argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Unsafe Cladding: Protecting Tenants and Leaseholders — House of Commons, 2021-02-01
Topic: Housing
Michael Lee Amesbury (Labour, Centre-left): I agree with my hon. Friend. It certainly is time for the Government to get a grip. It would be remiss of me not to highlight and thank those campaigners who will keep on pressing for justice and change: Grenfell United, the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign, the all-party parliamentary group, the Select Committee, Inside Housing, The Sunday Times, the Mail and the Mirror. All have highlighted stories bringing alive in this Chamber and beyond the hundreds of thousands of voices of those trapped in thousands of buildings up and down this land Three and a half years on from Grenfell, the Government still do not know the number of buildings truly at risk, because they have failed to this day to draw up a risk register or a priority list, as our motion calls for today. Building safety needs to be turbocharged by a national cladding taskforce What created the building safety or cladding scandal in the first place? First, I suggest it was the regulatory regime of the past and, secondly, as highlighted by many Members, it was some in the industry whose purpose was to maximise profit margins to such an extent that the moral compass of humanity—the safety of people and their quality of life, or even the right to life itself—was not even an afterthought, as illustrated by the evidence presented so far to the Grenfell inquiry. This crisis certainly is not the responsibility of innocent tenants or the millions of leaseholders now living in flats valued at zero, who are mortgage prisoners as a result of this scandal. That point has been made time and time again by Members from all parties today. Leaseholders cannot pay, and they should not pay. Our motion is a clarion call to all Members and would enshrine that principle in the building safety landscape The Government’s response so far to the crisis has been one of dither and delay. We have legislation coming down the line and a building safety fund as a reaction to determined campaigners and strong voices in Parliament, but the size and scope of the fund is nowhere near sufficient, and the remediation of buildings has been carried out at a snail’s pace. Despite the recent spin from Government Ministers, nearly 60% of private sector buildings identified with Grenfell-type cladding are still wrapped in ACM Turning to the building safety fund, 2,820 applications have been made, with only 405 proceeding with an application for funding so far. The funding will cover only around 600 buildings, and only those that are 18 metres or above—a system of first come, first served, with gagging orders and chaos hard-wired into it. I say to the Minister that nobody will be silenced; the chorus for justice will get louder and louder.
Unsafe Cladding: Protecting Tenants and Leaseholders — House of Commons, 2021-02-01
Topic: Housing
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Centre-left): I thank and commend my hon. Friend the shadow housing Secretary and, indeed, the Leader of the Opposition for having a clear plan, because at this point in time, the Government have not even ascertained the extent of the problem. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Prime Minister, who has been conspicuous by his absence, needs to issue a statement and show a clear plan, because this crippling cladding crisis is having a debilitating impact on millions of our constituents?
Unsafe Cladding: Protecting Tenants and Leaseholders — House of Commons, 2021-02-01
Topic: Housing
Michael Lee Amesbury (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, and I certainly do agree Over the past few months, Ministers have started publicly to row back on their previous promises to protect leaseholders from historical remediation costs—statements made at least 15 times in the public domain. They now refer to affordable, reasonable and fair costs, as pointed out by my hon. Friend the Chair of the Select Committee. At the same time, their appointed adviser, Michael Wade, has been devising yet another way to pile the costs on hard-pressed leaseholders, through a 30-year loan costing thousands of pounds a year—a mini mortgage on top of existing mortgages, waking watch, and astronomical insurance costs. Welcome to the cladding tax The draft Building Safety Bill even attempts to enshrine a building safety charge in law, through clauses 88 and 89. The proposal to impose a charge on leaseholders has met considerable opposition on both sides of this House, in the form of amendments to the Fire Safety Bill and undoubtedly to the Building Safety Bill in future. The Opposition will be supporting the McPartland amendment to the Fire Safety Bill Members across this House have the opportunity today to come together, stand up for their constituents who happen to be leaseholders, and protect them with deeds in the Division Lobby, not just words—to send a message to the Prime Minister and the Housing Secretary to change track, turbocharge building safety with a national cladding taskforce, fund works up front, and then recover from those who are responsible for this mess. The polluter pays. They should set a hard deadline of June 2022, and pursue those responsible relentlessly. This is the way that we create pace; this is the way that we protect the public purse and leaseholders; and this is the right thing to do: support this motion.
Covid Security at UK Borders — House of Commons, 2021-02-01
Topic: Immigration
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman), a fellow Select Committee Chair, although I take a very different view from him, based on the evidence that the Home Affairs Committee has heard. This debate is urgent. We need to protect the vaccine programme from new variants, such as those from South Africa and Brazil. Ministers have rightly said that border measures are needed to stop the spread of those new variants, but with news today of the increase in the number of new South African variant cases in the UK, it is clear to us that those measures are not working. The Government have not done enough and we have not learned sufficient lessons from abroad and from the first wave. I urge Ministers to do more For a month after the South African variant was found, the only focus was on direct flights, even though our Committee report showed that direct flights were not an issue in the first wave—only 0.1% of cases came from China, but 62% came from France or Spain where there were no restrictions in place. Even now, people returning from high-risk countries are not tested on arrival, still do not have quarantine hotels to go to, and can still go straight onto the tube or train at Heathrow. The promised new plans from the Government still have big holes. The majority of travellers will not be covered by quarantine hotels and, again, they will not be tested on arrival, even though they could have been on long and crowded journeys since their last test several days ago. All the additional police checks in the world will not make a difference if, when the police find that there is nobody home, no further enforcement action is taken The UK got things badly wrong the first time round: barely any quarantine; no testing; and all restrictions inexplicably lifted on 13 March so thousands of covid cases were brought back into the country, accelerating the pace and scale of the pandemic. The countries that have controlled covid best—New Zealand, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, and Taiwan—are those that took early firm action at the borders to try to stop any covid cases at all. They are global trading nations, but they took early action and, as a result, kept schools, businesses and communities open and saved so many lives There are two ways that the Government could be learning from those countries now: extend quarantine hotels to cover far more travellers, as New Zealand and Australia did, or follow the South Korean approach, which combines additional testing on arrival with a mix of quarantine hotels and designated quarantine transport, much stronger checks on home quarantine, and no trips on public transport. South Korea has lost 1,400 people to covid; we have lost 100,000. If we had our time again in the first wave and had the chance to take much stronger border action to save lives and keep our communities open, we would have done so in a shot, so please let us learn those lessons now as we deal with the new variant.
Covid Security at UK Borders — House of Commons, 2021-02-01
Topic: Immigration
John Martin McDonnell (Labour, Centre-left): From the outbreak of the pandemic, I have taken an extreme precautionary approach, encouraging early, longer and more severe lockdowns. That is why I support the motion before the House today. With 100,000 dead we need decisive action. But yes, we also need the aviation strategy that the Chancellor promised us over nine months ago and that we have yet to see To ensure that any system of border control operates effectively at our airports, we need a sufficient number of well-trained professional staff at the immigration passport control points. The team at border control at Heathrow is known for its professionalism and commitment to high standards of service delivery. Many of them are my constituents; in fact, many of them are my neighbours. They have worked throughout the pandemic with some risk. Members may recall that some months ago, tragically, a father and daughter working in this role lost their lives Just at a time when we need these staff most and should respect the role they are playing, the management within the Home Office is provoking a strike. The Home Office management has decided, extraordinarily, that this is the time to rush through an imposition of new working rosters that are making it impossible for many staff to work effectively, especially those with disabilities and caring responsibilities. Staff who have been working on the new roster are all reporting that it has been chaos. It has put the operation at risk and made social distancing difficult. There are multiple examples of covid-secure bubbles being breached by managers because of a lack of staffing and the poor organisation of the new fixed rosters The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents the staff, has balloted its members. On a 68% turnout, 96.4% voted for strike action. That is how angry they are. The union will now seek a return to the negotiating table to try to resolve the staff issues. No Government should be sanctioning actions by its departmental managers that force their staff to resort to industrial action in this way, especially not in the crisis we now face. I urge the Minister to look into this matter again and intervene to resolve the dispute, so that these dedicated staff can continue to provide the vital service we need to protect our community, especially as the Government, and the Opposition proposals that we are debating, require staff to work effectively and supportively, and to be respected.
Covid Security at UK Borders — House of Commons, 2021-02-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): It is a great pleasure to speak in this important debate. I heard the Health Minister’s contribution. It is very interesting that this is a Home Office Opposition day, but we do not have anyone from the Home Office ministerial team responding to it. I think that is very telling. Just a few days ago, the Home Secretary claimed that she is an advocate of tougher restrictions than those that her own Government introduced in March. I suspect that the reason that there is not a Home Office Minister responding to a shadow Home Office Opposition day debate is that they could not find one willing to speak up for the Government’s policies. The Home Secretary knows that it is her responsibility to protect our borders and keep people safe, and I suspect that she did not want to speak up for the Government’s policies in this area The Health Minister said that the Government need to do everything they can to protect people, but they have failed to do that. Britain has the worst death rate in the world. It has the worst death rate per capita of any major country over the course of the virus. My hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols) was absolutely right to say that, as an island nation, we should have had a huge advantage over our European counterparts, but it has been wasted by the Government’s policies Going right back to the start, as my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer) has said consistently, the Government have been too slow to lock down and too slow every step of the way. Two weeks before we went into lockdown, we were inviting thousands of football supporters from Madrid to a packed stadium in Liverpool. We had people coming from all kinds of countries that we knew had very serious covid rates, with no checks and balances whatever The Government should not expect anyone to trust them when they say, "We’re taking a proportionate approach. You can believe that things will be okay if you leave it with us," because every step of the way, things have not been okay when we have left the Government to pursue things as they want. I very much welcome the motion introduced by my hon. Friend the shadow Home Secretary, and I will be supporting it with great enthusiasm.
Covid Security at UK Borders — House of Commons, 2021-02-01
Topic: Immigration
Katharine Helen Brooks-Osborne (Labour, Centre-left): The Government must finally act on securing our borders by introducing a comprehensive plan to protect the country against the import of new strains and maximise the effectiveness of the vaccination programme. With that in mind, however, it must not be overlooked that increased border measures come with increased pressure on the aviation industry and staff in the sector Earlier in January, the Home Office imposed a fixed roster on the Heathrow primary control point in what is widely viewed as a rushed implementation that has led to equality concerns, with many staff with disabilities and caring responsibilities unable to work to the new roster. As outlined by my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), that led to officers processing passengers at Heathrow passport control points to vote overwhelmingly for strike action over the imposition. Feedback from PCS union members on the primary control point has described the newly introduced fixed roster as a "shambles" and "chaotic". Additionally, Border Force is currently only spot-checking 10% of all passenger locator forms, which provide the necessary information for quarantine compliance. The Government must ensure that sufficient support and resources are made available so that border staff are able to do their jobs properly Alongside this, the Government must announce a sector-specific support package for aviation. The largest aviation union, Unite, suggests [Inaudible.] already lost their jobs. It is about time that the Government stepped in to put in place a sectoral deal, like they promised, and protect those jobs. The Government must make good on their promises, act fast, and step in where necessary to protect employment and our economy across all sectors. However, this must not be an unconditional bail-out for companies. Tackling climate change needs to be central to this support, both for the aviation sector and for building back greener across our whole economy. I hope everyone across this House will support this motion to ensure a robust plan is in place to protect jobs and set clear commitments to help tackle the climate emergency.
Covid Security at UK Borders — House of Commons, 2021-02-01
Topic: Immigration
Rushanara Ali (Labour, Centre-left): Time and again during this pandemic the Government’s incompetence has cost lives. They have been too slow to lockdown, too slow to build an effective test-and-trace system, and too slow to secure our borders. Despite the UK tragically passing the covid death toll of over 100,000 people, the highest in Europe, the Government still have yet to learn the lessons. We must make sure that our borders are secure with a comprehensive hotel quarantine system for all arrivals to the UK. That is why I support the motion The Government have belatedly introduced a partial quarantine system, but that includes only 33 countries. We need a hotel quarantine regime that goes further and covers all countries. The police force is stretched and lacks the capacity to check that travellers are quarantining at home. Since quarantine requirements were introduced on 8 June, only 332 fines have been issued in England to travellers failing to self-isolate. Last November, Sky reported that the police took no action against 1,400 overseas travellers who may have broken quarantine rules. That just goes to show the challenge that the police face in taking enforcement action without a more effective quarantine system We need to learn from other countries on how they have tackled the pandemic and how they have managed to reduce the infection rates and save lives, ranging from Australia and New Zealand to Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam. Even developing countries have a more effective quarantine system using hotels and other facilities, so the idea that we cannot do this because we do not have the resources is ridiculous and needs to be addressed. As many hon. Members have stated, there are new variants that put the vaccination effort at risk. This month the Health Secretary said: "The new variant I really worry about is the one that is out there that hasn’t been spotted." Our biggest defence against these new variants is strict border controls through effective hotel quarantine regimes Throughout this crisis, the Government have been one step behind. It is time they took the advice of the chief scientist, who says that the lesson is to go earlier and act fast. It is vital in order to protect the vaccination programme we have set up that we ensure that our borders are secure. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the scientists, the innovators, the NHS workers and all the volunteers who are vaccinating the population right now. We cannot afford for that work to be undermined by not securing our borders. The Government must act; they should adopt this motion. That is why I support the motion.
Covid Security at UK Borders — House of Commons, 2021-02-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rachel Louise Hopkins (Labour, Centre-left): The failure of the Government to fully secure our borders against covid-19 from the start of the pandemic has undermined the effectiveness of the UK’s public health measures. I support a hotel quarantine system, but it will not be effective in preventing the spread of covid-19 unless it encompasses all arrivals into the UK. The limited quarantine restrictions imposed on travel from only 30 or so countries have come too late and, with 21,000 travellers currently entering the UK every day, are just not sufficient to safeguard the advances being made by the vaccine roll-out We are at a critical point in the vaccination process, and we cannot risk importing covid-19 cases and variants that are resistant to the vaccine While public health must be the priority, alongside greater public health restrictions must come greater economic support for airports. The Australian and New Zealand Governments have backed up aviation shutdowns with thorough aviation-specific support packages, but here in the UK, the Government’s sector support package is half-hearted. Luton airport in my constituency has been hit hard by the pandemic, and the impact is having a cumulative effect on our local and regional economy, as the airport supports more than 10,000 jobs in supply chain businesses As it is owned by Luton Borough Council, significant income from the airport is used to directly fund local services and voluntary organisations. However, Luton airport is only eligible to apply for around £5 million from the recently announced airport and ground operations support scheme, which equates to only 6% of its annual fixed costs—a drop in the ocean. The meagre support offered smacks of a Government who do not fully understand the aviation business cycle and the current precarity of the sector, given the extent of the fixed costs. As the Airport Operators Association states: "With airports effectively closed again by the Government’s travel restrictions, much more significant support is now needed." Aviation needs Government to commit to extending the business support and job retention schemes, to extending the airport and ground operations support scheme to cover 2022 and to alleviating airports from regulatory and policing charges for 2021-22. To help airports bounce back, there needs to be phased support while commercial activity is rebuilt—support that facilitates the protection of jobs and provides an ideal opportunity to accelerate the transition towards green technology On a final note, with the recent announcement that Public and Commercial Services Union members working for Border Force at Heathrow have voted for industrial action against the imposition of fixed-term rosters, I urge the Transport Secretary to work with the Home Secretary to ensure that the pandemic is not being used as a cover to force through new working arrangements.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lisa Eva Nandy (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State seems to be struggling with the answer, so I can tell him that the answer is none. Of 21 recommendations made 15 months ago, the Government have implemented not a single one: no action on foreign agents, no action on golden visas, and the London laundromat is still very much open for business. Can he not see the problem? For as long as the City of London acts as a haven for dark money, he can tweet all he likes, but those words will be met with nothing but derision in Moscow Let me ask the Foreign Secretary an easy one that he should be able to answer. We know that the laws in this country on espionage and foreign interference on British soil are not fit for purpose, so will he commit to the House today that he will bring forward legislation to fix this great big gaping hole in our defences—not in the coming months and not at a date to be determined, but before this House rises for recess next month?
UK Musicians: EU Visa Arrangements — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: Immigration
Alison McGovern (Labour, Centre-left): I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. As we have heard, the Government still blame the EU, so, to get this issue straight, will the Minister make clear what exactly the EU proposed, when it was proposed and whether the UK offer was more than the standard visa policy The Minister said that the EU offer was a broad offer not consistent with taking back control of our borders. Will she go further and explain specifically when that was turned down? Finally, so that we can all be clear, will she place in the Library of the House of Commons all correspondence between the UK and the EU and all correspondence between UK Government Departments on this issue What matters is what happens now. A third of the creative industry is self-employed, and the situation is a massive kick in the teeth for a group of workers who are already having the worst year in living memory. What representations has the UK made to resolve the situation? What meetings are scheduled? Will the UK still rely on mode 4 exemptions, even though doing so is without precedent? Does the Minister agree that the resolution to the situation requires a supplementary agreement The Minister must go further and spell out exactly what the proposal is from the UK to resolve the situation. When musicians and creative people tour, they do not just power up an economy that is massively important to us; they represent us all on the global stage, so we must get this resolved now.