argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): The Attorney General has been properly measured and thoughtful in his comments. There is a lot of fuss about what is really obiter dicta at the moment. Does he accept that the commitment of the Government and our domestic courts to human rights is demonstrated by the fact that only 0.4% of live cases before the ECHR involve the United Kingdom as a state party? Does he also accept that, as is recognised by many Strasbourg jurists, it would be perfectly possible to take word for word the protections in the convention and incorporate them into a British Bill of Rights, while staying entirely compliant with the convention, as most of us would wish to be?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): There are, as my hon. Friend wisely suggests, many ways in which reform might be achieved. I will not, of course, pre-empt the proposals that my right hon. Friend the Lord Chancellor will introduce. My hon. Friend is right that there are many cases that the United Kingdom fights and wins, and it is worth recognising that. He will recognise, however, that one of our difficulties is the fact that, even when we fight and win, we spend a good deal of time and effort doing so. If cases are brought because people are encouraged to do so by an expansionist view of human rights law in Europe and elsewhere, we have to spend a good deal of time and effort dealing with those cases when perhaps that is not appropriate.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I think I have been very clear about what the Government’s policy is. The Home Secretary yesterday explained why the status quo is unacceptable. There is a difference between the convention that was drawn up in the 1950s and the interpretation given to it by judges in Strasbourg since that time. It is with the latter that we have an issue, not with the former.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right to say that no court system is perfect. All systems are capable of making mistakes, and we should be grateful for the fact that our judicial system permits those mistakes to be corrected, as they were in the cases that he mentioned. I do not think that that is comparable to the exercise that has been conducted by Strasbourg jurisprudence on the European convention on human rights, which has moved that document fundamentally away from its founders’ intentions. That is a different thing. The Labour party is content to allow it to proceed, but we are not content to let it go.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand my hon. Friend’s concerns. If she reads the speech that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary made yesterday, however, she will see that there was no conflation of the European convention on human rights and our membership of the European Union; indeed, my right hon. Friend made it very clear that they are two different things, to be approached in different ways. I do not think that there is a conflation, and we must all be cautious about making sure that we understand clearly what our colleagues are saying before we comment on it.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Nick Herbert (Conservative, Centre-right): I support my right hon. and learned Friend in making the case for sensible reform of our domestic human rights architecture. Is it not the case that whether such human rights are upheld in a supranational court or by our own courts and Parliament, there is no doubt that there will always be respect for fundamental human rights in this country, many of which have been guarded and promoted by Parliament itself? By contrast, is it not the case that the most egregious human rights abuses are found abroad, as evidenced, for instance, by the brutal murder of the editor of a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender magazine in Bangladesh yesterday? Should the UK not use the full force of its influence to stand against such abuses?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend. He makes the case very well for what we will do, which is to bring forward sensible reforms to our human rights framework but maintain our robust protection of human rights both in this country and around the world.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, I would say to the right hon. Gentleman that there is more to promoting human rights here and abroad than our membership of that court or even of the convention. We do a great deal more to help to promote human rights, and we should continue to do so.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): May I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for showing himself also to be gallant in defending the Home Secretary’s position? There seem to be a couple of errors in her speech. One was that she said it was the European Court of Human Rights that stopped us deporting foreign people, when it was in fact the ECJ that stopped Abu Hamza’s daughter-in-law being removed, contrary to the Home Secretary’s view On the issue of whether we have to be in the European convention on human rights while in the EU, I refer my right hon. and learned Friend to article 6.3 of the treaty on European Union: "Fundamental rights, as guaranteed by the European Convention …shall constitute general principles of the Union’s law." Furthermore, the Commission, when asked specifically what would happen if a member state left the convention, said it would consider using article 7, which allows for the suspension of a member’s voting rights. It seems to me that, for once, European treaties are written in clear language that is understandable even to non-lawyers.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): On my hon. Friend’s last point, if only that were true. I do not think there is the simplicity that he suggests there is on that point. He is of course right that ECHR principles contribute to European Union via the charter, but that is not the same as putting together the European convention on human rights and European law and saying that they are indistinguishable and indivisible from each other. That is not the position In relation to deportation, the difficulty we often face, as my hon. Friend will know, is the interpretation of article 8 of the convention, which deals with the right to a family life. That is a good example of the way in which rights drawn up perfectly sensibly in the convention can be extended beyond where they were meant to go, or of how the balancing exercise at the heart of all human rights law is not conducted in what he and I would consider to be a sensible way.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Robert Alexander Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I have given evidence at four trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The ICTY judges told me that the UK had a superb record on upholding human rights. I must say that was very pleasant for my men and me to hear, having had to go through four trials. Does my right hon. and learned Friend think that such a verdict could be applied to all other members of the European convention on human rights?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly agree with my hon. Friend that being a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the convention is no guarantee that a country’s human rights record will be spotless. It follows logically, of course, that not being such a signatory does not mean a country cannot have a hugely impressive record on the protection of human rights. Many countries around the world that are not signatories to that document have demonstrated exactly that.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): Surely the test is how our human rights work. The fact that this Government passed the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which is leading the way in Europe—I must say that it was largely due to the intervention of the Prime Minister—shows that we have an excellent human rights record I am grateful to the Attorney General for being at the Dispatch Box because there is one thing I would like to know in legal terms. From what has been said, this is a confusing issue. Can a country remain in the European Union and still come out of the convention? What is his legal opinion on that?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have suggested, the legal position is not clear. Neither my hon. Friend nor I have the time to go into all the ins and outs of that particular question now, but I suggest it would also be wrong to say that it is clear in the opposite direction. It is not at all clear that if the UK left the European convention on human rights, it would not be able to remain a member of the European Union. It is certainly not clear, and it would be wrong to suggest that it was As my hon. Friend has mentioned the Modern Slavery Act, may I take this opportunity to pay tribute to his own part in the process? I think the whole House recognises that my hon. Friend played a leading role in making the arguments on a subject that was not well known and not especially prominent. He brought it to prominence and secured a remarkable piece of legislation.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Steven John Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are in something of a pickle. As well as needing multiple Parliaments, this great European project also needs two human rights frameworks. The result is a state of confusion, as set out by the European Scrutiny Committee’s 43rd report of the 2013-14 Session, "The application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in the UK: a state of confusion". How will the Government ensure that any Bill of Rights will be able to survive the European Court of Justice?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, my hon. Friend tempts me to talk about proposals that are not yet before us, and I cannot do that. He is right, of course, to reinforce the point that these matters are exceptionally complex. Anyone who suggests that they are simple is wrong. We will, of course, have the opportunity to discuss the issue in some detail when the proposals are brought forward, in contrast with the position when the Human Rights Act was introduced, when there was precious little opportunity for consultation.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I was nearly all the way there with the hon. Gentleman, but I could not quite go with him on the last part of his question. As he says, there is a distinction between the convention on human rights and membership of the European Union and all that flows from that. I hope I made that clear in my earlier remarks, but I am happy to restate it. He is wrong to say that there is confusion among the Government on human rights. I have made our position very clear: we are in favour of human rights here and abroad, and we will fight hard to defend them regardless of our future proposals for reform. The hon. Gentleman will know that protocol 30 of the treaty negotiated by the last Labour Government makes it clear that the charter of fundamental rights creates no new rights in this country.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Antoinette Geraldine Sherratt (Sandbach) (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the Attorney General’s statement on the Government’s support for human rights. Will he confirm that we will remain signatories of the United Nations universal declaration of human rights, regardless of the ECHR? Given that that document was drafted in the 1950s and contains derogations for national security and other matters, does he agree that it is right to update the Human Rights Act to reflect changes in subsidiarity, which, after all, is an EU principle?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point, but he is wrong to suggest that despots and tyrants around the world do not fully understand the British Government’s view of the protection of human rights. That is something on which I do not think we could have been any clearer: not only have we spoken about it, but we have acted domestically and internationally to support and protect human rights.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Philip Andrew Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): In the European Court of Human Rights there are pseudo-judges, many of them political appointees rather than proper judges, over-reaching their remit under the convention with ridiculous decisions such as votes for prisoners. Why should this House vote for something we do not believe in, which our constituents do not believe in, and which makes the Prime Minister physically sick, just because some ludicrous judges in Strasbourg went way beyond their remit to comply? If we are not prepared to accept such rulings, which I am not, is not the only sensible course of action for a country that believes in the rule of law to leave?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Alexander John Gervase Chalk (Conservative, Centre-right): I support our membership of the convention, but does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that if we are to stay in the ECHR, and if we are to rehabilitate the reputation of human rights in the UK, it is important that the European Court curtails its reach and does not intrude into matters such as prisoner voting, which are properly matters for this House?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I will make two points in response to the hon. Lady. First, it is important to distinguish the Human Rights Act, and even the convention, from the promotion and protection of human rights. They are two different things and this Government’s record is very clear. Secondly, we have a very clear mandate for reform of the human rights framework. We set out what we intended to do in our manifesto at the general election. As it happens, parties that support reform of human rights law received more than 50% of the vote in that election, so the British people’s mandate for action is extremely clear.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that the Attorney General shares my surprise at some of the comments we are hearing about the idea of Britain having a system similar to that in many other countries, namely domestic rights legislation overseen by a Supreme Court. That is what Germany does with its own basic law. Given what we have heard about how well the ECHR protects human rights, and given that Russia is signatory to it, will the Attorney General outline how it has been protecting those of people living in eastern Ukraine?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a fair point. As I said earlier, it is no guarantee that a country will have a spotless human rights record if it is a signatory to the convention. We must be clear that we support the protection of human rights wherever in the world they may be abused, and the British Government will continue to take that position.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman draws attention to an undoubted positive change, and there have been others. But he is wrong to minimise the role of our own courts and, indeed, of democratically elected Governments of all political colours in making such changes. It is wrong to suggest that the only way in which we can achieve outcomes such as the one he described is to pursue the status quo on human rights law. That is not the right approach.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister said that he felt "physically sick" at the ECHR’s proposals to give prisoners voting rights. My constituents in Kettering are increasingly fed up with Europeans lecturing us on human rights when were it not for this country, our Dominions and our empire, who stood alone in 1940, there would be no human rights at all on the continent of Europe, let alone a convention. Many of us on the Conservative Back Benches do not recognise the conflict that many members of the Cabinet are struggling with between membership of the European Union and membership of the convention—we would be very happy to leave both.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand my hon. Friend’s position very clearly. He is right, of course, that that record of protection of, and respect for, human rights, and indeed of fighting on behalf of those whose human rights may be being infringed, is a proud and long-standing one. That will not change.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Jeremy Paul Wright (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman tempts me to give some legal advice in the Chamber, which I must not do. I am grateful to him, however, as what he has just read out is the part of the convention relied upon by the Strasbourg Court to suggest that prisoners should have the vote. I did not detect any reference to prisoners’ having the vote anywhere in the text that he just read. I maintain the view that that is for this Parliament to decide.
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Henry Edward Millar Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The Attorney General is quite correct that this country has a long and proud record of human rights. He is also correct in pointing out that our actions count more than mere signatures. Does he therefore agree that it follows that the international community looks to this country for our reform agenda, on issues such as abolishing slavery?
European Convention on Human Rights: UK Membership — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): After all is said and done, does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that there are real issues with Strasbourg acting, in effect, as a final court of appeal, and that a UK Bill of Rights will seek to address that?
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): I believe that what one of my colleagues was trying to say from a sedentary position is that we should not wash over the debacle and the huge costs of the regional fire control centres that the previous Labour Administration forced on the fire service. [Interruption.]
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I have sat patiently while, on a number of occasions, the hon. Lady has referred to elected councillors being elected to fire authorities. Can she clarify, for the edification of the House and the public, that no elected councillors are elected to the fire authority in London—which covers her constituency—or, indeed, to the vast majority of fire authorities in the country?
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I assume that this is entirely my mistake; I probably did not make my question clear enough, and I take full responsibility for that. I will have another crack at this. Can the hon. Lady name any local councillor or London Assembly member who has been elected by the people of Newham to sit on the fire authority?
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Other
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I intend to deal a little later in my speech with some of the financial benefits that come with greater collaboration and co-working in the back office. If the hon. Lady will bear with me, I will return to that point.
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-26
Topic: Public Lands
James Jacob Gilchrist Berry (Conservative, Centre-right): Having spoken on Second Reading and served on the Bill Committee, it is a real pleasure to be here on Report. Initially, I want to address my comments to new clause 20, which was proposed by the Opposition. The aim of the new clause, which is to give fire and rescue services the lead in flooding, is good. However, I disagree with the new clause overall, and I will go on to say why I do not think it is necessary I was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Rossendale and Darwen in 2007. On 13 January 2017, it will be 10 years since I was selected—hopefully, there is a big celebration to come. In that period, the village of Irwell Vale in my constituency has, I think, flooded four times. The aptly named village of Waterfoot has flooded three times, and Whitewell Bottom has flooded twice. Like so many areas that have grown up because of the industrial revolution, the towns and villages of the Rossendale and Darwen valleys are built on the valley floor so that the manufacturers and industrialists of the day could take advantage of water power Like many other areas in the north-west of England, we have been subject to severe floods over the past 10 years, no more so than on Boxing day when we had what the Environment Agency called a once-in-75-years flood, having had a once-in-25-years flood a few years previously. Having been working closely with the residents of Irwell Vale who are still out of their homes four months on from the flood, I know the huge impact that flooding has and the huge family disruption it can cause.