argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister addressed the first point in full detail over the course of two and a half hours. On the substance of the remarks by the hon. Member for Darlington (Jenny Chapman), she will know the judgment is very clear that revocation would need to be unequivocal and unconditional. The question for her and for the Labour Front Bench is how serving such a notice could be in any way compatible with the manifesto on which Labour stood at the last election. Labour made a clear commitment to its electorate, many of whom voted to leave, that it would not seek to revoke article 50 and that it would honour the terms of the referendum. The Government’s policy has not changed. What Labour needs to address is whether its policy has changed It is a matter of policy that we will not revoke article 50, and therefore this is a hypothetical question. Of course the Government made their case, as they always will, in the courts, but our policy has not changed. The question for the Labour Front Bench is: has theirs?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Kenneth Clarke (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have listened to today’s proceedings, the chances of the Government ever getting their withdrawal agreement approved by this House seem to me to be quite slight. I cannot think of any assurances the Prime Minister will get in Brussels that would change that most unfortunate situation I am sad that the whole thing has not been contrived to save the House from my making a speech tomorrow, in which I would have supported the withdrawal agreement. The situation is grave because, with no withdrawal agreement, we are going towards 29 March and we will leave with no agreement at all, because there are no signs of any alternative emerging. Article 50 has to be looked at Does my right hon. Friend agree that article 50 could only be suspended for two or three months? There are legal problems in deferring it any longer. Although the majority of Members regard themselves as bound by the opinion poll, or referendum, we held in 2016, in which absolutely none of the circumstances we are now talking about were remotely discussed with the public before the vote was taken, is it not obvious that the Government should start considering revoking article 50 to save us from the disastrous consequences of leaving with no deal? It would be disastrous for our economy, our businesses, our employment and many other things. If anybody can ever put this shambles back together again and wants to resume the process of leaving the European Union, they could go ahead and see if a future House of Commons is more receptive than this one has been.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that I and many in the House would have much enjoyed hearing the remarks of my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke). To be fair, he has always been consistent. He did not vote for the referendum, and he has always taken the view that this House should decide, but many others in this House did vote for the referendum, and they also voted by a very substantial majority to trigger article 50 The crux of the issue is that the Government’s policy has not changed. We are not going to revoke article 50, but if the Labour party is flirting with doing so, it needs to square that with the manifesto on which it stood at the last election.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): We will come further to that point The second point the hon. and learned Lady made was that legal fees are not cheap. She needs to answer, therefore, why a case was brought on something that clearly is not Government policy and that the Government have no intention of applying. Therefore, it is a hypothetical case; this is something that the Government do not intend to pursue The hon. and learned Lady also asked what Government policy is on this issue. The Government’s policy is extremely clear: it is to deliver on the biggest democratic vote in our country’s history and ensure that we leave on 29 March next year.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not think many people were really in much doubt that this was going to be the judgment of the Court; it was always pretty clear, and I was a little surprised that we spent any time on it. Notwithstanding that, it is intriguing that the Court has managed, arguably for the first time, to have an advocate-general’s opinion, followed four or five days later by the full Court’s decision—I can remember, when in government, spending three or four years waiting for the Court to come to a judgment. Does my right hon. Friend think this may have something to do with the fact that there could have been a vote tomorrow? There is a delicious irony, is there not, in the fact that we can revoke article 50 but we cannot revoke our backstop? Does he not find that funny?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: Law and Crime
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is correct to draw attention to the fact that this was an expedited process. The typical length of time for such cases is three to six months, and on this occasion it was just over two months, but that was a reflection of the fact that the Scottish Court requested that proceedings be dealt with on this expedited basis, and the President of the Court agreed with that request.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): On the first point, the judgment from the Court today does not cover extension—that is addressed in article 50. It was about revocation, not extension Actually, I think the Prime Minister has always been clear that there is an alternative, which is to go back on the referendum result and have no Brexit. The Government do not support that option, which is why one is then left with the choice of the deal, with the certainty that the Prime Minister offers, or the uncertainty of no deal.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said in an earlier answer, the judgment of the Court does not actually deal with extension; that is a separate point. It deals with revocation, and it is that to which my statement refers. I am very happy, Mr Speaker, to stray into areas beyond the statement, such as no deal, but I do not want to fall foul of a ruling from the Chair, and I want to focus on the issue of revocation.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Henry Edward Millar Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Further to the question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), it is certainly interesting that the ECJ has been able to hand down this judgment with great speed. The Brexit Secretary is far too diplomatic to agree with me that it is, of course, a political court. However, will he say that this is yet another reason why we need to comprehensively leave the European Union, including the jurisdiction of the ECJ?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend that the Prime Minister has always been clear that we are coming out of the jurisdiction of the European Court. That is a key part of the deal that she has secured, and it is a key part of us delivering on our commitment to take back control of our money, borders and laws.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: Government Operations
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): As the right hon. Gentleman will understand from his time as a Minister, the judgment was only today, so some of those costs for lawyers’ fees are still to come in. Costs such as that are declared, as is always the case, in the Department’s accounts. That is the standard way in which such accounts are itemised. This was a judgment that was reached today.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Secretary of State agree that it seems from the contributions of Opposition Members that it may now be their position to seek to revoke article 50? Will he confirm that it remains the Government’s policy—and that I can go back and tell my constituents in Redditch categorically—that we will not seek to revoke article 50?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): The reality is that this judgment has just been reached today. We will need to take it away and consider what the legal implications are. The hon. Lady will know that the triggering of article 50 was subject to significant legal dispute and discussion. We will need to analyse this to understand what the implications are.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): It is in everybody’s interests to try to find an amicable solution. Can the Secretary of State confirm the rumours going around on social media that the Prime Minister is due to meet the Dutch Prime Minister in the morning and to have further discussions with Michel Barnier and team during the week?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): It is for the Prime Minister to address whom she will be having discussions with, in the usual way. The key issue in terms of this statement is that this Government have no intention of changing their policy on article 50.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister, with his excellent skill, is pumping out the Government line on article 50. He did that on Sunday on television, and we all believed him then—I expect he believed what he said then—but the Government changed their mind on that. So how do we know they are not going to change their mind on article 50?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend and I have known each other a long time. The policy of the Government has been clear on article 50, and we made that clear in the case. I hope that the criticism from Opposition Members about the fact that the Government fought this case gives him some reassurance as to our commitment to that point.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: Law and Crime
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course the Government accept the judgment of the Court, as would always be the case. As for whether we will look to appeal in the Scottish court, this judgment was reached today and we will need to consider that in due course.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Luke Patrick Graham (Conservative, Centre-right): Today’s judgment does provide more clarity to the debate, but I think my right hon. Friend would agree that many parties here will use it to drag us back, to keep us in purgatory and to try to frustrate our country and the Brexit process. Will he please give the House some assurances that after the delay today we will get certainty in the coming weeks, which my constituents and so many of my local businesses so badly need?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): First, let me pay tribute to the hon. Lady for her work as Chair of the PAC, for which she is respected across the House, and for her consistency on this point. She rightly says that she did not vote for article 50, and I understand her position. As the Prime Minister set out this afternoon, the Government have done a huge amount of no-deal planning to prepare, but not all of that is within their control. For example, it relies on the response of businesses to technical notices and on the response of other member states. The Government, through the Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris), the no-deal Minister, have done a huge amount to prepare for no-deal planning, but obviously some of these issues are outwith the Government’s control.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): There was a time when the right hon. Gentleman used to believe in the democracy bit of the Liberal Democrat name. He will recall that this House voted in favour of triggering article 50, with 498 for to 114 against. One would hope that as a democrat, he would respect that decision.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): It is always interesting to have advice from the hon. Gentleman. He talks about giving businesses certainty. What they want is the certainty of a deal that will give us a period up until the end of 2020 to leave in good order, which he says he is against. Yet there is a lack of certainty here, because he stood on a manifesto that said he would honour the referendum result—[Interruption.] He is signalling that he did not stand on that manifesto, but I thought he stood as an official Labour party candidate. If he is saying he stood on a different manifesto from his Front Benchers he should have made that clear to his electorate.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): What is clear is that on the key issue of whether the referendum result is respected, we are clear in this House that it is our policy to deliver it—we are committed to leaving on 29 March. To protect the jobs in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and the supply of goods, and to give businesses the confidence to invest, we need to give businesses a deal. It is the Prime Minister’s deal that delivers that.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I have answered the question about the money several times. The Court judgment was reached just today, so not all the costs associated with the case will have accrued as yet. We will need to work that out in the normal way. The hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry) will know about that from her time practising at the Bar. Again, I have already answered the question about respecting the process. We respect the Court’s decision, but the facts of the matter do not change, and they are that this Government are committed to honouring the referendum, we will ensure that we leave on 29 March next year, and we have absolutely no intention of revoking article 50.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): Instead of getting into hypotheticals, I would rather deal with reality. [Interruption.] Members on the Opposition Benches may wish to go down the hypothetical route, but I would rather deal with the reality, which is that we had the biggest vote in our country’s history, and at the most recent general election two parties stood on manifestos that said they would deliver on that vote. Any revoking of article 50 would be a huge betrayal to those voters, including those referred to by the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) in her question a moment ago.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): One would have thought, after 900 days, that we would be clear as to what the Labour party’s policy is. It is still unclear as to whether the Leader of the Opposition thinks that we can stop Brexit or not—he said it could not be stopped and then his shadow Brexit Secretary, the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), said that it could—and he was unclear as to how he would vote in a second referendum. It is unclear today whether he would actually seek to revoke article 50 and go back on the manifesto commitment that he gave.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): What the right hon. Gentleman omitted from that question was that his own constituency voted to leave and he himself voted to trigger article 50. It is a little rich to come to the Chamber to say that there is inconsistency when he himself voted to trigger article 50 and is now suggesting that we should revoke the very article that he voted to trigger.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I thought we were going to wait for the point of order to deal with the substance of the comments of the hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry), but we can deal with that now. The point is that the European Commission did raise doubts about whether the proceedings were admissible, and that was the case that the Government put. It was our view that it was hypothetical and we raised similar doubts. We put these issues to the Court and the Court formed its view. There is no inconsistency there.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady says that she wants certainty; it is the certainty of a deal and leaving in good order that is what most businesses—most of the people who employ people in jobs—want to see, and that is what the Government are offering.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that the hon. Gentleman takes these issues very seriously and I am always happy to discuss points with him further. However, this was a hypothetical issue taken before the courts because it is not Government policy to revoke. So it has been an interesting court case but it does not, for one iota, change the intention of this Government, which is to maintain their policy of not revoking article 50.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a question for Parliament. It is for Parliament to decide what it does or does not do. My role as a Minister is to answer on behalf of the Government. That is what I am doing and it is the Government’s clear policy—it has not changed; I say that again—that we will not revoke. The question for Opposition Members is: are they potentially going to look to revoke article 50? That is what people want to know, particularly, as the hon. Member for Vauxhall alluded to, those people who voted for a Labour manifesto that said that it would honour the referendum result.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, we have covered this several times. The Court case dealt with the issue of revocation; it did not deal with the issue of extension. Extension requires the consent of the other EU27 countries. That is an unchanged position from the Court. It is outside the jurisdiction of this case.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that it will come as a huge surprise to you, Mr Speaker, and to other Members that the hon. Gentleman himself voted to trigger article 50. Having triggered it, he now seems to want to revoke it.
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, the Prime Minister covered this at length. It is simply not the case that it is the Government’s policy to have a no-deal Brexit. The Government’s policy is to have a deal. That is what the Prime Minister set out in around two and a half hours of debate this afternoon and the hon. Gentleman is simply misquoting what is the Government’s policy.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker, what I was making clear was the similarity in position between that taken by Her Majesty’s Government and that by the Commission. Similar arguments were made by the Commission to those of the Government. Indeed the European Commission raised doubts as to whether the proceedings were admissible. That was the point that I was seeking to make to the House and I am very happy to clarify any comments if that is helpful
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: Government Operations
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): It is up to the Government when to arrange for the debate and the vote or votes that would flow from it, but the fact that it is incumbent upon the Government to come forward with a new date is very clear. That cannot be gainsaid. It has been made very clear from the Treasury Bench on several occasions—I will not say innumerable, but they are innumerable for me now because I do not know exactly how many there were. The Leader of the House has made clear repeatedly in response to questions that the debate, and the vote or votes flowing therefrom, would be rescheduled as soon as the Government felt that they were in a position, as they see it, beneficially to update the House. There is therefore no reason to suppose that that debate and votes flowing from it will not take place and every reason to believe that that debate and votes flowing from it will take place. It would be literally unconscionable if there were any thought to the contrary.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The agreement appears to have been initialled by the Prime Minister about 10 days ago. Am I right in construing what you have just said as meaning that if there is a new withdrawal agreement so initialled a second time with a new signature, then effectively the entire procedure—whether with regard to the question of the contempt motion or, for that matter, with regard to the question of section 13 and its effectiveness—is that we have to go back to square one?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: Law and Crime
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very heartened to see a former Director of Public Prosecutions nodding vigorously in assent to my proposition, considering that he is a distinguished lawyer and I am not. There is a strong moral basis for believing that that to which the Government eventually acceded last week would be something to which they would accede in the new circumstances, especially as the new circumstances were the result of failure to reach agreement on the earlier proposals and their own actions thereafter.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): We come now to motion no. 2 on Exiting the European Union (Competition). Not moved We come now to the presentation of a public petition. [Interruption.] I gather Mr Patrick Grady has withdrawn his notice of intention to present his petition.