argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
Nigel Martin Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Member for her point of order and her forward notice of it. Again, I have received no notification that there is going to be a statement today, but clearly that could change for the rest of the week. Fortunately, the Leader of the House is sitting in his place and will have heard both points of order, and I am sure he will be reflecting on them during the rest of the day. Business of the House (Today) Ordered, That, at this day’s sitting, notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order No. 16(1) (Proceedings under an Act or on European Union documents), proceedings on the motion in the name of James Cleverly relating to the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (SI, 2022, No. 123) shall be brought to a conclusion three hours after the commencement of proceedings on the motion for this Order; the Speaker shall then put the Question necessary to dispose of proceedings on that motion forthwith; such proceedings may be entered upon, though opposed, after the moment of interruption; and Standing Order No. 41A (Deferred divisions) shall not apply.—(Mark Spencer.)
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (SI, 2022, No. 123), dated 10 February 2022, a copy of which was laid before this House on 10 February, be approved The statutory instrument before us was laid on Thursday 10 February under the powers provided by the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018—the sanctions Act. We laid the instrument to strengthen our response to the grave situation we see in Ukraine My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has set out today the implications of Russia’s actions, and he has also set out our initial response via the sanctions regime. Russia’s actions are threatening innocent people in Ukraine, violating its sovereignty and undermining its security and stability, as well as the security and stability of Europe. President Putin must be halted in those ambitions, and we will use every lever under our control to that end. We will continue to work with our allies and partners to force him to halt the path of aggression We are acting in four ways. First, we are providing direct support to Ukraine, and in our view this is a moral duty. We have already sent defensive weapons to Ukraine, and we have trained over 22,000 troops through Operation Orbital. We are considering what further acts of support we can provide, including through our new trilateral partnership with Poland and Ukraine. We are also providing economic support. Last week, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary announced that we will be increasing our support to Ukraine by £100 million. We are working closely with partners to ensure that we can quickly provide emergency humanitarian assistance if that is needed. Sadly, we could see a large-scale loss of life, a large-scale displacement of people and the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, so it is vital that the humanitarian response is ready to go, and we will continue to lead on this effort Secondly, we are providing political support to Ukraine, and we are working diplomatically to condemn Russia’s aggression at every level.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I am unable to give specifics at this point, but we are liaising closely—I have spoken to our ambassadors in neighbouring countries, and the Foreign Secretary has been holding regular conversations with her opposite numbers in the region and beyond—and we are ready to respond with what could be a range of options depending on whether we, as the international community, are successful or otherwise in deterring further incursions into Ukraine.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I will come to more details of the sanctions package and what we hope to achieve with it, but ultimately we are looking to prevent further territorial encroachment and aggression into Ukraine, and to get Russian troops to withdraw back to Russia, to de-escalate and to move away from the Ukrainian border. As I will say later in my speech, if the House gives me the opportunity to progress, we are working and co-ordinating closely with our international partners in our sanctions response to ensure maximum effectiveness.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): The instrument that we are discussing is a framework that allows us to deploy a range of measures. As I will say later in my speech, we are also giving ourselves further legislative vehicles through which we can impose punitive sanctions on Russia.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): Earlier today my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister spoke in praise of the unanimity of voice that we experienced in the House, and I echo that. I give the hon. Gentleman, the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) and other right hon. and hon. Members the absolute assurance that we regard these measures as the start of a range of sanctions that we can escalate in response to what Russia does. Our desire is to deter further aggression. We said right from the start, and in the intelligence that was declassified and put into the public domain, that we were highly concerned that an encroachment purely into the Donbas was not the ultimate limit of Putin’s aggressive ambitions, and that we would act to try to deter further aggression.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very content with the leadership shown, but the point I want to understand more clearly is: is the idea to deter President Putin from doing more or to get President Putin to step back? I am not all together clear. The force of the sanctions is dictated by what we are trying to do, and I would love to hear what we are actually trying to do.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend makes a good point. Let me make it absolutely clear: our aim is to prevent further aggression, for Russian troops to withdraw from where they have advanced, and for them to move away from the Ukrainian border and remove that threat from the Ukrainian people. It is a series of events that I will explain further if the House gives me the opportunity.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. and gallant Friend makes a point I fully understand, and I can assure him the Government fully understand it too. The pace at which we ratchet up our sanctions response in conjunction with our international partners is very much to not just send a message, although sending a message is important, but to ensure the sanctions are meaningfully felt by the Russian leadership and those people around Vladimir Putin funding him and propping him up.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I am going to make some progress. Trust me, I will give the hon. Gentleman an opportunity to intervene later We are providing political support to Ukraine. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is in close and regular contact with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other friends and allies around the world, and I pay tribute to our ambassador, Melinda Simmons, and her team, who remain in Ukraine operating from the British embassy office in Lviv providing what support we can for British nationals still in the country Thirdly, we are leading on the strategic communications response to Russian actions. At every stage, working closely with our international partners, we have exposed President Putin’s plans, lies and false flags activities, and we have exposed them for what they are: a pretext for aggression and an attempt to justify what is in every respect unjustifiable. Last week I highlighted the falsehoods put forward by Vladimir Putin at the United Nations Security Council.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I have a huge amount of respect for the hon. Gentleman, as he knows—we speak when the cameras are not rolling—but I fear he is putting his prejudice ahead of the statement I am making, because were he to listen to the points I am making and allow me to get to the point in the speech where I am explicit about this, he would understand that the UK Government’s actions are not limited to what the Prime Minister has currently announced. He will hear that we are going to bring forward further legislation to further extend the measures available to us and that we are absolutely not ignoring the fact that there has already been Russian incursion into Ukraine, which we want to halt and reverse and then get those troops away from the Ukrainian border.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
Robert Edward Jenrick (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister is being very generous in giving way. May I press him on this point? Many of us feel the package of sanctions announced today is comparatively modest. Is the Government strategy that further sanctions will come forward in the days ahead even if Vladimir Putin takes no further steps and acts of aggression against Ukraine, or is it that the further steps that are undoubtedly being planned by the Minister and colleagues within Government will come forward only should there be an additional ratchet in the level of aggression shown towards Ukraine?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity to make clear our position. If this has not become clear to the House, let me make it clear now: we intend to escalate these sanctions—to ratchet up these sanctions—in response to what has already happened in order to deter further aggression and in order to stimulate Putin to withdraw the troops from Ukraine, take them away from the border and send them back home to their families and barracks in other parts of Russia.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
Jonathan Simon Djanogly (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for kindly giving way. May I ask him to explain that point a little further? The items of sanction today were under the existing legislation, and what is being proposed today will enable further types of sanction. Obviously they will be worked on with foreign Governments, but will he also be looking at further sanctions from a UK perspective at the same time as looking at this with other countries?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes. I am going to make progress, because some of the points raised in interventions will be covered in my speech. I do recognise the huge level of interest in the House from right hon. and hon. Members, and this will address a number of points raised Fourthly, we will use Britain’s economic and financial might to hit Russia’s economy hard. The new sanctions regime that the statutory instrument brings into place is a vital part of that, but it is not limited to that. The legislation follows the made affirmative procedure as set out in section 55(3) of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018. It amends the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and allows the Government to impose sanctions on a much broader range of individuals and businesses who are, or have been involved in "obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia", which includes those "carrying on business as a Government of Russia-affiliated entity…carrying on business of economic significance to the Government of Russia…carrying on business in a sector of strategic significance to the Government of Russia" and those who own, control or act as a director, trustee or equivalent of any of those entities. That is a huge scope of individuals and entities.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: Technology
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I share the hon. Member’s frustration about the level of disinformation put out through Russia Today. However, we should be very careful before we advocate that a Government should close down news channels that they disagree with. We have a well established and effective regulator, and I think the right thing to do is to rely on that regulator to do the job for which it was designed.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend the Minister is making steady progress through his speech. I want to help him slightly, and I have a pen here in my right hand. There is one individual I have heard of before from my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight (Bob Seely), who made a very good case. Will my right hon. Friend write the name of Vladislav Surkov into his statutory instrument? He is the right-hand man to Putin—I think my hon. Friend referred to him as Putin’s Rasputin—who has organised the separatist movement in the Donbas area and continues to do so. Will my right hon. Friend do that to ensure that at least one person responsible for what is going on is sanctioned? The pen is here; if he is able to do it, he can.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I will make progress In response to President Putin’s decision last night to recognise sovereign regions of Ukraine as what he claimed—but we do not agree—to be independent states and to order troops into those areas, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister today announced the initial set of sanctions that with immediate effect will freeze the assets of five Russian banks. Four of those banks are involved in bankrolling the Russian occupation. They include Bank Rossiya, which is particularly close to the Kremlin, the Black Sea bank for development and reconstruction, IS Bank and Genbank.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful to the Minister for giving way; he is being very generous. I am interested to know the criteria we have applied in choosing those five banks, which are relatively small. He talked earlier about sanctions on entities of economic significance. The big banks in Russia are Sberbank and VTB. Why have we chosen five small banks, rather than the two largest ones?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I would make the point that the sanctions regime set out today is the initial range of sanctions. We reserve the right to extend the individuals and entities that come under this sanctions package. I will make the point shortly that we do intend to extend the measures available to us.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I have got to progress. I will be crucified otherwise In addition, over the forthcoming weeks, we will extend the territorial sanctions imposed in response to the Crimean incursion by Russia to territory occupied by Russian forces in what they claim to be the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. No UK individual or business—no UK individual or business—will be able to deal with them until they are returned fully to Ukrainian control. We also intend to sanction the members of the Russian Duma and the Federation Council who voted for recognition of the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, in flagrant violation of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right that there is a difference. Those in this House understand that there is a difference between a legislature and a Government. The sanctions regime under which those sanctions have been brought forward is an extension of the pre-existing sanctions regime we brought forward in response to the aggression going into Crimea, rather than this one We are also ready to introduce new legislation, putting in place new measures which will prevent the Russian state from issuing sovereign debt on the UK markets. They will curtail the ability of the Russian state and Russian companies to raise funds in UK markets and further isolate Russian banks—touching on the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake)—and their ability to operate not just in the UK, but internationally This will not end today.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a very good question, but it has nothing to do with this SI Should Russia stage any further invasion into Ukraine, we will not hesitate to implement a comprehensive and unprecedented additional package of sanctions in close co-ordination with our allies around the world. That close co-ordination is important to ensure their maximum effectiveness.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
James Spencer Cleverly (Conservative, Centre-right): I have to get on. These measures will curtail the ability of the Russian state, Russian companies and Russian individuals to raise funds on our markets and will further isolate Russian banks. We will keep ratcheting up the pressure, targeting more banks, more individuals and more companies that are significant to the Kremlin, to touch on the point made by a number of right hon. and hon. Members. Russia—rather, Vladimir Putin—has chosen a path of international isolation. The measures that the Prime Minister announced today demonstrate that it will bear a cost for doing so and, if it does not step back, these measures will only increase Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is part of a long- term strategy. We must not give ground now or try to accommodate the illegitimate concerns that Russia has put forward. Its strategy of aggression would not end. It would not stop at Ukraine. Instead, it would be emboldened. President Putin would simply focus on a new target, so we are absolutely resolute in our response. What we do now will shape European security for many years, and it will be viewed by other parts of the world and have an impact on security issues far more widely than in Europe. We must rise to the moment. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine in their desire to protect their homeland and to protect their freedom. We must, and we will, stand shoulder to shoulder with them, and I commend the regulations to the House.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: Law and Crime
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is making a superb speech. One thing that often gets missed in this debate about how we crack economic crime is the role of whistleblowers. They are the most likely people to identify wrongdoing in the banks he mentions and bring it to light and to the enforcement agencies. Does he agree that whistleblower protection, and potentially remuneration, should be included in this context?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: Law and Crime
Thomas Georg John Tugendhat (Conservative, Centre-right): I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend on that. He is completely right, as usual, in highlighting that the protection of whistleblowers is an essential part of the exposure to justice of those who have committed crimes. We need to think again about crime. We need to look again at the institutions, law enforcement bodies and agencies that are charged with protecting us and think really hard about their budgets. They are not simply ways of stopping the taxman from getting his hands on a little bit more loot; they are fundamental to our national security and to the protection of our people. We need to think of them as agents of the state in the same way as we think of the armed forces or the intelligence services. We need to think of them on the frontline of the protection of the people we are lucky to represent. Frankly, we need to put the money where so often our mouths have been when we have passed Acts in this House that have not had the resources to make them not just law but actionable law.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
Thomas Georg John Tugendhat (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Member is right that more legislation would help, but fundamentally we need the resources for the agencies Let me close by saying that I welcome the direction the Government have taken. I welcome the commitment to do more to defend the people of Ukraine, which the Foreign Affairs Committee was privileged to visit only a few weeks ago. I welcome the fact that we are standing in defence of democracy, freedom and the rule of law. But I urge my right hon. and gallant Friend the Minister to look again at the sanctions, many of which were introduced four or eight years ago by the United States Government—I was just reading the United States Treasury document that listed the subjects of sanctions in, I think, 2014—because we can go further. There is so much more that we can do It is of course right that we act in concert with our partners and in tandem with our allies, and that we make sure we do not expose division by acting alone, but one of the great strengths of this Government, this House and this nation is that we have running through the sinews of our economy so much of the world’s finance that it puts a particular responsibility on us to stand up and defend the economic liberties that keep our people safe, enable our prosperity and build the rule of law around the world.