argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Elections Bill — House of Lords, 2022-04-06
Topic: Other
Eric Pickles (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I stand briefly to speak on this and to apologise to my noble friend for missing the entire Committee due to contracting Covid. I have been away at a public inquiry today, but it was great to arrive at the point to hear my noble friend Lord Holmes making these very sensible suggestions. I raised this issue at Second Reading and I am immensely grateful to my noble friend the Minister for accepting these amendments and making these changes, which will bring enormous dignity to the voting process. Again, I congratulate my noble friend, Lord Holmes.
Elections Bill — House of Lords, 2022-04-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Robert Hayward (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, before I make any comments in relation to this group of amendments, I want to pay credit to my noble friend Lord Holmes. I chose not to speak in the previous debate but, throughout my adult life, I have suffered from losing my eyesight—not on a total basis but on a substantially partial basis—on impromptu occasions. Although it has never happened to me, I can imagine going to a polling station and suddenly being confronted by the fact that I cannot see the ballot paper properly. Many Members of this House know that I used to referee rugby matches. Now, I vouch that I never lost my eyesight in the middle of a game, despite what many of the players and spectators may have thought More seriously, I will move on to Amendments 31 to 33 and 38 in my name—they involve many words for what I thought would be a simple amendment. Having spoken in Committee on this matter, I intend to speak now only briefly In Committee, I made the point that there is an anomaly in our legislation. Had it operated at the time, it would have debarred both Jim Callaghan and Harold Wilson standing as James Callaghan and Harold Wilson because, in both cases, those were their second names and what they were commonly known as. The Welsh Senedd has already made this amendment to its legislation; my Amendment 31 is intended to bring us in line with the Senedd. It makes sense that, where people regularly use their second name as their main forename, they should be able to do so on a ballot paper so that, when people go to vote for them in a polling station, they recognise their name when confronted by it I thank the department officials and the Minister for their help in drafting what look like enormously substantial amendments but achieve a relatively small but sensible change to our electoral law. On that basis, I beg to move.
Elections Bill — House of Lords, 2022-04-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Jane Scott (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, with respect to Amendments 31 to 33 and 38, under the current law, a person who is nominated as a candidate must give their full name. They may also provide a commonly used forename or surname, which must be different to any of the names already given, that they would like to have included on the ballot paper. My noble friend Lord Hayward has highlighted that this does not, for example, facilitate the use of a middle name where someone is commonly known by such a name My noble friend’s amendments would widen the scope of the current provisions concerning the use of commonly used names by candidates. They would allow a person to include on their nomination paper any name that they commonly use as a forename or surname. For example, under this amendment, a candidate would be able to choose to use their middle name if that is a commonly known name for them. A candidate may also use a commonly used forename and surname on the ballot paper When my noble friend raised this issue in Committee, the Minister, my noble friend Lord True, indicated that the suggestions had some merit. After further consideration, I am pleased to say that the Government consider that these are sensible changes and we are able to support my noble friend’s amendments.
Elections Bill — House of Lords, 2022-04-06
Topic: Other
Robert Hayward (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I note the welcome for that from all sides of the House. I am getting slightly embarrassed—this is the second time this afternoon that I have had support from all sides of the House on amendments I have put forward. I thank the Minister for her support and favourable response.
Elections Bill — House of Lords, 2022-04-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Jane Scott (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course we want maximum registration, but not through a flawed system. There are many other ways the Government will continue to work on getting more people on to the electoral register, if they want to be on it I urge the noble Lord, Lord Woolley, to withdraw his amendment. Tackling under-registration is an important and complex issue, but this is not the way to address it.
Elections Bill — House of Lords, 2022-04-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): Two votes. The noble Lord is quite right. I do not know whether any noble Lords from the Welsh Benches are here, but in 1974 Carmarthen was won by Labour by three votes. My dear friend Harmar Nicholls—a man who had more tight elections than anybody else—again won by three votes. If you are lucky enough to have three Lords in a constituency, that could make a huge difference. The Liberal Democrats probably would not have won Winchester if two Lords had lived there I repeat that this has nothing at all to do with reform of the House of Lords. It is just about individual liberty and responsibility. We all support our local communities, as I mentioned. In return, I wish to go with my wife to vote at the polling station. I do not want to stand outside while she goes in; I want to vote alongside her. I believe it is my democratic right, which I was given to implement and which I exercised from the age of 18 until 1997. It is vital, and I hope very much that other noble Lords will take us over this final fence. After all, if the Irish Peers were made an exception, why do we not join the Irish community as well?
Elections Bill — House of Lords, 2022-04-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Jane Scott (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the Government’s position on this matter remains one of principle: namely, that it is not right for any one citizen to have the privilege of being represented twice. Enfranchising noble Lords to vote in UK parliamentary elections would give us two ways of being represented in Parliament: through our permanent membership here and ability to vote on legislation as we are today, and through our elected MP As we discussed in Committee, this is not the case for those currently sitting in the House of Commons. Once an election is called and Parliament is dissolved, an MP ceases to be an elected official and must seek re-election before returning to their place in the House of Commons. It is therefore right that they are able to vote in parliamentary elections, as not allowing them to do so would mean denying them a say in the democratic process We, however, do not cease to be Peers at the time of an election, and to allow us to vote would give us twice the representation of other citizens. In our roles in this Chamber, we are privileged to have an active role in the scrutiny of legislation and active participation in the democratic process of this country. To extend this participation further would undermine the principle that all citizens are equally represented in politics. I urge that this amendment be withdrawn.
Elections Bill — House of Lords, 2022-04-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Nicholas True (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I regret that we will not be able to agree to these amendments, but I preface my remarks by sending my very best wishes to the noble Lord, Lord Green. He ploughs sometimes a lonely furrow in this Chamber, but he is somebody of the most outstanding integrity and is greatly respected in your Lordships’ House. I very much hope that my good wishes are passed on to him. The engagement meeting I had with him when I had Covid was over Zoom, so I do not claim responsibility—but I offer the profoundest sympathy to him Amendment 43 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Green, would require the Government to consult each Commonwealth country and produce a report on how we might confine the voting rights of Commonwealth citizens to citizens of those countries that grant British citizens the right to vote. Each country has the right to determine its own franchise, and the United Kingdom has done this. Qualifying Commonwealth citizens—that is, those persons who have leave to remain in this country or who have status such that they do not require such leave—are entitled to the parliamentary franchise. The rights of Commonwealth citizens are long-standing, and they reflect our unique historic ties to the family of Commonwealth nations and with Her Majesty the Queen Historically, while the Commonwealth countries were part of the British Empire, their nationals were subjects of the British Crown, and they were governed directly by the British Parliament. In 1918, the Representation of the People Act provided that only British subjects could register as electors. The term "British subject" then included any person who owed allegiance to the Crown, regardless of the Crown territory in which he or she was born. This recognised in part the contribution of servicemen of so many nations who fought in the Great War.
Elections Bill — House of Lords, 2022-04-06
Topic: Immigration
Robin Granville Hodgson (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, before I thank my noble friend, I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, that to characterise the work of Members of my party on these Benches as seeking only to restrict the right of people to vote is an outrageous accusation. All we wish to do—all I wish to do—is to ensure we get the maximum participation in a framework that gives our fellow citizens confidence that the system is well organised, properly disciplined and free from corruption and misdemeanour. That is all That having been said, I thank my noble friend. I am disappointed, but I am not surprised either. The takeaway I have from this short debate is that there are quite a lot of loose ends. The noble Lords, Lord Stunell, Lord Shipley, Lord Collins and Lord Green, and the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, all have loose ends. My noble friend can say, "Well, yes, it’s too difficult; let’s put it in a drawer, lock it and come back to it in 10 years when we go around this track again" or he could take it away, think about it and say, "Let’s have —outside this Bill—a proper debate about the nature of British citizenship and the rights and responsibilities as they pertain to 2022." I hope he can find time in his department to do that. In the meantime, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Queen’s Speech — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Other
Stephen Sherbourne (Conservative, Centre-right): That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty as follows: "Most Gracious Sovereign—We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to thank Your Majesty for the most gracious Speech which was addressed to both Houses of Parliament".
Queen’s Speech — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Howard Emerson Flight (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I was particularly pleased to find a draft Bill of Rights included in the Queen’s Speech this year. It is well time to end the abuse of the human rights framework and restore common sense to our justice system. The Bill of Rights will ensure our human rights framework both meets the needs of the society it serves and commands public confidence. The main benefits of the Bill of Rights should be to defend and support freedom of speech, to reduce unnecessary litigation and to avoid risk aversion for bodies delivering public services. It should protect against wokery and political correctness; to curb the expansion of a rights culture, a filter will weed out spurious human rights cases before they get to court The Bill of Rights will also tackle the issue of foreign criminals evading deportation or securing their release from jail because their human rights are given greater weight than the safety of the public. It will establish the primacy of UK case law and ensure that UK courts can no longer alter legislation contrary to its ordinary meaning The Bill of Rights will guarantee that doubtful cases do not undermine public confidence in human rights, so that courts focus on genuine and credible rights claims. It recognises that responsibilities exist alongside rights, by changing the way that damages can be awarded—for example, by ensuring that courts consider the behaviour of the claimant. The Bill of Rights will extend and apply across the UK.
HM Passport Office: Backlogs — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Immigration
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, with the leave of the House, I will repeat the Answer to an Urgent Question asked earlier today in the other place: "Due to Covid-19, over 5 million people delayed their passport applications in 2020 and 2021"— I do know how to clear a Chamber. The Answer continues: "With demand for international travel having returned, Her Majesty’s Passport Office is currently receiving a higher number of passport applications than ever before. Some 9.5 million applications are expected in 2022, compared with approximately 7 million in a normal year Since April 2021, 500 new staff have joined and a further 700 will join by the summer. As a result, the vast majority of passport applications are being processed within the 10-week timeframe and over 90% within six weeks. Less than 1.4% of the passports printed last week for UK applications had been in the system for longer than 10 weeks With a record number of applications in the system, customer inquiries have increased accordingly. However, the passport advice line, which is run by Teleperformance, is not currently meeting the needs of passport customers. Clearly, this is not acceptable. The Home Office has clear standards for the level of service that suppliers are expected to provide Her Majesty’s Passport Office has engaged with Teleperformance at its most senior levels to emphasise the need to significantly improve performance as soon as possible. Alongside steps to bring the operation of the passport advice line, email and call-back functions within the required standard, Teleperformance is urgently bolstering staff numbers in response to the recent surge in customer contact, with 500 additional staff due to be added by mid-June We recognise that colleagues will wish to raise cases and queries on behalf of their constituents. HM Passport Office staff have therefore been deployed to answer passport-related inquiries to the Home Office’s dedicated MPs hotline and, for the most urgent cases, they will also be available to conduct in-person passport surgeries at Portcullis House While we acknowledge that there have been issues with customer contact that must and will be resolved, I take the opportunity to recognise the work of HM Passport Office staff who continue to ensure that the vast majority of passport applications are processed in under 10 weeks. Their efforts, alongside the extensive work that went into preparing for record demand, have ensured that passport applications continue to be processed in higher numbers than ever before Across March and April 2022, HM Passport Office completed the processing of nearly 2 million applications. As this output demonstrates, HMPO staff are firmly focused on maintaining a high level of service and are fully committed to ensuring that people receive their passports in good time for their summer holidays."
HM Passport Office: Backlogs — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Immigration
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I join the noble Lord in being happy about his story of the Ukrainian schoolboy standing proudly in his school uniform on Monday. I praise the noble Lord for not trying to claim it as a Labour victory; whenever these things happen, we are all happy that they turned out well It might be helpful to outline the context in which we find ourselves. As I said, HMPO processes 7 million passport applications in a normal year. Due to Covid, only 4 million applied in 2020 and 5 million in 2021. That means that more than 5 million people delayed applying for a British passport throughout 2020 and 2021. Therefore, the unprecedented figure of 9.5 million applications is forecast for 2022 As I said, some of the problems with phone lines are completely unacceptable, but I think HMPO staff have performed to their best. In this context, 90% of applications being issued within six weeks, between January and March this year, is an excellent figure. In fact, over 98% were processed within a 10-week timeframe, but I am not going to stand and deny that there have been snags in the system. As I outlined, we are working very hard to resolve them.
HM Passport Office: Backlogs — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
George Young (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, my noble friend mentioned that the performance of the contractor answering the telephone lines was unacceptable. Does the contract with Teleperformance have any penalties, so that there is a financial consequence to the company if standards are not maintained?
HM Passport Office: Backlogs — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Other
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): As always, my noble friend asks a very good question. I do not know the answer to it. I know that we have been engaging with the contractor and outlining that what is happening at the moment is utterly unacceptable, and I know that steps are being taken to rectify that.
HM Passport Office: Backlogs — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Immigration
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): In relation to this issue, I know that HMPO has sent nearly 5 million text messages to UK customers who hold an expired or soon-to-expire passport to advise them to allow up to 10 weeks when next applying—so communications are going out from our side. I do not know about other countries.
HM Passport Office: Backlogs — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Immigration
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): HMPO’s staffing numbers have increased by 500 since last April, and it is in the process of recruiting a further 700 people. In total, as of 1 April this year, there were more than 4,000 staff in passport production roles.
HM Passport Office: Backlogs — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not know the answer to the question of why we did not encourage that. Obviously, we project numbers each year, but those numbers clearly did not transpire last year and we are now facing 9.5 million applications this year.
Hong Kong: Arrests — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Zac Goldsmith (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the Government monitor the operation and functioning of the financial sector and its participants on a regular and ongoing basis, across a wide range of matters. Fundamentally, it is for businesses themselves to make their own judgment calls and the Government do not comment on issues relating to individual companies. The sentiments and the message of the noble Lord will have been heard by colleagues in the Foreign Office.
Hong Kong: Arrests — House of Lords, 2022-05-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Zac Goldsmith (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I strongly echo the right reverend Prelate’s comments. I know that any government Minister would willingly do so as well, were they standing at the Dispatch Box. What has happened to Cardinal Zen is truly appalling on every conceivable level. It fundamentally undermines every aspect of the agreement we reached with China at the handover and any sense of plurality or freedom of religion in Hong Kong. We are committed to defending freedom of religion for all and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. Freedom of expression, religion or belief is explicitly included in the joint declaration, which China agreed to uphold. China is in clear breach of that declaration. We have seen its use of the national security law to curtail freedoms and suppress any dissent.
Arrangement of Business — House of Lords, 2022-02-24
Topic: Other
Thomas Ashton (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, before we move on to the main business, I will update the House on business today and tomorrow in the light of events overnight in Ukraine. In doing so, I express my thanks to the usual channels for their co-operation. The current plan is that the Prime Minister will make a Statement in the House of Commons at around 5 pm. On that basis, the Leader of the House will repeat the Statement here at a convenient moment after 7 pm. The rest of the business will proceed as planned. The business tomorrow will be changed to a general debate on Russia/Ukraine, starting at 10 am. Members can sign up now on the Government Whips’ Office website. That list will close at 6 pm this evening. The three Select Committee reports that were due to be taken tomorrow will now be debated on Friday 11 March. I am very grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Lipsey and Lord Ricketts, and the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, whose reports were due to be debated tomorrow, for their timely assistance this morning to allow this change to happen.
Nationality and Borders Bill — House of Lords, 2022-02-24
Topic: Other
Andrew Sharpe (Conservative, Centre-right): That the amendments for the Report stage be marshalled and considered in the following order: Clauses 1 to 8, Schedule 1, Clauses 9 to 22, Schedule 2, Clauses 23 to 28, Schedule 3, Clauses 29 to 41, Schedule 4, Clause 42, Schedule 5, Clauses 43 and 44, Schedule 6, Clauses 45 and 46, Schedule 7, Clauses 47 to 84, Title.
Post Office: Horizon — House of Lords, 2022-02-24
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lord for his excellent questions. On this, I agree with many of the points he made. Regarding the 555, who he rightly highlighted, as I said, they have been pioneers in this area. My honourable friend the Minister for Small Business is working at speed on this issue. They exposed the scandal by taking the Post Office to the High Court. They performed a huge public service by doing so, and I know that many noble Lords will support the Select Committee’s view that it is unfair that they have received less compensation than those who were not part of the case. I know that my honourable friend shares that view, and he has said that resolving that is the most important issue he currently faces. It is important to recognise that this is a legally complex issue because the case was settled in the High Court, but I know that officials and my honourable friend are working at pace to try to resolve it With regard to the historical shortfall scheme, things are slightly better than the noble Lord suggested; we are now up to 38% of the cases having been resolved. The Post Office’s best current estimate is that the scheme will cost £153 million across about 2,300 claims. It is important that we work through them as quickly as possible. Some of them are complex but they need to be worked through and resolved.
Post Office: Horizon — House of Lords, 2022-02-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
Patrick Cormack (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, it is a great pity that my noble friend Lord Arbuthnot cannot be here today because we all owe him an enormous amount for his work. That should be firmly on the record. My noble friend Lord Arbuthnot himself raised the point about Fujitsu the last time we discussed this issue. While it is of paramount importance that those who suffered are properly compensated—in so far as they can be, because they can never be fully compensated—that money should come not from the public purse but from those who supplied deficient goods, with anything that is left topped up by the public purse. I want to press a point that I have made several times to the Minister: it really is in everyone’s interest that we get this concluded as soon as we possibly can. People are still suffering and indeed still dying.