argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): For nearly a decade, I have been a champion of a charity called the Internet Watch Foundation. It is not a paid role, but it gives me huge pride. The IWF was set up by the previous Conservative Prime Minister, and it identifies online images of child exploitation and then removes them from the internet. Last year, the IWF took down or acted on 132,000 reports of child sexual exploitation, 55% of which involved children who appeared to be under the age of 10 and one third of which involved rape or sexual torture. Child sexual exploitation is hideous, and when the images can be taken down, sources can be traced and lives can be saved. I am proud that less than 1% of such images are now stored in the UK thanks to the work of the IWF However, speed is vital when tracking images and getting hold of them means that our law enforcement authorities can then build cases and hold these evil people to account. This Bill will allow our law enforcement agencies to apply via the UK courts for a court order in other countries to get access to that data, and it will be crucial in countries such as the US, where we are already negotiating such an agreement. I am concerned that the Labour party’s amendments will create extra delays in the process when children’s lives are at risk. We should be working as hard and as fast as possible to get rid of this global crime. Britain needs to stand up and take the lead and save our children from exploitation on the internet. I am proud to support the Bill tonight.
Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the right hon. Gentleman therefore clarify his party’s position if we were in a negotiation with another country and the other country said, "Look, we cannot give you the death penalty assurances."? Some 99.9% of the data requests under this Bill will be concerned with crimes of paedophilia or the other crimes that I described earlier. Should the death penalty become a bar, is the right hon. Gentleman saying that the UK should not enter into an agreement because of the rare occasions on which an offence may involve the death penalty? Would he sacrifice the 99.9% for that?
Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): I fully understand the right hon. Gentleman’s point. He talks about "our wish", but he cannot speak for the other country that may be involved in forming an international agreement. They may say, "That’s fine. We know what you want, but we are not prepared to do that." In that case, the decision becomes whether we want to use this legislation for the urgent and speedy data requests that happen 99.9% of the time for offences that are egregious and horrible but do not warrant the death penalty. He cannot speak for another country, so would he sacrifice the whole Bill?
Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): My point is that the moment for the House to look at that is not when considering this Bill but when whatever treaty or international arrangement we make with whatever country we need to make it with comes before the House for scrutiny. Then we can have a debate about whether the international treaty we have sought to give effect to this order is right for the balance of risk, but the generic primary legislation that allows an order to be made is not the right vehicle.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Campbell Bowie (Conservative, Centre-right): It is on that point of co-location. May I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate? I can find nothing to disagree with in what he has said thus far, but he has raised Scotland’s future a couple of times. He said, "We are not an independent state yet." Does he not agree that the hugely positive impact that Scotland has in the world—our global soft power footprint—is actually enhanced by our being a part of a bigger, greater United Kingdom, which I think is second in the global power index? He has just mentioned the Scottish Government office being co-located with the British embassy in Washington.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Campbell Bowie (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not want to go down this rabbit hole, but the hon. Gentleman did bring up Bannockburn earlier on. To go back to what he said about the dozens and dozens of countries that have gained their independence from the United Kingdom, it was of course because of Bannockburn that we joined the Union as an equal partner. Therefore, we are not in the same position as those dozens and dozens of countries that have gained independence. We are an equal partner within this United Kingdom, from which Scotland does very well indeed.
Speaker’s Statement — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: Government Operations
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. Just before I invite the Minister of State to reply to the Adjournment debate, I want to say the following. I have received a letter signed by the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), the hon. Member for North East Fife (Stephen Gethins), the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Tom Brake), the right hon. Member for Belfast North (Nigel Dodds) and the hon. Members for Arfon (Hywel Williams) and for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas). I have also received a letter within the last 10 minutes from the Attorney General. The letter that I received from the Members mentioned at the start of this statement asks me to give precedence to a motion relating to privilege in relation to the failure of Ministers to comply with the terms of the resolution of the House of 13 November—[Interruption.] I will just wait until the Government Chief Whip has finished his conversation with his ministerial colleague. It would seem courteous if he could just hold off for a moment and allow me to make my statement. That would perhaps appear to show the proper politeness. I have considered the matter carefully, and I am satisfied that there is an arguable case that a contempt has been committed. I am therefore giving precedence to a motion to be tabled tonight before the House rises and to be taken as first business tomorrow, Tuesday. It will then be entirely for the House to decide on that motion.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Member for North East Fife (Stephen Gethins) for securing this debate—or at least I was at the outset. I pay tribute to him for his valuable work as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and as the Scottish National party’s foreign affairs spokesman. My father and many Duncans before him were born and brought up in Caithness, so I share the hon. Gentleman’s pride in Scotland’s contribution to the United Kingdom’s international work. I am happy to join him in celebrating St Andrew’s Day, although I must say that his notion of the soft power of Robbie Burns’s poetry solving the conflicts in Georgia rather stretched me.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): No, I will not. [Hon. Members: "Oh."] I have only just started, for goodness’ sake, and the party has been going in full flight for nearly two hours Having spoken to the hon. Member for North East Fife earlier today, I appreciate the need to distinguish the Scottish contribution from the English, Welsh or Northern Irish, because my view and the view of this Government is that our job and that of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other Departments is to harness all the UK’s soft power and other assets for the benefit of the Union as a whole. I will now give way to the hon. Lady who was trying to intervene a moment ago.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am happy to describe the hon. Lady and her party in any way that she wishes. She knows me well, and I always wish to observe the courtesies of this House and courtesies to those across the Floor of the House. I hope that I have always shown that, and indeed the tone of this debate is that we wish to express certain things in a collegiate way I was grateful to the hon. Member for North East Fife for contacting me in advance of the debate to give me an idea of what he intended to say. Despite having spoken to him, I did not fully anticipate what everyone else on the SNP Benches intended to say, nor the length or the imagination with which they would contribute to a debate entitled "Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint". It seemed that the hon. Gentleman wanted to name every distinguished Scot born in his constituency, and the soft power of Scottish education that I have enjoyed this evening is very much down to his knowledge and his wish to impart it to the wider world at this extraordinary hour in the House of Commons. I have learned more about William Wallace than I ever learned at school, and about all the other names from his constituency. I cannot totally pronounce them all, but I think I heard him right I genuinely speak as someone with a Scottish heritage. My late aunt was a Church of Scotland medical missionary for 30 years. She was teaching basic health in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet 40 years ago, telling people how to wash their hands and drink fresh water. That is an example of the soft power of Scottish origin that all the SNP Members were trying to illustrate tonight.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving credit where it is due. It is very much an illustration of the legacy from my time as an International Development Minister, when in many areas we tried to have match funding. We thought that match funding—"double the love," in his words—is a good way of raising money. The Government saying that they would double the money encouraged people to give. For non-governmental organisations doing the sort of work that has been described tonight, people giving is a good thing. Where the Government can enhance what people have given, it doubles the love and therefore doubles the efficacy of some of the very good work done by NGOs across the country When I was an International Development Minister, I went to Scotland especially to meet all the Scottish NGOs to make sure they were not ignored by the central system in Whitehall, which somehow thinks it is only central money that matters. Of course, the Department for International Development has a massive headquarters in Scotland. I wonder whether the Member for that constituency is here tonight, in which case it would be good to hear them sing the praises of DFID’s headquarters—I think it is in East Kilbride, which I visited on many occasions to see the good work being done from that Scottish centre of excellence The hon. Member for North East Fife particularly focused on conflict prevention, which is a very important area. People somehow think that the only way to stop conflict is if the big forces of government do things, but actually it goes far deeper. Empowering women, having girls in education and making sure that women are included in any sort of peace process are essential for concluding conflict and making sure that the peace thereafter is properly embedded in societies where conflict has been ended. In the absence of women being included, a conflict resolution will never endure I applaud the hon. Gentleman’s focus on conflict resolution and, indeed, on conflict prevention. One could argue that NGOs that can go in and make sure that conflicts do not happen in the first place do far more good than those that have to go and mop up afterwards. The cost of a conflict is many times the cost of spending money and investing resources to prevent that conflict in the first place The UK Government are committed to building peace and stability around the world, and we wish to draw on the best of British expertise from across the UK as well as overseas.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Andrew Menzies (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend talks about drawing on British expertise, but among that there is a considerable amount of Scottish talent. Indeed, many of our embassies, high commissions and international development teams are staffed, and often headed, by incredibly talented Scots. Perhaps he should recognise the talent and depth of talent in the diplomatic community that emanates from Scotland.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I most certainly do. My hon. Friend was my Parliamentary Private Secretary when I was an International Development Minister. When I was briefed in DFID, around many a table were people with Scottish voices. Their knowledge is amazing and their contribution is special, and I always valued the advice I got from such officials In passing, I congratulate my hon. Friend on his appointment as trade envoy to Argentina. I am proud of the progress we are making with Argentina. The joint communiqué in 2016 began to build friendship 30 years after the conflict in the Falklands. We are now making very good progress, and I am delighted that, as the Prime Minister was flying to the G20 only last week, we were able to announce that we have further flights going to the Falklands as a result of the good relations that are now being built between the UK and Argentina As the hon. Member for North East Fife and my hon. Friend the Member for Fylde (Mark Menzies) have said, Scottish people and the Scottish Government have played a part in so much peace building and stability—
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure Members will do exactly as you request, Mr Deputy Speaker, despite the challenge you are now making me face Let me pay proper tribute to some of the successes of the Scottish Government. For example, they hosted Syrian peacemakers in 2016 and provided funding to train 50 peacemakers a year. Those peacemakers were women, and it is very good that they were. I congratulate the Scottish Government on the way in which they shaped that important peacekeeping initiative. Similarly, I wish to highlight the willingness of the Northern Ireland Executive to share their experience of the Good Friday agreement and of community reconciliation with our international partners Let me draw again on my experience as an International Development Minister, as I was deeply involved in the peace talks in Nepal. In drawing together former combatants, the experience of Northern Ireland perhaps most persuaded some of those who had been fighting each other to lay down their arms, hand them in and move into camps where they could gradually start the process of reintegration into civil society. The experience of Northern Ireland contributed massively to the current peace in Nepal, so the experience of all the UK can add importantly to peace making and conflict resolution Members have alluded to soft power, for which the UK is rightly held in high regard. I have always argued that one of the most important elements of soft power that the UK enjoys, perhaps above all other countries, is the integrity and honesty of our diplomatic network abroad. When a British ambassador says something, we know that they are looking at the best interests of the world and trying to solve problems rather than stir them up. We see so many other countries—I could name one in particular—that, whenever they see a problem, like to try to make it worse, whereas when we see a problem we want to solve it. When we see something going wrong we want to put it right. The integrity and effectiveness of our international network and our network of ambassadors contributes enormously to the betterment of the world in that regard.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander John Gervase Chalk (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that Britain’s diplomatic punch is assisted by the fact that we have people of the highest calibre representing our country overseas? The Foreign Office continues to attract such high-quality people, and that is to this country’s great benefit.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend will appreciate that I, of all people, am someone who likes to be able to punch above his weight—perhaps he tries to punch below his height. He rightly says that the effectiveness of our Foreign Office diplomatic network is massive. I very much hope that if right hon. and hon. Members have not seen the three-part series on the Foreign Office that concluded last Thursday on BBC2, they will play it back, because they will see the amazing effectiveness of the UK’s soft power. There was an amazing programme that showed how the consular staff rescued people in the British Virgin Islands after the hurricane, and how they managed to extract someone who was going to be a victim of forced marriage in Baghdad. That soft power has a dramatic effect not just on countries but, importantly, on the lives of individuals.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that one way in which the UK shows the breadth of our culture and the richness of all parts of the United Kingdom is by recruiting people into the diplomatic service from all nations in the United Kingdom, so that they can represent the whole United Kingdom overseas rather than just England?
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am happy to commend all those officials who advised the former Foreign Secretary on the skill with which they did so, often in very challenging circumstances Soft power is very much at the heart of the global Britain agenda.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Soft power is an important asset in the building of relationships with people and nations around the world that help us to secure our global influence. It promotes our prosperity and ultimately protects our people. The British Council is an important part of that network. [Interruption.] It is all very well for SNP Members to gesture to the topic of the debate, from which they deviated with extraordinary skill over two hours, with imagination that I have so rarely seen deployed from their Benches. I congratulate them on the ingenuity that they have shown over the past two hours. I was looking forward to some nice dinner.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am so glad that the hon. Gentleman is such an assiduous attender of these debates and that we can benefit from his wisdom in pointing out so precisely the importance of the Union, how much stronger we are together and how much weaker we would be were we to be fragmented.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. Although I stand here as a Foreign Office Minister, soft power goes far beyond the Foreign Office. Soft power and our influence and the respect in which we are held and therefore the manner in which we can have some bearing on the course of international events is not just a matter of departmental activity on the part of the Foreign Office; it is also, of course, international development where we are the only major western economy to commit to spend 0.7% of our GDP on international development. I have to say that I was very proud to have spent four years as an International Development Minister at a time when that 0.7% commitment was first being applied, which coincided with the Arab spring and what was happening in Syria. Essentially, we turned on a sixpence in order to commit the best part of £1 billion, and subsequently more, to relieve the suffering of people hit by conflict and instability.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Caroline Elizabeth Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. He talked about recent events, so will he update us on how the recent event at the G20 has had an impact on foreign policy both for the whole UK and for Scotland in particular?
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): There are people of definite Scottish heritage in Argentina and therefore the obvious link with the topic of this debate is absolutely clear, as Mr Deputy Speaker will, of course agree—I hope. The G20 is very important. The fact that we were there in southern America at a time when Venezuela is in such turmoil is not an insignificant moment in the UK making its mark on what we hope will be an improvement in events there. We are working very closely with the Lima Group to try to improve what is happening in Venezuela. I am sure that the soft power of Scotland will want to play its full part in resolving Venezuela. I hope that there is no coincidence of political opinion between anyone on the SNP Benches and President Maduro.
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Paul Masterton (Conservative, Centre-right): First, let me give my apologies. I was so assiduously preparing for tonight’s debate that I did not notice that it had started two and a half hours early. I am very pleased to talk about the soft power through international aid, with the Department for International Development being based in East Kilbride, in the neighbouring constituency to East Renfrewshire. Will the Minister join me in paying tribute to all the fantastic people who live in East Renfrewshire who travel into East Kilbride each day to work for DFID?
Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
Alan James Carter Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): I urge my hon. Friend not to worry too much about being two hours late; he did not miss that much before he came into the Chamber. It seems to have livened up somewhat since he did, so I am grateful to him for coming here to add an extra spark to our proceedings. Of course, he also gives me the opportunity to acknowledge exactly what he said. Indeed, when it comes to those in Scotland who work in NGOs, in DFID and in all the charities that do so much good across the world, whatever teasing there has been across the Chamber tonight, I think we all agree that we should salute those who do such good work.