argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): The trouble with sending advisers is that, as the Americans found in Vietnam, and as many other nations have found since, mission creep eventually results in the sending of combat troops. Given that Ukraine is an area the size of France, where whole German armies of tens of thousands of men were enveloped and destroyed in the second world war, is there not a real danger of that? We must rule out sending ground troops, and we should concentrate our efforts on promoting peace, self-determination in the east within Ukraine’s borders, and solving what the Foreign Secretary described as a "sink of corruption" in Kiev. We should send advisers to help to sort out corruption, not wage war.
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not accept that. We have to make it clear to Russia that it has to cease its aggression and its encouragement of the separatists in eastern Ukraine. The best way to do that, as we are already doing, is through sanctions and political pressure on Russia. Equally, it would not be right to refuse the call that we have received from Kiev—from the Ukrainian Government—to help with some of the basic training, support and equipment that they need.
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
James Gerald Douglas Howarth (Conservative, Centre-right): The whole House will recognise that there is a risk here, but does my right hon. Friend not agree that it is in our interests to check President Putin’s aggression? Does he also agree that that is entirely consistent with our obligations under the 1994 Budapest agreement, signed by Boris Yeltsin, John Major and Bill Clinton?
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): It is rather odd to describe the operations in Libya as mission creep. This was a mission to get rid of Gaddafi and to help the Libyan people get rid of a brutal dictator; a dictator I believe the former Labour Government rather cosied up to—
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): It was a mission to help the Libyan people get rid of a dictator and give them the chance of choosing a better future. Obviously, we would want to see the situation in Libya improve This is a closely defined training mission. We think it is right to respond to the call for help. If the hon. Gentleman is suggesting that we should shun such a call, I cannot agree with him.
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): Is my right hon. Friend aware that last week Prime Minister Yatsenyuk told me that he regarded Britain, alongside America, as Ukraine’s strongest allies, and his statement this afternoon confirms that? Is my right hon. Friend aware that we have a special responsibility as a signatory of the Budapest memorandum to help Ukraine? Specifically, will he consider the requests made by the Ukrainian Government for defensive weapons such as counter-battery radar, electronic jamming equipment and anti-tank weaponry?
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Government Operations
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): As soon as we make a decision on what equipment to supply or to gift, we will of course inform Parliament in the normal way. If the equipment is to be gifted, a minute has to be laid before Parliament and that will be done.
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Richard Benyon (Conservative, Centre-right): Like many people, I take an increasingly bleak view of the situation when we examine the psychology of this aggressor. What measures has my right hon. Friend taken with colleagues across Government to look at the possibility of this happening in other areas on the western boundary of Russia? What work should we be doing now to prepare for requests similar to that that he has received from the Ukrainian Government from countries such as Moldova or, God forbid, a NATO country, as we would be required to respond differently to an attack on one of those countries?
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister told the Liaison Committee yesterday, we can now see a pattern of behaviour around the borders of Russia. We have seen it in Georgia and elsewhere. The first thing that we had to do about that was to stiffen up NATO to ensure that we had a rapid reaction force worthy of the name. That was agreed at the NATO summit last September, and we have now agreed our contribution to it. We will be a framework nation in 2017 and we will be seconding staff to the two divisional headquarters, in Poland and Romania. We will also be seconding staff to all six of the forward integration units. We are encouraging other NATO members to make similar commitments in order to reassure the members on NATO’s eastern flank that we are ready to stand by our commitments under article 5.
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that the lesson of the cold war is that we secure peace through strength? I very much welcome this intervention, but we in the west must decide whether we are going to indicate our resolve to deter Russian aggression or not. Will he remind our American allies, whom I very much welcome as part of this initiative, that it was the sailing of their sixth fleet into the Black sea that stopped the invasion of Georgia in its tracks? When are the Americans going to come to this initiative with force?
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. We are not supplying weapons and we are not attempting to escalate the conflict in any way. As I have said, we believe that in the end the answer has to be diplomatic and political, and the pressure therefore continues to be applied, through sanctions and so on. He invites us to help to demilitarise eastern Ukraine, but I think he ought to ask himself who has militarised the area and who has supplied weapons, tanks and heavy artillery across the border. It is now up to President Putin to withdraw his heavy weaponry, as was agreed at Minsk, and to implement the agreement that he has signed up to.
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Giacomo Lopresti (Conservative, Centre-right): Can my right hon. Friend reassure the House that, regardless of any force protection measures taking place before deployment, our people will be legally authorised under any future rules of engagement to pick up weapons and defend themselves if they need to?
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
David Arthur Stephen Tredinnick (Conservative, Centre-right): As a Member who has taken parliamentary delegations to Ukraine, spoken in the Ukrainian Parliament and believes himself to be a supporter of Ukraine, I say to my right hon. Friend that I am worried about this decision. All along, we have underestimated Russian sensitivities about Ukraine, and the Lords report said that we have sleepwalked into this mess. I fear that the thought of NATO troops, from us, in Ukraine will further destabilise things in the long term and will be used, possibly in March, by the Russians for further intervention. I do not think we have got the measure of Russia’s concerns about what it sees as a country that is very much part of its immediate diaspora.
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): There are, of course, Russian concerns, but above all there are Ukrainian concerns. It is eastern Ukraine that has been destabilised by Russia; this is a country whose sovereign territory has now been invaded by personnel from the Russian armed forces. As for my hon. Friend’s fear about NATO troops, let me emphasise again that these are not and will not be NATO troops—this is not a NATO mission. This is the British Government deciding to respond to a request for help by our friends in Kiev. It is right that we should answer that call and provide the training capacity, in which our armed forces excel, to help reduce fatalities and casualties.
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Paul Christopher Maynard (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the Government’s announcement, and my right hon. Friend’s robust stance against Russian aggression and this threat to Ukrainian sovereignty. Can he tell us what engagement his Department or the Government more widely have had with the newly elected Moldovan Government, given the great uncertainty and concern about Trans-Dniester on the border between Ukraine and Moldova?
Service Personnel (Ukraine) — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): Indeed there is exactly that concern. As I have said, this seems to fit a pattern of Russian interference right along its southern and western border, and we need to be mindful of that. I have not yet had the opportunity to meet or talk to my Moldovan counterpart, but I look forward to doing so in due course.
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard Quentin Fuller (Conservative, Centre-right): Let me help to clarify the matter for the hon. Lady. The point that she was trying to make is that having an enormous amount of regulation can be ineffective and bureaucratic, but, equally, having too little regulation will not work. What we need is effective regulation. One of the most effective aspects of regulation, when it comes to changing behaviour, is the potential for criminal prosecution of those who do wrong. That is not mentioned in her motion. Will she address that during her speech?
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I would like to give the hon. Lady an opportunity to rise above the party politics that the right hon. Member for Morley and Outwood (Ed Balls), were he here—I note that he is not—would no doubt be indulging in. Does she welcome the £5 million funding from LIBOR sources that has benefited charities up and down the country, including the East Anglia air ambulance in my constituency?
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is quite right. It is extraordinary that Labour Members have the cheek to come to the House and suggest that Conservative Members are somehow responsible I want to draw to the House’s attention the very prescient quote from the former Prime Minister when, representing the previous Government, he addressed the City in his Mansion House speech in 2002: "What you as the City of London have done for financial services, we as a Government aim to do for the economy as a whole." And didn’t they just? It is absolutely extraordinary that under the "intensely relaxed" Labour Administration, bankers were rewarded for taking excessive risk, and if they failed, were allowed to get away with it—heads they win, tails the taxpayer loses.
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stewart Jackson (Conservative, Centre-right): Is not this debate a displacement activity for a party that does not have any coherent narrative to deal with jobs, growth and the economy? Is it not reckless of Her Majesty’s Opposition to keep recycling the tax on bankers’ bonuses—10 times over—without ever having to account for where that money will actually go?
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that point. The Government are extremely proud that fines for misconduct go to good causes, unlike under the Labour party, when any fines for misconduct were passed straight back into the hands of the people who committed it. The LIBOR fines have gone to military charities and air ambulances, as he pointed out, and the fines for the appalling foreign exchange rigging will support the NHS and GP surgeries in particular.
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stewart Jackson (Conservative, Centre-right): I admire the hon. Gentleman’s sincerity, but his argument would carry more weight were it not for the fact that under the previous Government—run by the party of which he is a member and supports—during a period of economic growth 5.2 million people were left on out-of-work benefits and youth unemployment doubled. The gap between the richest and poorest 10% widened. That is his Government’s record, and it ill behoves him to lecture our Government who have done a lot to address those key issues.
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): I have here the House of Commons unemployment statistics for February 2015 for Glasgow North East. Surely this Government’s long-term economic plan has done something when the number of total claimants has reduced by 19.6% in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, youth unemployment for 18 to 24-year-olds has reduced by 27%, and those unemployed for more than 12 months—a more difficult area—have reduced by 37%. Are we doing something right?
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Labor
Brett Charles Anthony Elphicke (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the hon. Gentleman agree that welfare reforms, the long-term economic plan, and the jobs revolution that we have seen have been great at getting people back into work so that they can fulfil and achieve their potential? Does he not welcome that?
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stewart Jackson (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is elucidating another straw man, which was articulated by the shadow Minister—that we somehow have a crisis in lending. The fact is that businesses of all sizes hold unprecedented levels of cash reserves and they will spend if we have a benign macro-economic policy framework. That is not what is being offered by his party, so any accusations of missing lending targets obscures the bigger picture.
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Labor
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): I know the hon. Lady reasonably well and presumed she would be quite chirpy in her usual fashion. The House of Commons’ "Unemployment by Constituency" research paper 1509, published on 18 February 2015, shows that there has been a 34% reduction in unemployment in her constituency of Bishop Auckland. The reduction for those aged 50 and over is 24%. The 12-month unemployment figure, which of course is the very difficult area to address, has seen a 45% reduction in the past year. Youth unemployment is often prayed in aid by the Opposition—and understandably so, as we all agree that we need to address it.
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Labor
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid that I will not give way—first, because I have already gone on too long and, secondly, because I want to enlighten the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman), who would surely welcome the fact that unemployment for 18 to 24-year-olds in her constituency has reduced over this last year by 40.2%. I could say much more, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I think you would stop me doing so.
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Mowat (Conservative, Centre-right): The Opposition’s policy would result in avoidance of the tax through increased fixed-level pay and reduced variable-level pay. A much better way of taxing banks is to tax their balance sheets, which is what the Government have done, because taxation of that kind cannot be avoided in the same way.
Bankers’ Bonuses and the Banking Industry — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): Clearly more needs to be done in the north-east—no one disputes that—but does the hon. Lady not agree that the autumn purchasing managers index survey showed that we had the fastest private sector growth? We have the largest exports, and the largest export growth of any part of the country. After London, the north-east has more tech start-ups than any region in the country. There is more to be done, but I would not want her to paint a picture of doom and gloom for a second.
Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Agriculture
Richard Geoffrey James Ottaway (Conservative, Centre-right): Further to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Sir Gerald Howarth), how would the hon. Lady deal with a farmer who was elected to Parliament? Most farms are incorporated, so the farmer would be a director. He would make a contribution to agricultural debates. If the motion is accepted, what advice would she give the farmer? Should he retire? Does he sell the farm? What?
Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Government Operations
William Hague (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move an amendment, to leave out leave out from "House" to the end of the Question and add: "reminds hon. Members of their commitment to uphold the Code of Conduct, not least that Members should act on all occasions in accordance with the public trust placed in them, that they should always behave with probity and integrity, including in their use of public resources, that no Member should act as a paid advocate in any proceedings of the House and that the acceptance by a Member of a bribe to influence his or her conduct as a Member, including any fee, compensation or reward in connection with the promotion of, or opposition to, any Bill, Motion, or other material submitted, or intended to be submitted to the House, or to any Committee of the House, is contrary to the law of Parliament." As the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms Eagle) has acknowledged, the Opposition have moved their motion today because of the questions raised concerning the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) and my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kensington (Sir Malcolm Rifkind). It is entirely proper that our two colleagues have referred themselves to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and we should await the outcome of those proceedings. However, as Leader of the House, I can say that, given the high regard in which those two Members have always been held, these circumstances are the cause of some sadness across the House. In the meantime, I hope that the whole House will join me in paying tribute to the contribution that the right hon. Member for Blackburn and my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kensington have made to the House, to our national life and to international relations over many years It is vital for the health and strength of our democracy that the public have confidence in the integrity of—
Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Government Operations
William Hague (Conservative, Centre-right): I will just start my argument, then I will give way to my hon. Friend It is vital for the health and strength of our democracy that the public have confidence in the integrity of the democratic process and in the standards of conduct of all Members of this House. We live in an age of greater accountability and transparency, and the House of Commons has to live up to that. Transparency is an absolutely fundamental need in a democracy, and it would not be acceptable for Government policy to be influenced from outside by anybody in a way that was deliberately out of sight.
Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
James Gerald Douglas Howarth (Conservative, Centre-right): I should like to put on record that my interests are declared in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in the usual way—[Interruption.] And I am proud of those interests, too Does my right hon. Friend not agree that it smacks of extraordinary opportunism on the part of the Opposition to take a whole afternoon to debate this issue? Have they nothing to say about the OECD congratulating the United Kingdom on managing the recovery of our economy after Labour destroyed it? Should not that be the subject of today’s debate?
Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
William Hague (Conservative, Centre-right): This is a week of remarkable economic news and good international endorsement of the Government, and that is no doubt partly why the Opposition have chosen to debate other matters today. Nevertheless, the issues of transparency and the reputation of the House are important at all times.
Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Government Operations
William Hague (Conservative, Centre-right): I will give way in a moment The reinforcement of transparency and accountability need constant effort, and that is part of what has been happening in recent years. At the end of the last Parliament, as the House knows, agreement was reached on the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009. Since then, more has been done than ever before in Parliament and in government on transparency. We have created a statutory register of lobbyists and appointed the registrar; we are legislating for the recall of MPs; and we have strengthened the rules governing the appointment of Ministers after they leave office to business appointments to cover all appointments or employment they wish to take up within two years of leaving office—there has been a very substantial increase in transparency on Ministers and former Ministers.
Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Government Operations
Mark Christopher Field (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Leader of the House share my concern that, understandably perhaps, 10 weeks before an election this rather opportunistic motion is put forward? These issues are not for this House; they are for IPSA. After the expenses scandal, we set up IPSA to look at this and other issues. If we want to unravel what IPSA has done, either on this matter or on the issue of salaries, we do so at our peril.
Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies — House of Commons, 2015-02-25
Topic: Government Operations
William Hague (Conservative, Centre-right): Salaries and allowances are for IPSA, but there have been independent reports on this issue. Again, I will come to that in a moment, but I just want to finish the point about the substantial increase in transparency that has rightly taken place in recent years. That does not mean we have finished the job of making Parliament more responsive to public concerns. The shadow Leader of the House has said some things about what will be in the Labour manifesto on this, but there will be matters about Parliament in the Conservative manifesto, including reducing the size of the House of Commons, and equalising the size of constituencies, thereby being fair to all parties and all constituencies, and saving money in the process.