argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Charles Geoffrey Cox (Conservative, Centre-right): Words fail me; they really do. The hon. Gentleman rises in the full force of his morality, having been elected for one party and sitting on the Benches opposite for another—and with the hon. Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston), who did the chicken run, or the rat run, before him having said already that she thinks there should be a by-election when Members change their parties—and has the nerve to suggest that somehow I should have affected greater humility. I think he should be on his knees to his own constituents, begging their forgiveness for his betrayal. The fact of the matter is that the question is subject to the Law Officers’ convention as he knows, and I cannot answer him. I suggest that he asks me when he is back here, re-elected by his constituents, as no doubt he has confidence that he will be, and maybe I’ll give him an answer outside.
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. A number of hon. and right hon. Members are standing to contribute who were not standing at the start of the statement. That in itself is perfectly reasonable and I will seek to accommodate them if a thought has occurred to them that they want to convey, or a question that they want to put would otherwise go unasked, but once those who are standing have asked their questions pithily, we must move on to the next urgent question. I call Clive Efford.
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Charles Geoffrey Cox (Conservative, Centre-right): If I were to answer that question—tempting though it is, particularly from the hon. Lady, who is also a friend—I would be transgressing the Law Officers’ convention, because I would be telling her what advice I had or had not given. But if she is asking, "Did it occur to me?", my answer is that of course it did. Any barrister who enters into litigation without it occurring to him that he might lose is a bit of a nit, isn’t he? Of course it occurred to me that we might lose; it would be ridiculous for it not to occur to me.
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Civil Rights
Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Attorney General agree with the view of the overwhelming majority of my constituents that the continued delay in delivering on the result of the referendum by 31 October is leading to a lack of public confidence in our democratic process, and that the only way to resolve that now is to have an election and let the public decide?
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Charles Geoffrey Cox (Conservative, Centre-right): May I place on the record, Mr Speaker, my endorsement entirely for your expression of gratitude to the staff of the House? They do an extraordinarily great job. We are deeply grateful to them for that and for the speed with which they have been able to facilitate the resumption of Parliament.
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Charles Geoffrey Cox (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not sure that that is a question for the Attorney General. I am sure the hon. Gentleman can find somebody who is able to deal with it better than I could, but what I will say is that attacking people who cannot answer for themselves in this House is not appropriate and I would not choose to do it myself.
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Charles Geoffrey Cox (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly will talk to the Chief Whip about the matter. If there is consent from all parties, we might as well do something while we are waiting for the Opposition to make up their minds to go for an election.
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Charles Geoffrey Cox (Conservative, Centre-right): If I have given offence, I certainly did not mean to. It is an old saying at the Bar, which simply relates to a cross-examination technique of asking a question that presumes the premise. It is the way in which we were taught. If I have given offence, I apologise.
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Attorney General for responding. It is a matter of extreme sensitivity and it is incredibly important that we are sensitive to the wider implications and interpretation of what we say. Society’s mores change and sometimes one can find that things that one has freely said in the past without causing offence can no longer be said without causing offence, but each Member must make his or her own judgment. The Attorney General made his and he has said what he has said. I thank him for that.
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I am extraordinarily grateful to the hon. Gentleman, but as an attempted point of order, frankly, in old-fashioned O-level terms, with which I am familiar and of which the hon. Gentleman is probably aware, it would get an Unclassified. It was not even a good try. I do not bear the hon. Gentleman any ill will, but if people are going to have a go at these things, a degree of nuance, subtlety and ingenuity would at least command respect. There is a grade and I am afraid that the attempt was way below it.
Legal Advice: Prorogation — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): There is an important issue here. Is something that causes offence required to be withdrawn? I say in all candour to the hon. Lady, whose sincerity I respect, that the answer to that is no. Lots of things are said that may cause offence or provoke umbrage and about which there will be dispute, but there was nothing disorderly about what the Attorney General said. The hon. Lady has registered her view with considerable force and alacrity, and it will be on the record for her constituents to observe. No impropriety has taken place.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): I struggle to see how that question is directly relevant to the one that I am here to answer, but I would say, as I have said before—[Interruption.] I am not here to answer for anyone’s mother. As I have said before, the Prime Minister had no role whatsoever in the application, but none the less we are reviewing the process.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome my hon. Friend to his place. I also welcome the support he is providing to small and medium-sized enterprises in this area. Can he confirm that clear criteria are applied in the awarding of these grants and that grants are made on the basis of a business case and adherence to those criteria? Does he agree that Opposition Members should probably learn from the past and suspend making wild allegations until a proper review has taken place?
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words. He is absolutely right that supporting SMEs in such a sector is particularly important. It is something we will continue to do. On the process, I referred to the bid earlier. I have the form here—several dozen pages—that must be provided to access Government funding. That is right and proper. He is right also that we should all shy away from making unsubstantiated allegations.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is obviously right to ask the question, but the review will go wherever it needs to, and I have had no indication that anyone is not going to co-operate, be it the Prime Minister or anyone else.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): I have already said to the Chair of the Select Committee, who is no longer in his place, that we will write to him with more information on that. All I can say now is that the review will leave no stone unturned.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
William David Wiggin (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend on his new position. I am sure he will also thank you, Mr Speaker, for choosing this UQ from the 44 that were submitted. Can my hon. Friend tell the House how long ago this took place and for how long we have had a Labour Mayor of London who could have investigated this before now?
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): As with all such processes, while the review is ongoing that process will be paused, but I should like us to get on with ensuring that the good work done under this fund continues as rapidly as possible.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): That is, of course, part of the point of having the review. As I said earlier in answer to another question, I will encourage those conducting the review to make as much of its material as is commercially possible in any circumstances as public as possible. The hon. Lady shakes her head, but I have agreed to the premise of her question, and we will do it.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady has talked about the Prime Minister. He will be here later, and she can put that question to him herself. She has also talked about the principles of public life. What I think the public cannot get their heads around is how they can have a Parliament that is blocking the will that they expressed in a referendum.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have said, we are having a review. I have no indication whatsoever before me that there is a positive answer to the hon. Lady’s question, but we are having a review, and we will make sure that that is covered.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree that that impression is, in part, why we are having the review, but I would also say very gently to the hon. Gentleman that one of the things that is corrosive to public confidence in that process is people repeatedly making allegations when we have not had that review, and have not yet had any proof.
Hacker House — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady tells me that I am "rattled". I am enjoying this debut rather more than I expected, but none the less, it is always a pleasure to answer pre-written questions. [Interruption.] The hon. Lady shows me that it was pre-written; that is very good to see To be fair, the hon. Lady has raised an important constitutional principle. It is an important constitutional principle that this Government absolutely respect, and will continue to do so.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): I should have picked up the point about Thomas Cook employees abroad in answer to a previous question. We are actually bringing back some of those people, starting with the crews and the operational people. I think I am right in saying that yesterday we had brought back about 150 so far. We are not ignoring them, but we need to bring passengers back first. I have asked the CAA to be as flexible as possible in bringing back Thomas Cook employees, and the hon. Gentleman is right to remind me that I had not mentioned that before The hon. Gentleman asked a number of other questions that I have previously answered, and I do not want to go round in circles. The House must know that no Government would want to lose an iconic, 178-year-old famous British name. I hear people ask, "Why don’t you just put the money in?" All those people have to do is open the books to realise that there is a £1.7 billion debt, with £1.5 billion lost in six months alone, and that another profit warning had been issued I am afraid that this situation is entirely different from that with Condor, which is a fundamentally profitable airline, and it just would not be responsible to throw good money after bad. We would probably be back here in a very short time to offer a bail-out to get people home, rather than to bail out the company. This company just was not a going concern with which we could do that The hon. Gentleman asks sensible questions about whether other holidaymakers are being held to ransom or being held captive elsewhere in the world, and I am not aware of any other location in which that is the case at the moment. However, it is a live and moving situation, and under our direction the CAA has been issuing proactive letters to explain that holidaymakers’ bills will be settled in places were some hotels have not had bills settled for the past three months because of the company’s bankruptcy. I pay tribute to and thank our foreign mission in Cuba for proactively getting in touch with Ministers yesterday to resolve that appalling situation I think that covers the majority of the questions that I had not previously answered.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Andrew Hanson Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): As somebody who worked in the travel industry for many years, I am saddened to see the demise of Thomas Cook, but it is also worth noting that the sector has seen some notable collapses over the years. The scale and complexity of this repatriation operation are significant, and I thank my right hon. Friend for his update. After this urgent work on repatriation has been completed, and because this sector is prone to significant collapses, may I ask him to focus on the industry structure and a sector insurance scheme that would protect passengers and taxpayers in the future?
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand my right hon. Friend’s concern, and I congratulate him on his work over the past few days with his constituents who have lost their jobs We have touched on this before, and there have been a lot of reports in the newspapers, but it is important to allow the correct channel, the official receiver, to do its job. I stress to the House that, under the Insolvency Act 1986, the official receiver, as liquidator, may seek to overturn a range of transactions made prior to the liquidation, which includes things like bonuses, although I think we need to leave it to due process to see whether that would be appropriate There is also the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, and I fully support that idea. As I said in answer to a previous question, the Government were concerned to ensure that we did not prop up an organisation that was already doing things wrong.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): First, with regard to the repatriation of staff, it is not the case that all the staff necessarily want to come straight back. Aircrew, for example, have been or are being repatriated, but many others are still assisting with the operation on the ground in many different locations, and we are hugely grateful to them The next two weeks are critical. The largest group of people, the 150,000 holidaymakers, is so large that there is no way to get them back other than chartering aircraft to fly them back. The number of other people involved is of a size at which commercial flights can be used to return them We are urgently addressing not only the cabin crew and that side of things but the other employees and the scheduling for when they need to get back. I have been clear with the CAA that it should offer them every possible assistance along the way Sorry, I have forgotten the hon. Lady’s second question.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): I reject the assertion that nothing has happened. The airline insolvency review required time—in fact, the final version was published only on 9 May. A few months later, we are getting on with it. I will ensure that we work on this, and I hope we can do so on a cross-party basis. It is not quite as simple as one might imagine, because there are multiple facets to address, not one single thing to be done, but the hon. Lady has my undertaking that we will get on with this.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. To this point, the erudition of questions has been equalled only by their length. Unfortunately, there is a premium on time, as we have other matters with which we have to deal, so I appeal to colleagues to cast aside pre-written scripts and to confine themselves to single sentence—preferably short sentence—questions, without preamble, so that we can make progress.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): I think I answered the first question about the Insolvency Act and the Company Directors Disqualification Act. As the hon. Lady knows, it is for the official receiver to do that part of the work, and I cannot pre-empt it. She tempts me to stray into other areas, which are a long way from the transport brief, so I think I had better not answer now.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Antoinette Geraldine Sherratt (Sandbach) (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Secretary of State join me in praising Thomas Cook employees who turned up for work on Monday to help to repatriate passengers? Will he make sure that the inquiries by the Insolvency Service take in the impact on Thomas Cook of the 20% depreciation in the pound against the euro, to help an assessment of whether other travel industry firms based in the UK are vulnerable to those currency movements?
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right about the extraordinary work done by employees who know they have lost their job still working, even today, and by those who are uncertain about their future in many foreign and British locations. I pay tribute to them on behalf of the whole House, I am sure Many factors led to the collapse of Thomas Cook. Management, which has been mentioned many times, makes a large contribution, but so do other factors, including a very hot summer last year, which stopped people from going away, following the wrong business model, and the growth of the internet—problems that stretch back way before any of us in this House voted to have a referendum on Brexit.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Other
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): Although I do not want to reveal the contents of the Queen’s Speech, I hope the hon. Gentleman will appreciate that I have hinted broadly at where we want to go. With the reassurance of those on the Opposition Front Bench, I think he will have his asks answered.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Henry Edward Millar Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Transport Secretary join me in paying tribute to airlines such as Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet and to travel operators such as TUI, which have reached out to former Thomas Cook employees offering employment? I encourage the Government to get on with changing insolvency law and adopting a system similar to chapter 11 protection, which has saved so many US airlines.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): Like many colleagues, I have a Thomas Cook branch, in Sudbury, in my constituency, which has closed, and I am grateful to the Secretary of State for the work he will be putting in place to support redundant staff. However, does he agree that the biggest cause of the collapse was the unsustainable debt that the company had, which came from a merger strategy that was completely flawed? Does he agree that those who oversaw those mergers, who would have earned handsomely from them, and those who have run this company into the ground must be held to account?
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Douglas Gordon Ross (Conservative, Centre-right): Moray had two Thomas Cook branches prior to the collapse—one in Buckie and one in Elgin. I have been in discussions with the Business Secretary over the last few days, but can the Secretary of State reiterate what the Government are doing to support, advise and help former employees of this company, not only in high streets across Moray and the United Kingdom but abroad?
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Housing
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend the high streets Minister has already been in contact with me about the further hole that this leaves in our high streets. He has a number of fantastic programmes, and the local authorities of many of us in the House will be bidding under them to enhance and improve high streets. As this latest collapse has shown, our high streets are dramatically changing as people need to come to the high street for an experience or a service that they cannot get elsewhere, including perhaps online. My right hon. Friend will be very happy to speak to the hon. Lady about that.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Richard Michael John Ogilvie Graham (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the action taken on the priorities, which are to repatriate customers as soon as possible and to help innocent staff, such as those at Thomas Cook in Gloucester, to get new jobs as quickly as possible. However, does my right hon. Friend agree that, as well as carrying out an investigation into the corporate behaviour, the directors’ decisions, the future protection for pensioners and so on, his Department should also look at the aviation sector, and at great British strengths in general, to see whether parts of that sector—particularly package tour operators—have not adjusted to changing circumstances as quickly as they should and to see what more can be done?
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Mixed Topics
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right: there are very profitable parts of this sector. One large British airline has just made record profits, which shows that there is money to be made in the sector. However, I would not want to be in the position of dictating to the sector how it runs its businesses—some will succeed, and some will not. What I am passionately interested in is that, when they do go wrong, as has been discussed, the problems do not fall on the taxpayer’s shoulders.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady confuses two points. It is absolutely true, as I have said many times, that we need a new administration regime, but the fundamental difference that she refers to in the Scandinavian and German examples is the profitability of the underlying business there due to the different influences in their particular markets and the way that the businesses have been run at that sub-level.
Thomas Cook — House of Commons, 2019-09-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should always be cautious about bailing out private sector businesses, particularly ones that are £1.9 billion in debt and struggle to make money even in a good year? We should also look at our competitions policy and try to avoid businesses getting so big that when they fail, they have a widespread effect on UK consumers.