argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Opinion — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Immigration
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I am sorry to disappoint remaining colleagues, and I am extremely grateful to the Attorney General and all who have participated in these exchanges, but we must now move on. Some dozens of colleagues wish to speak in the main debate and I have to make a judgment about the importance of now proceeding Bill Presented Immigration (Armed Forces) Bill Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57) Sir Edward Davey, supported by Jamie Stone, presented a Bill to remove financial requirements and fees for applications for indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom from foreign or Commonwealth members of the armed forces on discharge and their families; and for connected purposes Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 22 March and to be printed (Bill 356).
Business of the House (Today) — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): I notice that this motion is debatable until any hour, subject to a business of the House motion at 7 o’clock. I can assure the House that it is not my intention to speak at that length, but this is very important. We are discussing this afternoon a motion that could determine the nation’s future for a generation or more, and we are expected to do it in just under five hours. I accept that every moment I speak reduces that time, but it is none the less relevant to do so This matter is of overwhelming importance to our future. It will determine the basis of our relationship with the European Union, and it may potentially have an effect on the whole basis of the United Kingdom. It seems to me that five hours is not only not enough, but it is not wise. The whole process with which today’s motion has been brought forth is not wise. There is an element of bounce and of theatre. We heard yesterday that a plane was waiting in the airport, fuelled for the Prime Minister. That is very dramatic and exciting, but it is not necessarily right for good government What we want is the ability to discuss things judiciously and debate them thoroughly, and squeezing a quart into a pint pot is fundamentally unwise. It also does not help the Government to achieve what they wish to achieve, which is a majority in the vote at the end of today’s proceedings, because if people feel that they have been bounced, hurried and harried, their natural instinct is not necessarily to cave in, but to stiffen their resolve and see how the cards fall The Government would be wise, even at this late stage, to allow an extra day for the debate, to ensure that Members are not limited to three-minute time limits at the end of the day but can discuss this matter as fully as it deserves and—dare I say?—as the nation expects, because the nation expects us to consider its future carefully. Although I will not seek to divide the House, I think that this allocation of time motion is misguided, and more time should be provided for debating something of such fundamental importance.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): First of all, if as the hon. Lady thought I was placating everybody on my side of the House, I do not think the deal would have been rejected in the first place, so I think she is rather wrong on that. Secondly, I did reach out to the Labour party Front Bench. I had a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition and there was one meeting between the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the shadow Secretary of State, the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer). We offered other meetings and voice came there back none.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady says that they have changed their mind. There is no actual evidence that the British people have changed their minds. And where would it end? We could have another referendum with a different result, then everybody would say, "Well, let’s have a third one." Or we could have another referendum with the same result, and the hon. Lady would probably still stand up and say she wanted a third referendum to try to overturn the decision.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Immigration
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I am going to make some more progress I know that some right hon. and hon. Members will still have concerns about the backstop, but real progress has been made. All of us should put out of our minds the idea that going round this again will get us any further forward. Responsible politics is about pragmatism, about balancing risk and reward. So Members across the House should ask themselves whether they want to make the perfect the enemy of the good.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I think this was a point that the Attorney General responded to in his statement earlier. Of course, it is open to any sovereign Government to take a decision to disapply something it has entered into. That would have consequences, and I think I am right in saying that my right hon. and learned Friend indicated that that was not a route that he could recommend that Ministers take, but of course my hon. Friend is right that it is always open to a sovereign Government to act in that way.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I say to the right hon. Gentleman: let us get the deal agreed tonight, and then the usual channels will work to see what is necessary in relation to getting legislation through the House Mr Speaker, it was not this House that—
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. The hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown) is a cheeky chappie, chortling and chuckling away from a sedentary position, but it has been made perfectly clear that the Prime Minister is not giving way.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the right hon. Gentleman not recognise that millions of citizens out there are looking to his party—cross-party—to deliver the certainty that they are crying out for? Can he not compromise, as many colleagues have done, to deliver the result of the referendum?
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman has just said that the Labour party put forward a set of proposals as an alternative to the deal that the Government have negotiated. When the deal that the Government was rejected overwhelmingly by the House, the right hon. Gentleman said that we should listen. We have listened. The other week, his proposals were rejected overwhelmingly by the House. Why is he not listening?
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. The right hon. Gentleman is not currently giving way. [Interruption.] I do not require any affirmation or contradiction from the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare). He has got to learn the ways of Parliament.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
Mark Andrew Pritchard (Conservative, Centre-right): The Leader of the Opposition and I get on personally—we have a Shropshire bond, as he knows—but may I just say to him that I think he is making a very unconvincing case, perhaps because for most of his political life, which I respect, he was a Brexiteer, and in his heart of hearts he is still a Brexiteer, but he has mostly a remain party behind him? Is this not the worst example today of pure politics—the pursuit of power and putting his party’s interests and, dare I say it, possibly his self-interests ahead of the national interest?
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I invite the right hon. Gentleman to resume his seat. The Prime Minister is perfectly capable of defending herself, but I must say that there has not been anything remotely unseemly or untoward, still less unparliamentary, about the Prime Minister’s behaviour, today or indeed on any other day. She is sitting, listening, with a smile on her face, which seems a perfectly reasonable thing to do. The right hon. Gentleman is an old hand and he is whipping it up. I do not knock him, but I say to others: calm. No excessive gesticulation. A man as cerebral as you, Mr Kwarteng, does not need to point in an aggressive manner. You are a cerebral denizen of the House, remember that.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. Mr Kerr, I thought you would have satisfied yourself with your contribution, of considerable eloquence and passion, made on your feet. You mustn’t now holler from your seat. I advise you to imitate the parliamentary Buddha, the Father of the House, the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), who is repose personified.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Conor Burns (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. and learned Friend speaks of consequences. He also speaks of those who had hitherto not participated in our democratic process but who participated in the referendum. What does he think the consequences will be outside this House if it tells those people that their voice did not matter and that we will not deliver what they voted for?
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Owen William Paterson (Conservative, Centre-right): It is always a great pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry). We do not agree The element that has not been mentioned at any time so far in this debate is the 17.4 million people who followed a very clear direction. The right hon. Lady and I were part of a party that made this promise in 2015: "If you vote for a Conservative Government, we will give you an in/out referendum. It will be a one-off, with no holds barred. You will decide." The subsequent European Union Referendum Bill was passed by a very large majority in this House, making it absolutely clear that we the MPs were going to give the people the right to decide. We said, "You will decide, and we will implement whatever you decide." The 17.4 million people ignored the ludicrous "Project Fear" and the £9 million leaflet dumped in every household that bombarded them with propaganda. They ignored all that. They wanted to "take back control" I was in Whitchurch, the town where I was born, and clearly remember people coming off a building site late in the evening saying, "It’s about them. It’s about them, isn’t it?" I said, "What are you talking about?" and they said, "We can get rid of you, Mr Paterson. We can vote you out, but we cannot get rid of them." They knew exactly what they were voting for. They were voting for the right to remove their rulers. Those who pass bad laws, levy taxes and spend their money badly here can be removed at a general election. That is what this is about We hear it time and again that we are up against a constitutional conundrum. We have had referendums on the European Community, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the alternative vote and, conveniently, the people obediently and politely delivered the result that the establishment wanted each time. This time, however, to the horror of the political establishment represented across all the Benches here, the commercial establishment, including the Confederation of British Industry, and the media establishment, the people have gone against their will. We have a real constitutional conundrum. Everyone in this House must recognise that they have to deliver what the people voted for. I look at the shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. If he wants to get into power, he must recognise that, of the first 100 marginal seats that Labour has to win, 78 of them are for leave—73 of them strongly for leave. Labour Members had better recognise that they are in this as much as those on the Government Benches I am in the ERG. We are called extremists. I have been called a member of Momentum by the Father of the House, who is sadly not in his seat. We were called ultras, I think, on the "Today" programme. However, we are actually loyal Conservatives, because our Prime Minister interpreted the leave vote to mean that we should leave the single market, the customs union and the remit of the European Court of Justice. Sadly, this evening’s proposal does not deliver that.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
Richard Michael Bacon (Conservative, Centre-right): I am enjoying my right hon. Friend’s speech. Does he agree that it is odd to be called an extremist or a traitor—sometimes by Ministers—for wanting to do no more than implement the manifesto upon which we were all elected?
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes a powerful point, to which I shall return in a second We have this misleading cliché today that we just have to get on with it, as though the result is somehow immaterial so long as we do. That gives me cause for extreme concern about supporting the deal. Let me make two principal points. First, as far as I can understand it, the backstop is there to try to solve an impossible problem: we want to take control of our borders but we want the other side to have an open border. The back- stop exists now because after months and years of negotiation, we have not found a solution to that problem. If those who, like my right hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Nicky Morgan), say that alternative arrangements could solve the problem genuinely believe that such arrangements could, they need not fear the backstop The truth is that dealing with these alternative arrangements on their own will not address the need for the backstop. The side deal that the Prime Minister has come back with improves things to some extent, but the EU has no need to act in bad faith because it knows that, between now and 2020, we will keep going round the same loop, trying to find alternative arrangements. If we are not careful, we may still end up in that backstop, which is why there is such serious concern My second point is on the political declaration.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Immigration
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): If the hon. Lady will allow me, I will make some progress I want to stress this point. I really cannot accept the repeated assertion by the Attorney General in his very powerful speech this afternoon that there is a minimal legal risk of us being trapped in the prison of the backstop, because it is now more than a year since I stood in Downing Street—in No. 10—and was told that there was a minimal legal risk that we would even have to enter the backstop. That is not a view that I believe could now be plausibly defended by the Government.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. This is a most extraordinary state of affairs. The hon. and learned Lady is seeking to rebut an intervention, but, Ms Gibson, you are literally yelling from beyond the Bar in a most eccentric fashion. Calm yourself and recover your composure.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Immigration
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is making such a powerful case. Is this not about degrees of risk? We should weigh the minuscule risk, as I see it, of being trapped in the backstop against the far greater risk of not agreeing this deal, which would throw into jeopardy all the good things it should bring this country.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Immigration
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way on the point about our being stuck in the backstop. Further to my question earlier, I understand that the Attorney General has been able to extend his advice on how article 62 of the Vienna convention could be used. Would my right hon. Friend be able to confirm that?
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I have set out at the Dispatch Box the position on behalf of the Government and given that clarity ahead of the vote. What was clear in response to the Attorney General’s statement earlier today is that he has been assiduous in his duties to this House. He has provided his legal advice, both on 13 November and today, and I am sure he will continue to be a servant of the House and to act in that way.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. The House must calm itself. It is up to the right hon. Gentleman to decide whether, and if so to whom, he wishes to give way. It is a matter for the right hon. Gentleman.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course I will reflect the will of the House and give way, but what is interesting is that what we see on the Opposition Benches is a desire not to get into the substance but just to play politics with what is one of the most crucial decisions in our country’s history.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): Rather like economists, lawyers can always find issues on which to disagree. As I said, the issue here is that we are dealing with unlikely circumstances. What came through in the Attorney General’s statement is the fact that, ultimately, this is a political judgment, not a legal judgment. It is for Members of this House to assess the political risk. Indeed, as the Attorney General himself said—
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order, which I think was probably directed at a wider audience. In so far as he asks me for advice, I think that these matters can be explored in debate almost imminently. The Prime Minister kindly announced what is to follow, and that will be elaborated upon by the Leader of the House in the supplementary or emergency business statement. The right hon. Gentleman is well familiar with the opportunities that are available to him in the Table Office, and I have every expectation that colleagues who want to air propositions in the coming days will have the opportunity to do so. I do not think that it is necessary for me to say anything further than that, but that seems to be manifest. Let us leave it there for now.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I will come to the right hon. Lady, who may well have important matters to broach not far distant from what the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford) has just raised, but let us take the point of order from the leader of the Liberal Democrats.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I think that remains to be seen. As to the matter of precedence, it is usually unwise to assert that there is none for a particular circumstance unless one is absolutely certain, because most things have happened at one time or another—quite probably in my lifetime and certainly in that of the right hon. Gentleman. [Laughter.]
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for her point of order, and I will bring forward what I would have said after the business statement by the Leader of the House and say it now instead in light of that concern. To be fair, I thought the Prime Minister’s commitment about what will take place tomorrow and Thursday was clear. The detail of the motion is another matter, but the chronology of events was all very clear Let me just say this: I hope it will be helpful to the House if I indicate, as I did in respect of today’s proceedings when I addressed the House last night, an advisory cut-off time of 10.30 am on Wednesday for manuscript amendments to tomorrow’s motion. My strong expectation, and I think I heard it, is that the motion for tomorrow, in accordance with normal practice, will be tabled tonight before the close of business, and there should be an opportunity for manuscript amendments up to 10.30 am tomorrow Amendments that reach the Table Office before the rise of the House tonight will appear on the Order Paper in the usual way, as those that were tabled before the close of business last night appeared on the Order Paper today in the usual way. The Table Office, which by the way we thank for its prodigious endeavours at this difficult time, will arrange the publication and distribution of a consolidated amendment list as soon as possible after 10.30 am on Wednesday, including all the manuscript amendments. I will announce my selection of amendments in the usual way at the beginning of the debate I hope that is helpful both to the right hon. Lady and, for that matter, to all colleagues.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): The hours will be different, because we start earlier on a Thursday, but I will apply the same logic and, I hope, sense of reasonableness and desire to accommodate colleagues. I have not yet come to a particular view about the precise deadline for Thursday, but it is something I am happy to discuss privately with the right hon. Gentleman and other colleagues if they so wish. I will have the same consideration in mind. The House’s interest must be served, and I should seek to facilitate what Members want. I hope that is helpful.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Forgive me, but I think the hon. Lady has foxed me. I apologise to her, because I am sure her point was an extremely good and clear one, but it was not clear to me immediately. Would she just put that question to me again, because I am not quite sure what she is seeking?
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): The answer is that there are terms of debate for tomorrow and for Thursday, but that is not necessarily the end of the debate. In fact, I think I can say with almost complete certainty that it will not be the end of the debates on these matters. I see the Chancellor chuckling, I think in agreement with that proposition. It will be the end of Thursday’s debates and no more than that. So the answer to the hon. Lady’s question is that if Members wish to test the will of the House on a variety of different options, there will be such an opportunity. This point has been flagged up by the Father of the House, the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman) and others. If it is the will of colleagues that there should be such a series of votes, I think it almost certain that that opportunity will arise in the coming days or weeks If there are no further points of order, we can now conveniently come to the business statement by the Leader of the House.