argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Jonathan Simon Djanogly (Conservative, Centre-right): I realised that the Government really understood the nature of sanctioning oligarchs when the sanctions on Aeroflot were extended to private jets. In that vein, will my right hon. Friend consider banning insurance for Russian yachts and jets? It would have a worldwide application and make life a lot tougher for those concerned.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend my right hon. Friend and her team for all their amazing work in the face of this appalling invasion. Does she agree that the best way to combat the worrying resurgence of Russia and China, and to reassure other countries, is to invest in not only our defence but our diplomatic reach around the world so that we can spread our values of democracy and freedom and proclaim them even more loudly?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that the ones named in the statement are either in our legislation or have already been sanctioned. The point about working with our allies across the world is that these people and organisations will have nowhere to hide.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Kieran John Mullan (Conservative, Centre-right): India is a great friend of the UK and a leading democracy, and Indian communities prosper in democracies around the world, including of course in this country. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is in India’s long-term interests to do everything it possibly can to ensure this invasion fails?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): That is absolutely correct. Every sovereign nation that believes in fair play and the rule of law around the world should be doing all it can to stop Putin being successful in Ukraine. That includes India, China and every other country around the world.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): We are running through a list, and we have already sanctioned over 120 businesses in Russia and oligarchs. We have prevented the Russian central bank from deploying its international reserves to counteract sanctions. We are freezing bank assets of vast parts of the Russian economy, and we will continue to do more to target individual companies with freezes and sanctions. As I have said, nothing is off the table, and we are working in train with our allies on all of this.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate the Foreign Secretary and the Government on the swift action they have taken, including the action against the Russian central bank, and I commend her for her work to go further. Frankly, however, is it not desperate and indeed pitiful to try to blame words from Her Majesty’s Government for the outrageous Russian escalation of dangerous rhetoric yesterday, because the truth is that it is imperative for the stability of the international order that Putin fails?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right. The reality is that Putin has made these threats to distract from his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. We are being targeted because the UK has been leading on measures both to support Ukraine and to degrade the Russian economy, and the Russians do not like it.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have said, we cannot tar every single person of Russian origin with the same brush. We are targeting oligarchs close to Putin without fear or favour and freezing bank assets without fear or favour, and we will continue to do so.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Foreign Secretary for coming to the House to update Members. I understand that today she has banned travel from the United Kingdom to Russia. Have we also asked British citizens in Russia to return? Will she confirm that nothing is off the table economically, diplomatically or militarily?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): We have moved our travel advice on Russia to red, which means that we advise against all travel. That is not the same as a ban; it is ultimately Government advice, but I strongly advise people not to go to Russia. That is very clear. On the wider issue, nothing is off the table on sanctions, and we are absolutely clear about that. We are pushing our G7 allies as hard as we can to get a full ban on SWIFT and on all bank assets, and to reduce dependence on oil and gas, which is ultimately the most important economic lever over Putin.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): We are looking at what can be done with RT, but if we ban RT in the United Kingdom, that is likely to lead to channels such as the BBC being banned in Russia, and we want the Russian population to hear the truth about what Vladimir Putin is doing. There is a careful judgment to be made, and that is something the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is looking at.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): The vast majority of Russian people are like us. They want to earn money, provide for their families and be happy, but their President, Mr Putin, has taken them down a very dark path, and the world to the brink. Will my right hon. Friend join me in urging the Russian people, and those in the Kremlin who do not agree with Mr Putin, to do whatever it takes to bring Russia back from the brink and stop Putin?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I completely agree with my hon. Friend that we must do all we can to stiffen the resolve of those in Russia who are disgusted by President Putin’s actions in their name. That is why it is important to reach out through channels such as the BBC, and that we communicate clearly. The Foreign Office recently stood up its information unit, which provides communications to challenge disinformation from the Putin regime.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
John David Penrose (Conservative, Centre-right): Four years ago an inquiry was announced into the progress of golden visas that had potentially been misallocated. Will the Foreign Secretary confirm that anybody on her list who becomes sanctioned—I commend her on the ever-growing list of oligarchs who she is sanctioning—will have any golden visas that they may have been granted in the past summarily revoked?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): We have been working closely with the Home Office on this issue as well as the Polish Government. In fact, I am due to meet the Polish Minister tomorrow to discuss it further. We have a forward team of Foreign Office officials in Poland precisely to help with such cases.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Julian Francis Pawsey (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the additional Government measures announced today, but will the Foreign Secretary recognise and indeed encourage the actions of UK individuals and companies who have chosen to dispose of investments and shareholdings in Russian companies, and not least BP’s disposal of its stake in Rosneft, which will come at a substantial cost to its shareholders?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, we are working on that. We are working closely with the International Criminal Court, and the chief prosecutor has already issued a statement about the situation in Ukraine. We are determined that everyone in Russia close to Putin, who is in charge of this appalling invasion, should be aware that they could be prosecuted for war crimes for what they are doing. On diplomatic expulsions, of course we do not rule anything out. We are working closely with our allies.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Robert Butler (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much welcome the Foreign Secretary’s robust statement on further sanctions on Russia and strong support for Ukraine. Deliberate misinformation and propaganda are part of Putin’s toolbox, so does she agree that while we must safeguard and respect free speech, social media companies have a responsibility to ensure that they are not propagating lies and that they must moderate the content on their platforms extremely carefully?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Jack Edgar Brereton (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much welcome the UK’s robust global leadership against Putin’s Russia. The high dependency on Russian energy in parts of Europe has been used by Putin to threaten many of those European countries. What more can the British Government do to help support those countries to reduce that dependency?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I am working closely with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on helping those countries reduce their dependence. We are working with the G7 so that, over time, there will be less and less oil, gas and coal imported from Russia so that there will be less money to fund Putin’s war machine.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Anthony James Holland Mangnall (Conservative, Centre-right): The Foreign Secretary announced the launching of a joint taskforce to hunt down the assets of oligarchs hit by our sanctions. Can she tell us the speed and scale at which that taskforce will be set up, and what conversations have been had with the insurance companies, which presumably have a list of all the assets and names of the individuals?
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Foreign Trade
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not have that figure on me, but I can get it to the hon. Gentleman. The point that I was making is that the action that we have taken on clearing is in conjunction with the United States, so between us we are able to cover 50% of that trade.
Sanctions — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): It is very important in all that we do that we work with allies, and co-ordinated action is vital to send a message to Russia and the rest of the world. As I have said, nothing is off the table.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her points. Clearly, on the time that this has taken, she will remember that in the 2017 to 2019 Parliament, a huge amount of our time was taken up by members of the Labour party and the Opposition parties frustrating Brexit. They absorbed a huge amount of parliamentary time and I am afraid that that was one of the reasons we could not expedite this sort of legislation There will be criminal liability for failure to update the register annually and for giving misleading or inaccurate information. We are working with the Crown dependencies to update their transparency; by next year, they will have to have much greater transparency requirements. The hon. Lady will be pleased to know that my Government colleagues and I speak to our counterparts in the devolved Administrations on a very regular basis.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s remarks. As far as the enablers are concerned, we have legislation already on the statute book. As my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary said in her statement, we are looking at other measures to tighten the regime We work with DA Ministers constantly. The Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Scully), has engaged ably and directly with DA Ministers, and we look forward to doing so This set of measures is only the beginning of the much tighter regime that we want to bring in. [Interruption.] People are chuntering from a sedentary position, but I would like to point out that these matters, particularly those regarding cryptocurrencies and cyber-crime, are complicated. We are trying to expedite legislation on those fronts as quickly as possible.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew John Bower Mitchell (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend has brought excellent news to the House this afternoon, but will he at least acknowledge that the right hon. Member for Barking (Dame Margaret Hodge), my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Nigel Mills), my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake) and I have been asking the Government to do these things for the last four years and more? Will he now look at the other measures that we have advocated to clamp down on dirty money and money laundering? He is absolutely right about Companies House, but will he now ensure that it has real monkey glands for investigating, and is not just a library? That will require money and officials with great expertise, but sunlight, as ever, is the best disinfectant.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Jonathan Simon Djanogly (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the statement. While I fully support efforts to have the means to investigate criminality and sanctions-busting schemes at Companies House—and I hope that that will be properly funded, because it will be expensive to carry out—I also hope that the process of registration will not be burdened to the extent that we lose competitive advantage and throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Government Operations
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I think my hon. Friend is right. There is always a balance to be struck in legislation of this sort, but I think that, as he takes the temperature of the House, there is a real feeling that we need to expedite it. I feel confident that it strikes the right balance between fairness and transparency, and will not be overburdening people with bureaucracy.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Government Operations
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): As I noted, observed and made very clear, we have a spending review settlement of £63 million for Companies House, which is a considerable uplift on previous budgets. There is a commitment to make sure we have the resources to police this new regime We speak to colleagues in the devolved Administrations all the time, and I am even happy to discuss these issues with the right hon. Gentleman, should he be so minded.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Education
Alicia Alexandra Martha Kearns (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much welcome these efforts to rid ill-gotten roubles from our system, but in future packages will my right hon. Friend extend transparency efforts into the private education sector and education corporations? Our sanctions regime should stop sanctioned oligarchs from being able to pay future school fees, because they are sanctioned, but many of them pay school fees through shell companies, cash and cut-outs. So will he make sure that our amazing educational establishments do not continue to receive money from ill-gotten gains?
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Education
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): This issue has been raised already, particularly by my right hon. Friend the Education Secretary, who is absolutely focused on making sure that our education system is not abused in the way that our legislation on property and companies is.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Anthony Howe Browne (Conservative, Centre-right): This House is united in agreeing that we need to get rid of dirty money from the so-called London laundromat, and I very much welcome these proposals on reforming Companies House, which is a big step in that direction. As a recent Treasury Committee report showed, the economic crime landscape is littered with agencies that are too weak to clamp down on money laundering and fraud. Will the Secretary of State confirm that Companies House will have not just the right resources—other Members have mentioned that—but sufficient powers to really clamp down on the oligarchs, who will no doubt be determined to try to block this?
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend will appreciate that the legislation proposed will set up a range of criminal offences. As is always the case with criminal offences, we will absolutely make sure that the people who are enforcing those penalties are properly resourced. I am very keen to work with him to make sure that we get this right.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Government Operations
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): Dare I say it, but I have been a Member of this House for long enough not to bring a bag for praise—or whatever the phrase the hon. Gentleman used. I was not expecting that. What I do want to engage with him on is the fact that we are speaking to counterparts in the devolved Administrations because there must be a greater degree of co-ordination. We are also working with the overseas territories. We are expecting them to have much greater transparency, and we will be making that representation to them.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests—I am a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Further to what many Members have said, there is no point in our having a register if what is on it is untrue. Could we have a requirement for an auditor to verify the truth of a certificate, and if it turns out that it is untrue, that auditor is subject to criminal prosecution?
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I am conscious that my hon. Friend would not want me to burden people who are legitimately setting up companies. He will also appreciate that the legislation will create new criminal offences, and I am confident that this will significantly tighten the regime that we have today.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Government Operations
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is absolutely right to say that we want to have greater transparency. The example in the statement was merely that; it was an example of how people can hide ownership of assets. We want greater transparency generally.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, particularly the bit about overseas entities. There are a couple of things that he might consider for his White Paper. Some 43% of all financial crime is identified by whistleblowers, so proper whistleblowing protection is absolutely critical to identifying this stuff. The other thing is failure to prevent economic crime. If we want our banks and wealth managers to clamp down on this stuff and to do the right thing, they need to face criminal charges if they do not.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has been speaking about these affairs with a great deal of knowledge and passion for many years, and I have engaged with him on these subjects. He will also appreciate that what we are doing in bringing forward this legislation does not capture the entire economic crime package. There are other measures that we will be looking to bring in very soon.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady raises a key issue. It is of great relevance to me and my Department, and also of relevance to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. I would like to say very briefly that the UK has led on this. The fact that Russian financial institutions are being denied access to SWIFT has been very much a success of our diplomacy, but I am very happy to talk to her about further measures.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend will be pleased to learn that, as a consequence of the comprehensive spending review, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has increased the amount in anticipation of the reforms that we are bringing in. I am happy to work with my hon. Friend in future to ensure that we get this absolutely right.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend the Minister for Security will address some of those issues in his Department. There is legislation currently under consideration that will give more powers to enforcement agencies. As far as my Department is concerned, we have campaigned successfully for more resources for Companies House so that it can become a much more effective watchdog than it currently is.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Government Operations
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): We are making very good progress on all those cases, but I bring to the hon. Lady’s attention the fact that the reform of Companies House that we are mooting is the first time in 200 years that it has been reformed in this way. I also highlight that we have led the way in the debate on SWIFT and on transparency in the international arena. Ministers from around the world are engaging with us directly on the effective measures we are bringing about.
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2022-02-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is experienced enough a parliamentarian to know that the idea of freezing assets is outside the scope of this legislation—indeed, it is outside the scope of my Department. The Government are looking at a range of other measures that may well reflect the concerns he has described.