argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Henry Halfon (Conservative, Centre-right): Harlow resident Charlotte Budd, who is a survivor of domestic abuse, suffered a great deal from her experiences in the family court system. I would be grateful if my right hon. and learned Friend could provide an update on what steps the Government are taking to address the concerns brought to light by the Ministry of Justice report on assessing the risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases. Will he also explain what measures the Government are taking to make certain that the correct guidance and education is in place for members of our judiciary in dealing with domestic abuse cases such as that of Charlotte Budd?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander John Gervase Chalk (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for raising that point so perfectly on behalf of his constituent. Good progress is being made following the expert panel’s report. First, we have launched a review into the presumption of parental involvement. Secondly, the design of the pilot integrated domestic abuse courts is under way. Thirdly, measures in the Domestic Abuse Bill to provide further protection to victims and survivors who use the family courts are passing through the other place. Guidance is a matter for the judiciary, but I have raised this with the president of the family division and he is very much seized of it and will consider making recommendations on judicial training to the judicial college in light of the recommendations of the harms panel and other developments.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Lady, but she must not repeat the myth that covid is out of control in our prisons. It serves nobody’s interests, least of all those of staff who are working day and night to control it. She makes an important point about education. Clearly, in this lockdown we wanted to ensure that more education and skills training were available. That is absolutely right and everyone would support it. However, there is a problem with what she says because, of course, the passage of paper and other documents in and out of prison inherently poses a security risk. That is the reality we live in and it is therefore important that we balance the needs of prison security alongside the needs of prisoners to access education. I will look carefully at the point she makes, but I think she will understand that a sensitive balance has to be struck.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Largan (Conservative, Centre-right): Many of our Victorian prisons are still in use. These prisons are typically located in densely populated inner-city areas. What plans do the Government have to replace these old prisons with modern facilities that are safer for both inmates and guards, much cheaper to run and more effective at rehabilitation and at reducing reoffending rates? There is an opportunity not just dramatically to improve our prisons but to raise significant funds to be reinvested back into the justice system and to free up much-needed land for housing in inner-city areas.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend will understand that it is very important that proper calculations are made about prison capacity and that we do not end up in a position like that under the last Labour Government when we were having to use police cells to house prisoners, which was both expensive and, frankly, inhumane. He will know about and will welcome the huge commitment of £4 billion to deliver 18,000 additional prison places—modern places—across the estate by the middle of this decade. That additional space will allow us to do even more purposeful activity. On maintenance, we have committed £315 million next year—a huge increase on the previous capital settlement for maintenance—because we need to get on with ensuring that our current estate is decent, safe and secure.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander John Gervase Chalk (Conservative, Centre-right): This Government consider the opening of Nightingale courts to be absolutely essential. I have visited a number myself. They play an important role in taking the strain, allowing other courts to carry out custody cases. We have already opened 40 Nightingale courts—an additional 20. That will play an important role in our ongoing courts recovery.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her comments, which I wholeheartedly endorse. She is absolutely right to say that it was a serious mistake on the part of the Commission; I think everyone recognises that now. I also underline her words that it is completely unacceptable to place anyone in Northern Ireland in the position in which the port workers in Belfast and Larne have been placed, so it is vital that everyone in Northern Ireland and indeed in the UK exercises calmness and moderation as well as resolution in seeking to resolve the problems that she outlined The hon. Lady is absolutely right that the end of grace periods for export health certificates and other issues do need to be addressed. I will be writing to Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič later today to outline some specific steps that we believe we need to take. Tomorrow, I will meet him and the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive in order to ensure that we can make rapid progress through the Joint Committee We are also communicating with UK businesses to stress that they have an obligation to ensure that their goods are available for the citizens of Northern Ireland in the same way as they are available to her and my own constituents. It is not just the Government’s responsibility but the responsibility of all of us to work together to ensure that the people of Northern Ireland recognise that they are valued citizens of one United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the work that he and his Committee have done to help ensure that the protocol is well understood and to resolve some of the problems that have arisen. There are a number of specific issues. I alluded earlier to the requirement that export health certificates are provided, but, as his Committee well knows, there are other issues such as the grace period covering the supply of chilled meats to Northern Ireland and the movement of pets between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. All those issues and more are ways in which the protocol is having an impact on people in Northern Ireland that is not in the interests of Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom or, indeed, good relations between us and the EU. Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič totally understands the need to resolve these issues and, with good will, I believe that we can do so speedily, as my hon. Friend rightly points out that we need to.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his elevation to the Front Bench in the SNP shadow Cabinet reshuffle that has just taken place. I look forward to working with him, as, I know, does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland I disagree with the hon. Gentleman on one point. I think the Prime Minister was absolutely right to say that, if necessary, article 16 can be invoked. There is a difference between recognising that it is there as an emergency cord to pull if we need to in order to ensure that the rights and interests of the people in Northern Ireland are protected, but it can be invoked only in specific circumstances, none of which, as the hon. Gentleman knows and has acknowledged, were in place when the European Commission invoked it. More broadly, we all want to make sure that the lives of people in Northern Ireland can be as safe, secure, prosperous and free as possible, in the same way as any other citizen of the United Kingdom. I look forward to working with the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues in the Scottish Government to ensure, through provisions such as the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, that we continue to do everything necessary to safeguard our precious Union.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend not agree that the reality is that the protocol is simply not working? These are not teething problems. He mentioned article 16, but article 16 is very clear that it can be invoked if the protocol leads to "economic, societal and environmental problems" leading, for example, to a "diversion of trade". We have already seen companies that normally ship to Northern Ireland now saying publicly that they will not bother to do so any more if it is too difficult. We are also seeing diversion: some supermarkets and others are talking about depots in southern Ireland rather than in mainland GB. Therefore, for all the talks about teething problems, what will he do in the short term to rectify this terrible disaster, with advertisers now saying that they simply cannot supply goods to people in Northern Ireland? What will he do both in the short term and the longer term to rectify the mess that is becoming obvious with this particular protocol?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely appreciate and understand the right hon. Gentleman’s point of view. He is right: he and his party colleagues issued consistent warnings and concerns about the operation of the Northern Ireland protocol. At the same time, he and his party have been working in the context of a protocol with which they disagree and which has uncomfortable aspects for many of us, in order to ensure that we can address specific issues to improve the lives of people in Northern Ireland. I want to continue to work with him and his colleagues in the Northern Ireland Executive. Thanks to him and his party colleagues making representations, questions on, for example, the import of steel from the rest of the world and VAT on cars have already been addressed. It is in that spirit that we will continue to work with him and his colleagues to address these issues. Of course, he is right: if necessary, article 16 is there, and it can be invoked. But I want to ensure that in the days ahead, we make a practical and beneficial difference to his constituents and others in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Aaron Stuart Bell (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement. The actions of the European Commission on Friday not only worried my constituents about vaccine supplies but worried everybody on the island of Ireland. Does he share my view that its actions not only constituted a clear breach of the rules set out in annex 7 of the Northern Ireland protocol but risked cutting across the Belfast agreement itself?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is striking that every political party in Northern Ireland, every political party in the Irish Republic and every political party in this House recognises that a mistake was made. It is important that we take this opportunity to recognise that trust has been eroded, and rapid work to restore that trust needs to be undertaken.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is at last coming to the European Scrutiny Committee on 8 February. The European Commission outrageously enacted this regulation last week, which even today hypocritically asserts that it would create a hard border through article 16 and, moreover, continues even now the prohibition of the delivery of vaccines from member states to the United Kingdom. Does he accept that this demonstrates that the protocol is not fit for purpose as it stands and that this cannot be resolved without revocation of the regulation itself? Will he take this up with Mr Šefčovič in his meeting tomorrow?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Antony Higginbotham (Conservative, Centre-right): The European Commission’s actions on Friday were deeply irresponsible. Although the Commission might want to cast them aside as a mistake, they would have had serious implications for the UK and Northern Ireland’s place in it On vaccines in particular, will my right hon. Friend assure me that whatever action the EU takes, our supply of vaccines to every part of the UK is secure?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Julian Richard Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The action taken last week follows the EU’s track record of a lack of understanding of the sensitivities in Northern Ireland. We saw it during the Brexit process, with the EU’s intransigence about not providing the then Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), with an exit mechanism to the backstop, and we saw it again in the run-up to the protocol, with the EU ignoring our requests for trusted-trader schemes and other flexibilities I urge my right hon. Friend to take this discussion out of the purely technical discussions around the Northern Ireland protocol and transform it into a more strategic discussion with the EU. What does the EU need in return from the UK on other fronts to resolve these issues in the long term, and what does the EU need to do to give confidence, particularly to Unionists across Northern Ireland, that it understands that the Good Friday agreement and the protocol are matters of a joint duty of care for both the EU and the UK?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is absolutely spot on and makes the central point. People in Northern Ireland will have heard, during the whole Brexit process, professions of care and concern from EU politicians about Northern Ireland. Some of those were sincere, but the way in which the Commission has behaved in the course of the past week is of deep concern. I should say that I absolutely exempt Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič from this: he completely understands the need to make sure that we have a pragmatic resolution to this problem. But not every European politician understands the situation in Northern Ireland anything like as well as my right hon. Friend does, and we do need to make sure that we have a resolution that recognises Northern Ireland’s integral place in the UK, while also ensuring that we have the best possible relationship with all our neighbours.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for that. We want to work through the Joint Committee to address precisely the issues that he raised. It is important that in that Joint Committee we have a practical, step-by-step analysis of the disruption and difficulties that are currently faced, and we judge which of those issues can best be resolved either through an extension of the grace period or by revisiting the operational aspects of the protocol. The Joint Committee exists for that purpose, and even though his Select Committee no longer exists in its current form, I look forward to having the opportunity to update him and others in the House about the progress that we make.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Agriculture
Laurence Anthony Robertson (Conservative, Centre-right): At such meetings, will my right hon. Friend raise the issue of food producers in Great Britain already having had their standards approved by the BRCGS, under the global standards for food safety? When they are approved at the place of manufacture, there is no need to check each and every case of food products when they reach Northern Ireland. We could, thus, end the totally unnecessary disruption when they reach those ports and the delays to fresh food.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I absolutely agree with the hon. Lady that in the hours and days ahead the focus should be on making life better for the people of Northern Ireland by making sure that goods can flow freely and that their lives are not affected in the way that they have been. As I mentioned, it is appropriate to recognise that there may be circumstances in which article 16 may need to be invoked or deployed—it exists for a purpose. However, the Commission invoked it in a way that was completely outside the rule book.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: Government Operations
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I could not agree more. The hon. Gentleman and his party colleagues have been assiduous in bringing to my attention and to the attention of the Secretary of State each of their individual concerns, and they have done so in a speedy, effective and low-key way, which has reflected their desire to resolve these problems. He is absolutely right; we need to see that resolution in order to ensure that people’s electoral representatives are heard and are effective.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Richard Rosindell (Conservative, Centre-right): As someone who cares passionately about our United Kingdom and Northern Ireland’s permanent place within it, does the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster agree that the European Union’s willingness to trigger article 16 as soon as it was in its interests clearly undermines its claims during the negotiations that a border in Northern Ireland was not something that it could tolerate? Does he also agree that the Government should now seek to replace the Northern Ireland protocol with the EU because the EU has clearly shown that it was not simply about the interests of Northern Ireland, but more about its own economic and political control? The EU has been shown up for what it really is, and it is time that we put the interests of the United Kingdom and the people of Northern Ireland first.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree with my hon. Friend that we have to put the interests of all the citizens of the United Kingdom, including the citizens of Northern Ireland, absolutely first. I also agree that it was regrettable that just 28 days after the protocol came into effect, it was the EU that decided to trigger article 16 in the way in which it did. I want to work with those in the EU who are genuinely committed to the interests of the people of Northern Ireland, such as Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, because the most important thing for me now is to do everything I can to help ensure that the lives of people in Northern Ireland are improved. My hon. Friend makes a fair point about the need to take a step back and look at all these issues in the round.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Gino Francois (Conservative, Centre-right): The whole point of the Northern Ireland protocol was to avoid the creation of a hard border on the island of Ireland; and yet, late last week the European Commission—in an act of stunning hypocrisy—attempted to do exactly that, affecting medicines and critical vaccines. It has blown up in the Commission’s face, but if it ever doubles down and tries it again, the President of the Commission would unquestionably have to resign. In the meantime, will the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster work with Mr Šefčovič in the Joint Committee to try to really rip back these problems? In particular can we narrow down the goods at risk to a very, very small number instead of, as is the case at the moment, virtually everything being treated as if it were at risk, with all the attendant bureaucracy?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. As I mentioned briefly in my response to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh), the whole point of the Joint Committee is that it is there to safeguard the interests of the people of Northern Ireland; it is not there to ensure that we can somehow control the export of vaccines from Belgium and the Netherlands. That is not appropriate. His broader point is absolutely right: we do need to make sure that we work rapidly within the Joint Committee to address those issues, and, once we have done so, take a step back and look at how we can safeguard Northern Ireland’s position in the round.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Karl McCartney (Conservative, Centre-right): How can my right hon. Friend reassure my constituents in Lincoln and all Northern Ireland citizens that article 16 is not triggered as lightly by the European Commission in the future? It took less than a month for it to be triggered, with little realisation of the potential ramifications by anonymous foolish actors in the European Commission, but thankfully ministerial colleagues, including the Prime Minister, saw to it that the European Commission made a swift U-turn on this occasion. Do the Government intend to revisit the arrangements, as after recent events this would be a justified request?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a very important point. One can never predict the future with accuracy, but I think, given the universal condemnation with which the Commission’s actions were met, that it knows that it has to step away. It is remarkable; the Archbishop of Canterbury, Carl Bildt, Alexander Stubb—the former Finnish Prime Minister—all the parties in Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach and the Irish Foreign Minister were all critical of the decision that was made. This is not some sort of gaggle of Eurosceptics rehearsing traditional lines—it is a recognition that the Commission mucked up.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation — House of Commons, 2021-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Jerome Patrick Burke Mayhew (Conservative, Centre-right): The Joint Committee is empowered to determine the practical arrangements relating to the UK’s implementation of the protocol. Given this morning’s need to suspend animal-based food checks at the port of Larne because of paramilitary threats, it is clear that these decisions have real physical consequences. What conversations has my right hon. Friend been able to have with his counterparts in the Joint Committee on the practical steps not only to de-escalate the situation but to ensure that food supplies are maintained and eased in future?