argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Kirsty Ann Blackman (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Prime Minister for advance sight of the statement, and I thank you, Mr Speaker, for the benefit of your words on how we could proceed The events of the past few hours have highlighted that this is a Government in a total state of collapse. The Prime Minister has been forced to pull tomorrow’s vote in a stunning display of pathetic cowardice. The vote tomorrow night would have shown the will of this House, but this Government are focused on saving the Prime Minister’s job and her party. Instead of doing what is right for these countries, she is abdicating her responsibility The Prime Minister’s deal will make people poorer. It will lead to years of further uncertainty and difficult negotiation, with no guarantee that a trade deal can even be struck. It does not have the support of those on her Back Benches; indeed, it has no support from the majority of those on the Benches across this place, no support from the Scottish Parliament and no support from the Welsh Assembly. Why has it taken the Prime Minister this long to face up to reality? Her deal was dead in the water long before this morning. Last week, it was this deal or no deal. She now needs to be clear with this House about what has changed. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, but yet again our views are being ignored, as they have been throughout this disastrous and incompetent Brexit process. Back in 2014, Scotland was promised the strength and security of the UK, but the reality has been Westminster collapse and chaos. We were promised an equal partnership, but we have been treated with contempt The Prime Minister has lost the confidence of those on her own Benches, and she has failed to convince this House of her plan for exiting the EU. We simply cannot go on like this. It is clear that the Prime Minister is incapable of taking decisions about the future and that Downing Street cannot negotiate any more—either with the EU or with those on the Tory Back Benches. What the Prime Minister is really scared of is allowing this House to determine the way forward and allowing the public the opportunity to remain in the EU. She knows she has lost, but she is still wasting precious time. We need the Prime Minister to be clear about when the House will vote on this deal This Government and the Prime Minister have failed. It is time they got out of the way. Prime Minister, Members across this House do not want your deal. The EU does not want to renegotiate. Is not the only way to break this deadlock to put it to the people?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has said that she does not want a second vote because it risks dividing the country again, but I remind her that the United Kingdom is not a country; it is a Union of four nations. That Union is already divided, because two out of those four nations voted to remain. She has conceded this afternoon that she cannot get the House to support her deal. If she really believes in the deal, why will she not have the courage of her convictions and put that deal to the four nations of the UK, giving them a choice between her deal or remaining in the European Union, which the Court of Justice said this morning is possible? Why not put it back to the people, Prime Minister?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: Government Operations
Hannah Mary Bardell (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I ask this on behalf of the many Livingston constituents who have been in touch with me, and, I am sure, many people across the United Kingdom. What the heck is going on? This is a complete and utter clusterbùrach. Why is the Prime Minister more concerned with her own self-preservation, and with narrow party unity, than with the lives and livelihoods of my constituents? How dare she postpone this vote, just because she was going to lose? Downing Street and her team have spent the last few days saying that the vote was happening. How can anyone in the House, or indeed anyone in the countries of the United Kingdom, trust a single word that she or her Government speak ever again?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I have been reflecting on the referendum that I took part in as an 18-year-old first-time voter in 1979, in which Scotland voted on returning its Parliament. If the EU referendum had been subject to the same rules, we would not be leaving now. However, does the Prime Minister not accept that the difficulty in getting an acceptable trade deal and in resolving the problem of the Irish border is not the fault of the Irish, north or south, and is not the fault of Europe? It is the fault of the red lines that she unilaterally and unnecessarily set right at the start. If the Prime Minister will not accept that it is time for the red lines to go, surely it is time for the Prime Minister to go.
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Carol Frances Monaghan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Prime Minister and many on her Benches have demonstrated an astounding ignorance of the history of these isles. Attempting to bully Ireland into perceived compliance by threatening food supplies is utterly abhorrent. Can she assure the House that in any conversations, negotiations or interactions, Ireland will be considered an equal?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Deidre Leanne Brock (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Hard to follow that one, Mr Speaker At a quarter to four this afternoon, I received a written answer that stated: "The Northern Ireland Protocol guarantees that even in the event that the UK’s future relationship with the EU is not in place by the end of the implementation period, there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and no splitting of the UK’s customs territory. In so doing, the agreement preserves the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom, upholds the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, and ensures people and businesses that rely on an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland can continue living their lives and operating as they do now." Does the Prime Minister agree?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): At the beginning of this process, the Prime Minister said she would reach out right across the UK to the devolved nations, across the divide, and agree a negotiating position before going to Europe, but she did not. She has made all the decisions herself and painted herself into a corner with her red lines, and what we have in front of us is a blind Brexit. We will not be putting this behind us for years because those 26 pages are just blather—it is nothing. It is clear from the fact that the Prime Minister will not allow MPs to vote and will not allow the people to vote that she has no faith in this deal herself. Is that not closer to the case?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I spent much of the weekend reassuring worried farmers, fishermen and distillery workers in my constituency that the stark choice being forced on them between the Prime Minister’s deal and a hard, no-deal Brexit was a false choice. Today, the Prime Minister has confirmed that I was right—it is a false choice. Will she now accept that this was one cruel bluff too far, and that today, in the eyes of the public, she and her hopelessly divided Government are taking self-serving political cowardice to a whole new level?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: Government Operations
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): What we have witnessed today is the evaporation of any lingering vapours of credibility from this Prime Minister and a Government that she leads in name only, after the cowardly decision to postpone or stop the vote. After more than two years of pandering to Tory Back-Bench infighting and coming up with this mess, is it not time that she took responsibility? If the Leader of the Opposition has the backbone to press a no-confidence vote tomorrow, will she abstain or will she do the honourable thing beforehand and resign?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Stuart Campbell McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I have heard absolutely nothing that justifies halting our debate, because if the red lines are not going to change, the deal is not going to be changed materially either. In the last few minutes, Donald Tusk has confirmed that the deal and the backstop cannot be renegotiated. If the Prime Minister is intent on listening to this House, will she confirm that we will have a vote on whether to halt our debate?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): After two years of telling us that no deal is better than a bad deal, it is an insult to our intelligence to tell us that no deal is so catastrophic that we have to vote for the Prime Minister’s bad deal, yet at the same time she says, "Don’t worry, we’ve prepared for a no deal." When it comes to no deal, the reality is that she had a Brexit Secretary who did not know how important the port of Dover was and a Transport Secretary who did not bother to visit the port of Dover from June 2016 to October 2018. That is how far behind the Government are in their no-deal preparations. Is the Prime Minister not insulting our intelligence further by saying that she is ready, and is it not the case that she has never had control of this situation?
Exiting the European Union — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Martyn Day (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has warned the House of the risk of dividing the country and a loss of faith in our democracy. Does not she recognise that, if we press on regardless, if we take Scotland out of the EU against its will on the back of a UK-wide vote that was only narrowly won and won with extensive rule breaking by the leave campaign, she will do exactly that? If she has not got the guts to put a vote before this House or the people, is not it time for her to resign?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State for his statement I am proud to be one of the six Scottish parliamentarians who took this action through the Scottish courts and all the way to the Court of Justice of the European Union. I did it with an SNP colleague, two Labour colleagues and two Scottish Green colleagues, which shows the strength of cross-party working and what can be achieved when the Opposition work together. I also thank Jo Maugham, QC—he was also one of the petitioners —the Good Law Project and those who crowdfunded this litigation The UK Government fought us every inch of the way, including attempting an unconstitutional appeal to the UK Supreme Court. No appeal to the Supreme Court lies in Scots law for an interim decision of the Inner House, so quite a lot of money was wasted on that unconstitutional appeal I have a number of questions for the Secretary of State. First, why were the Government so desperate to prevent parliamentarians and the public from knowing what we now know, which is that article 50 can be revoked and we can stay in the European Union on our current terms and conditions? I invite him again to answer the question asked by the hon. Member for Darlington (Jenny Chapman). How much taxpayers’ money was spent attempting to keep this House and the public in the dark? I sat through a fair number of the court hearings, and I can tell hon. Members and the public that the UK Government had a veritable array of silks lined up on a daily basis, which does not necessarily come cheap The Secretary of State keeps saying that the question is hypothetical. If he has read any of the judgments of the Court of Justice or the Scottish courts, he will see that it has been ruled that the question is not hypothetical. It has been ruled that it is not for the UK Government to decide whether to revoke article 50 and that, as a matter of the British constitution, it is for this House to do so. Does he accept the view of Scotland’s most senior judge, the Lord President, Lord Carloway, that constitutionally it is for the House of Commons to revoke article 50, not the Government? The Secretary of State also says it is not Government policy to revoke article 50, but can he tell us what Government policy is at present? It is not at all clear to me today Finally, if the Prime Minister really does believe in this deal and that it is such a great deal for the United Kingdom, why do she and her Government not have the courage of their convictions and put it to a vote so that people across the United Kingdom can choose between it and remaining in the European Union on our current terms and conditions?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: Law and Crime
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): First, I warmly congratulate my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry) and her colleagues on this thoroughly deserved and epoch-making victory. May I gently advise the Secretary of State that it is not a good look for a Minister and a Government who claim to abide by the rule of law to seek to impugn the motives of the winners in a serious court case, or to appear to agree with colleagues who want to impugn the professionalism and integrity of the court that has delivered the verdict The Secretary of State has confirmed that the judgment does not change the law but clarifies it, and that it does not change Government policy. Does it change the Government’s understanding of the law? He has carefully avoided the question that has been asked twice, which I will ask a third time: how much has this cost the British taxpayer? Was that money spent because the Government were badly advised and thought they could win, or was it spent criminally negligently by a Government who knew they were going to lose and continued to spend our money just for the hell of it?
EU Exit: Article 50 — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I congratulate my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry) on her work. Is it not a great irony that the ECJ has given us much vaunted controls, but we still have Tory Brexiteers complaining? The UK now has a choice: either revoke article 50, or we in Scotland will have our second independence referendum, as Scotland voted to remain. Will the Government table a motion to revoke article 50, or do we in the Scottish National party get going with indyref 2? When they crash the economy, we are getting the lifeboat out of here.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In response to my questions earlier, the Secretary of State said—at least I understood him to say this—that the United Kingdom Government had taken the same position as the Commission before the Court of Justice. My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South (Stewart Malcolm McDonald) challenged him on that. I am sure that the Secretary of State has now had the opportunity to familiarise himself with the Court’s opinion, where he will see that the Council and the Commission took the position that article 50 could be revoked, but it would need the unanimous consent of the other member states. Curiously—I can say as a senior counsel that I have never seen this happen before—the British Government refused to take a position on whether article 50 could be revoked. They refused to answer the question. I am very anxious that the record be corrected as this is a decision of the highest court in the European Union. If the Secretary of State is not prepared to acknowledge that he was wrong and that I am right about this, can you, Mr Speaker, assist me in how I might put the record straight?
Trade Agreements: Environmental and Animal Welfare — House of Commons, 2018-11-29
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on maintaining environmental and animal welfare standards in future trade agreements.
Deidre Leanne Brock (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said in its report on the Agriculture Bill that the Government should put their money where their mouth is and accept an amendment stipulating that food products imported as part of any future trade deal should meet or exceed British standards relating to production, animal welfare and the environment. I have tabled such an amendment; will the Minister undertake to accept it in order to keep Frankenstein foods off the tables of families the length and breadth of these isles?
Farming: Funding Schemes — House of Commons, 2018-11-29
Topic: Agriculture
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): How can the Minister talk about ethical funding when Westminster has stolen £160 million of convergence uplift meant for Scottish farmers? What are the Government doing to replace that up to 2020, and what is going to happen beyond 2020?
Leaving the EU: Fishing Industry — House of Commons, 2018-11-29
Topic: Agriculture
Christopher Murray Alexander Law (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): We all know we cannot trust the Tories with Scotland’s fishing industry. After all, former Prime Ministers Ted Heath, Margaret Thatcher and John Major all sold Scotland’s fishing down the water. Now we know that the current Prime Minister has signed an agreement with the EU to "build on…existing reciprocal access and quota shares." Can the Secretary of State help the House understand how that is in any way taking back control of the waters?
Leaving the EU: Fishing Industry — House of Commons, 2018-11-29
Topic: Agriculture
John Joseph McNally (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Yesterday the Prime Minister told the hon. Member for Moray (Douglas Ross) that, as an independent coastal state, the UK will be able to "negotiate access" to its waters with other countries. Constituents have asked me why, at such a pivotal and crucial time for the fishing industry in Scotland, there are no Scottish Tory constituency MPs in the Secretary of State’s Department in order to be a more effective and balanced Government.
Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Advice — House of Commons, 2018-11-29
Topic: Government Operations
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I commend the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer) on securing this urgent question. A dangerous pattern is developing here. First, the Government tried to avoid their obligations under a previous Humble Address to release their impact assessments, and on two instances, senior Conservative ex-Ministers were given guarantees by Ministers at the Dispatch Box, which they then claimed publicly had been broken. Now we see the Government trying to wriggle out of yet another binding decision of this House Mr Speaker, this is not the time or the place to re-run the discussion about whether it was a good idea for that motion on an Humble Address to have been passed. How ironic that the Government want to re-run a debate on something that has already been voted on—just think about that! This is not the time to discuss its merits. As has been said, if the Government did not want to comply with the instruction, they should have instructed their MPs to vote against it. The reason they did not was that they knew they would have lost the vote Does the Solicitor General accept the ruling of the Chair that this decision is binding on the Government? If so, when do the Government intend to comply with the instruction they have had from representatives of the sovereign citizens of these islands?
Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Advice — House of Commons, 2018-11-29
Topic: Government Operations
Carol Frances Monaghan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): But this is not normal government. This is an irrevocable vote, so given the importance of that vote, does the Solicitor General not agree that MPs are entitled to the full truth on behalf of the people they represent?
Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Advice — House of Commons, 2018-11-29
Topic: International Affairs
Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I do not see how a unanimous vote in the House could ever be seen as cheap populism. The House said unambiguously that it wanted the Attorney General’s legal advice to be published in full. Given that the withdrawal agreement is looking increasingly like a burst ball, does the Solicitor General not think that ignoring the will of Parliament and hiding behind the "national interest" excuse just adds to the public perception that this is a Government descending into chaos?
Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Advice — House of Commons, 2018-11-29
Topic: International Affairs
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Instead of expressing faux outrage from the Dispatch Box, the Solicitor General could have shown some backbone and voted against the motion. We have had more than two years of the UK Government telling us that no deal is better than a bad deal, but now suddenly the deal that is on the table is the only show in town and we are being told that no deal would be an unmitigated disaster. Given the Government’s ineptitude over this entire process, how are we supposed to believe their position statement on impartial legal advice?
Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2018-12-05
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the findings of the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in relation to poverty in Wales.; What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the findings of the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in relation to poverty in Wales.; What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the findings of the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in relation to poverty in Wales.; What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the findings of the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in relation to poverty in Wales.
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is good to hear that the Secretary of State will consider the report. The UN special rapporteur praised the Scottish Government for what they are doing to mitigate the austerity cuts from the Tory Government, but he also noted that the powers of the Welsh Government are limited in that respect. What representations has the Secretary of State had from the Labour Welsh Government about getting additional powers to mitigate that and implement welfare in a fairer manner?