accused anyone of being engaged in a con. It is not a con; it is perfectly legal, as George Osborne himself recognised in 2012. The issue is that, despite the technicalities, the ordinary member of the public will look at this and say, "Is this fair, particularly at this time in the development of our economy?" I am primarily driven by what is fair to the wider public in our society.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
William Arthur Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I agree with much of what the right hon. Gentleman says, but I would go wider. Our whole tax system is incredibly and unnecessarily complicated. Why do we not begin to think about moving towards an alignment, say, of income tax and national insurance in the longer term? There are many areas where the over-complication serves nobody’s interests well. It does not serve the Exchequer or the wider public, so I have some sympathy with the right hon. Gentleman’s argument. I return to the point I was trying to make before his two excellent interventions In Committee some Members implied that no other country in the world was doing anything to close the loophole. My recent research shows that that is not the case. For example, the Netherlands has already tackled the issue more thoroughly than we have in the UK. France has moved—perhaps not as far as some in France would have liked at the time—further than the UK to address the problem, and in other countries, such as Sweden and even the United States, it is a growing element of the political debate.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
William Arthur Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I point out that, as I am sure he fully understands, this issue is not unique to the United Kingdom; it has international resonance. It has particular resonance with people who are relatively poor and suffering under austerity. As I said in Committee, my constituency manager—we all know how well paid our constituency managers are—will pay an effective rate of tax that is higher than that paid by the vast majority of highly paid fund managers. That cannot be described as fair, as I think people in this country and elsewhere recognise.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I want to make a brief contribution on new clause 3. The Minister, elegantly as he does, fobbed us off by saying, "We’re having a consultation and so on, but meanwhile we’ll press on regardless." However, there is still a major issue regarding a potential tax loophole that has not been closed I accept that fund managers are remunerated on two different and distinct levels: they are paid for the work they do as investment managers and also receive a reward for hazarding their own capital. I also accept that there is a gain in having fund managers hazard some of their own capital, perhaps more so than they do at the moment. Unfortunately, though, if we charge very different marginal rates on the income component and on the hazarding their own money component, we will create the capacity for a loophole in paying the lower tax on the capital gain and less on the income It does not matter what short-term changes the Minister makes to try to prevent existing ways in which hedge funds allow the personal investment component of the investment to be organised, because people will just think up new ones. We have to close the loophole at source. The obvious way to do that would be to go back to a previous situation in which income tax and capital gains tax were charged at the same marginal rate. Unfortunately, for the past several decades we have proceeded down a road of constantly cutting taxes on capital. I think there was a case in the 1990s for cutting marginal rates of tax on capital, because it was a difficult economic period and we had to encourage investment, but the Government have transformed that into an ideological demand that we always go on cutting taxes. Indeed, one of the core philosophies of the Finance Bill is to cut corporation tax even more, despite the fact that, on both a UK and a global level, we have pyramided up corporate surpluses, which are not being used. The current problem is not to find more loose capital, but to find fiscal incentives to make the owners of capital invest it The inherent philosophical problem with which the Government present us in the Bill is the imbalance created when marginal rates of taxation on capital are pushed lower and lower while significant taxes on labour are not reduced effectively and significantly. Our new clause 3 is specifically designed to force the Government to respond to the philosophical principle that the loophole should not be created in the first place. I do not think that the Minister has answered that effectively, which is why we will press new clause 3 to a vote.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on reaching the Front Bench after far too long a wait. I can tell him that we would be more than happy to take over the setting of VAT in Scotland. That could remove the anomaly.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I remind the hon. Lady that under the sixth directive, which sets out the tax rules in the EU, the anomalies that she mentions between different kinds of medical products, including tampons, are precisely the evidence we need to take to the VAT Committee in order to get a derogation that would allow us to move to the zero rate for all these products. In advancing her line of argument, would she like to ask the Minister why the Government have never asked for that derogation, which is perfectly possible given the evidence she has raised?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): As I suspect the hon. Gentleman well knows, the Scottish Parliament does not have jurisdiction over this matter, but the SNP feels sufficiently strongly about it that we put it in our party manifesto for this place, and the First Minister has been vocal in speaking out in support of zero rating for sanitary products. We would very much like this to happen, and we will give any support that we can in the Scottish Parliament as well as from our Benches here This issue has been very protracted over many years, and this House cannot resolve it alone, but we can make a start. VAT has already been reduced by a previous Labour Government, and we have a good deal of cross-party support here tonight. I think that we can do much better than the Prime Minister, who, during the election campaign, described this as a "difficult" issue and said that he "can’t remember the answer". The answer, of course, is that we can take a lead on this. In June 2015, the European Commission, which is yet to have a female President—perhaps that would make a difference on such issues—gave an answer that was not entirely positive. It set out the background to its reasons why this cannot be done, but it also said: "As part of its upcoming work on a definitive VAT regime based on the destination principle, the Commission will assess the functioning and possible improvements to the system of reduced rates." So we have an opportunity to get involved in this debate to say that this is an important issue for us as a nation and for women across Europe We have an opportunity and an obligation to try again to resolve this issue. Members may not know this, but the Republic of Ireland entered the European Union at the time of a 0% rating on sanitary products that it was able to retain in much the same way as we have derogations in different areas, so there is already a precedent within the EU of a zero rating in a European member state. I urge the Government to take a lead on this for women across these islands and across the EU. Let us end this bloody unfairness.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
Hannah Mary Bardell (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am glad the hon. Gentleman has admitted to his own shame, because it seems somewhat shameful to fudge the issue. We may not have all the powers to change the situation, but this House has an opportunity to send a clear message to Europe on something that is very wrong and about which so many people feel strongly. I cannot believe that the hon. Gentleman is using that as an excuse to not support us on an issue for which there is clear cross-party support.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has been traipsing around Europe of late begging and pleading with European leaders all around the place. Would it not perhaps have been useful for him to have raised this issue then and saved himself another visit?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
William Arthur Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): In a style becoming familiar to this House, let me say that Barbara from Kirkcaldy says: "This Finance Bill is a disgrace to hard-working people", and I always agree with my wife! It is a deliberate slight on the people of Scotland, and it deserves and will get no support from SNP Members. The Government have once again denied the rightful exemption of VAT for our emergency services. Once again, they are harming the environment, and once again they are favouring the rich. We oppose this Bill.
Nuisance Calls — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Technology
Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): There is talk and co-operation going on, with Ofcom leading the way, looking at what can be done at European and international level. Beyond that, it is a case of knocking heads together to see how we can better regulate and control the data that leave this country Registering with the Telephone Preference Service is the obvious first step for those who feel that their lives are blighted by nuisance calls. Although that is an important tool, it cannot stop all unsolicited calls.
Nuisance Calls — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Martin John Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend recognise the impact of the charitable sector’s cold calling on our communities? These discussions should also include the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and the Charity Commissions for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland to ensure that charities recognise their duty of care to the vulnerable and the elderly.
Developing Countries: Private Sector Development — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Energy
Patrick John Grady (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I recently met campaigners from Nigeria who told me that the privatisation of the country’s electricity system, which has been supported by DFID through projects worth £140 million over the past 12 years, has led to price rises, job losses and more blackouts. What evidence does DFID use when deciding to support privatisation as a means to improve the access to and affordability of public services such as electricity?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: International Affairs
Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): This week we commemorate the worst atrocity in Europe since the second world war: the Srebrenica genocide. In a genocidal act, 8,372 unarmed boys and men were taken out of what was supposed to be a United Nations safe area and were murdered. Will the Prime Minister commit to doing everything in his power to ensure that this genocidal act is remembered and do everything he can to get the international community to mark this as well?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: International Affairs
Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I commend the Prime Minister on his answer and his efforts, and the Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones who is hosting a commemorative event in Cardiff today, and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who is doing a commemorative event in Scotland on Friday, but Bosnia’s suffering has continued since the genocide and the end of the war. Unemployment in Bosnia is more than 40%, among young people it is over 75%, and more than half the young people of Bosnia are considering leaving the country. Will the Prime Minister do everything he can, together with European partners, to support political and economic progress for Bosnia and Herzegovina and give the people there real hope for a better future
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Labor
Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): May I start by making a couple of brief observations? First, the Chancellor got his tone completely wrong when he seemed to suggest that only right-wing politicians understand the value of leaving things for one’s children. That was the wrong approach to take. Secondly, he got the tone wrong when he spoke about benefits paying for people’s lifestyles. I think if someone is aspirational and is striving, and is struggling on unemployment benefit of one form or another trying hard to get a job and to get by, that is not a lifestyle choice. Their lifestyle choice is to work and they should not be denigrated by someone who has never been short of a bob or two.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Energy
Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): On the subject of the Budget’s green credentials, the Red Book also sets out that renewable energy will be subject to the climate change levy. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that that is utterly perverse from the point of view of reducing carbon emissions?
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Social Welfare
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Does the right hon. Lady really think that women will applaud paragraph 2.103, at the top of page 88 of the Red Book, which reads: "The Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC will develop protections for women who have a third child as the result of rape, or other exceptional circumstances" when calculating their eligibility for child benefit? That is appalling.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Social Welfare
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I shall help the hon. Gentleman out a little. Does he accept that the cuts to tax credits are going to have a disproportionate effect on women? The Fawcett Society says that the freeze in working-age benefits will disproportionately affect women, with one fifth of women’s incomes coming in benefits compared with one tenth of men’s.
Military Co-operation: Saudi Arabia — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: International Affairs
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): At that meeting, did the Secretary of State highlight the fact that last year 90 people were executed in Saudi Arabia and that figure was reached by the end of May for this year? Sweden has dropped its memorandum of understanding on defence co-operation over the mistreatment of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi and other human rights concerns. When will we see some urgency and action from the Secretary of State?
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: Macroeconomics
William Arthur Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Secretary of State mentions the great productivity plan, but what a damp squib that is. It fails to address the key fundamentals of productivity, whether lending to business, raising intermediate and higher intermediate skill levels that are a major drag on our productivity, or other facets. Surely we deserve better than the damp squib that was produced on Friday.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: Government Operations
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Having come from local government, of course I trust it to do those things, but it should not be forced with a gun put to its head I will close by asking the Secretary of State to reflect on the purposes of power being devolved, and on how best we support local communities. People will be unsurprised that we in the SNP reject the austerity agenda, and the people who voted for us support our policy. That austerity agenda has already led to so much damage to the fabric of our communities, and there is only so much that people can take.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Does the hon. Gentleman consider it fair that a woman who has been raped will have to declare that to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions to qualify for her child to receive tax credits?
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: Foreign Trade
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Lady mentions exports. The OBR report, published alongside the Budget last week, shows that our export position and current account deficit is forecast to worsen over the next four years. How does she explain that?