argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Government Operations
Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend encourage the Leader of the Opposition to write to him to set out in detail the allegations he makes against him, either of breaking the law of propriety or the rules of this House? Having listened carefully to the Leader of the Opposition, I fail entirely to comprehend what he is going on about On a separate issue, I am glad to see my right hon. Friend stand up for the overseas territories. He will know that when I was Attorney General, I had quite a lot of dealings with the Attorneys General of the overseas territories in encouraging them to change their transparency rules. In fact, they showed themselves to be properly responsive to those representations. He may also agree with me that the overseas territories are entitled to provide financial services and not to be damned for trying to ensure the wellbeing of their own citizens.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward Garnier (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement that there will be a new criminal offence applying to corporations that fail to prevent their representatives from criminally facilitating tax evasion. That reflects the failure to prevent bribery offence which already exists under the Bribery Act 2010. There are nearly 40 other economic crimes listed in the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which are susceptible to deferred prosecution agreements. Will my right hon. Friend have discussions with the Ministry of Justice and the Law Officers to make sure that we can add not only the tax offence that he refers to but those other economic crimes, so that they can be dealt with under the "failure to prevent" system?
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Law and Crime
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. and learned Friend has much expertise in this area. I think the point he is making is that as we set out these economic crimes—the Home Secretary has led the charge to ensure that we address this issue properly—we make sure that they are properly publicised, properly understood and then properly prosecuted. We need to make sure that the National Crime Agency and the Serious Fraud Office work together in the way that I know he was keen to see when he was doing that job.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his support, and I agree with what he says about the importance of enabling people to make money within the law; he is completely right that the rule of law is what matters overall. The simple point that I have often made, and which I will continue to make, is that of course it is tax evasion that is illegal, not tax avoidance. There are many ways that people avoid taxation, not least by putting money into a pension or an ISA, or by other perfectly legitimate ways of planning for their future, that of their family and all the rest of it. However, we have sometimes seen very aggressive measures—I mentioned some of them in my statement—such as putting properties in company envelopes in order to avoid paying stamp duty, where it is sometimes difficult for the Government to catch up quickly enough with the huge changes taking place. I think that a bit of leeway on that is necessary, but my hon. Friend is right: it is the rule of law that matters.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course there is bad practice, not least in some of these jurisdictions, and that needs to be dealt with. That is what tax transparency, the sharing of information, the registers of beneficial ownership and all the rest of it are about. The other thing to recognise that happened last week is that the £11,000 personal allowance came in, so people can now earn £11,000 before having to pay any income tax at all. That completed our work of taking 4 million of the lowest paid people in our country out of income tax altogether.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister has paid his taxes and behaved perfectly properly, and I commend him for standing up to those who have sought to besmirch his father’s reputation and memory. Will he remind us how much extra money has come into the Exchequer as a result of his Government’s closing the loopholes that were set up under 13 years of Labour government?
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): The point is that we raised an extra £12 billion in the last Parliament, and we want to raise another £16 billion in this Parliament, stretching out to 2021 the figures that I gave. Also, by having a lower rate of corporation tax, we have actually seen more corporation tax come in. Low tax rates, but tax rates that people pay—those are our watch words.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): Evading tax is already illegal, whether it is done in the UK or elsewhere. The point that I have been making is that we need to have this information sharing and the ability to look at information in these jurisdictions, in order to see whether people have been evading tax, and that is what we are now getting. But we should not use that to say that it is wrong for people, trade unions, companies or pension schemes to invest in unit trusts listed in other countries, because that is a perfectly normal way of investing.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
James Jacob Gilchrist Berry (Conservative, Centre-right): May I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on bringing transparency to the office of Prime Minister by publishing his own tax return? Does he have any thoughts on whether that should be extended to former Prime Ministers, many of whom still receive public money? Personally, I would be very interested to see a tax return of one Mr T. Blair.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I have no proposals to make in that regard. I am not claiming to have some perfect record, but on becoming Prime Minister I cut the Prime Minister’s pay by 5% and froze it for the Parliament, I rejected the Prime Minister’s tax allowance of £20,000 a year, and I reformed the Prime Minister’s pension so that it is now contributory for the first time. As Mr Speaker knows, the Speaker, the Lord Chancellor and the Prime Minister have all given up the great offices of state pension that used to give half their salary in perpetuity—[Interruption.] Opposition Front Benchers say that that was done by the Labour party, but it was not actually brought in until I became Prime Minister. I did it. All those steps have been taken, which I think was the right thing to do.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): The Chancellor’s family firm is exactly the sort of manufacturing small firm we want to encourage in our country. For many years, I gather, it has not been making a profit, but I am glad that the company is doing well and now paying a dividend—that is something we should welcome. Its tax matters are entirely a matter between the company and the Inland Revenue, and that is the way it should be.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: International Affairs
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): It is good that we are having this summit. As I am writing in a document that will be released before the summit, no country, no politician—no one—can claim that they have a perfect and unblemished record in this regard; all countries are battling against these problems, as we did in the House of Commons with the problems of expenses and all the rest of it. However, I want to encourage people, and the Prime Minister of Afghanistan and the President of Nigeria are contributing, and they are admitting that their countries are rife with corruption and it needs to be dealt with. The problem is that, if nobody actually stands up and talks about these issues and sets out the action plans for delivering on these issues, nothing will get done.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Pauline Elizabeth Latham (Conservative, Centre-right): May I thank the Prime Minister for his very clear statement? This afternoon, I received a furious email from Martin in my constituency, who said he watched the "Murnaghan" show on Sky News yesterday. He was shocked that the shadow Chancellor "deliberately misled viewers...His ignorance, whether deliberate or not, should be exposed in Parliament. For a Shadow Chancellor to be so blatantly misleading is not acceptable. The Marxist Moron’s political motivations are obvious but not an excuse." He adds that the Prime Minister "could not have paid inheritance tax even if he wished to as the tax is levied on the estate"—
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Oliver James Dowden (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Prime Minister confirm that the only irregular thing about the summary of his tax return is the fact that he voluntarily and privately forsook the £20,000 prime ministerial tax-free allowance, which was enjoyed by many of his predecessors, including those from the Labour party? Instead, he rightly focused on increasing the personal allowance so that millions of low-income earners could avoid paying tax altogether. Will he pledge to continue that policy?
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very glad to give my hon. Friend that reassurance. We have the target in our manifesto of a £12,500 personal tax allowance and we want to meet that. What I did as Prime Minister was the right thing, not least because, as it says in the information from my tax return, there is support for me and my wife from the Conservative party in terms of some of the costs and issues of travel and other things that you have to deal with as the leader of a party. I thought that was a better way of doing it—not taxpayers’ money, but party money, on which I pay a tax charge.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Government Operations
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful for what my hon. Friend says. I think there is a point at which you have to say that I have published the information that I think is relevant—I have gone back over the last six years —and that is the limit of what I am going to release. Some people say, "Well, what about your wife’s tax return and your mother’s financial affairs?" I really think that there comes a time when we should say that we have a register of Members’ interests. Prime Ministers and Chancellors and Opposition leaders and shadow Chancellors have done more than that, and we should rely on the register of Members’ interests to police the rest of our affairs.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): The reason why I made that statement in 2013 was that we had got the Crown dependencies and the overseas territories, for the first time, to share automatically tax information with the United Kingdom Government. That is something that did not happen under the last Labour Government. It is something that we achieved. It was a different approach. Now—the hon. Gentleman is right—we want to go further, and the announcement today set out that not only will they share that information and follow the common reporting standard, but they will give us access to their information about beneficial ownership Just so the hon. Gentleman knows how different things were under the last Government, the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury, in response to questions about the overseas territories, said this: "The negotiation of tax information exchange agreements with other jurisdictions, including the UK, is essentially a matter for the Crown Dependencies themselves."—[Official Report, 19 May 2009; Vol. 492, c. 1370W.] He was saying, "Nothing to do with me, guv; it’s up to them." That is the Government that we replaced. We took a different approach, and we have made a lot of progress.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his support. He makes an important point, which is that we should try to make decisions about these things calmly and rationally after debate. I felt, after all the questions that I was being asked, that the right thing to do was to publish the information, but I could not have made it clearer today that I do not want to see that as some precedent that every Member of this House, or indeed every member of my Cabinet, has to follow. We should think very carefully. We have always had a system in this country based on full disclosure to the Revenue but taxpayer confidentiality. Some other countries have complete publication of all tax returns and all tax information. That has not been our way. We have had a different system, and I do not think that we should give it up lightly.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): No, not that one. The point about country-to-country reporting is that what we are trying to achieve, as I said in my opening statement, is a common reporting standard, so that companies report to tax authorities in the same way; and the sharing of that information, so that we can see whether company A is paying x amount of tax in one jurisdiction and y amount in the other, and if that is not right, we can do something about it. That, at the moment, is the most powerful way of achieving what we want to achieve. There are those who say that we need to go even further in public declarations of tax. That is a very interesting argument, but let us not make the best the enemy of the good. We have got a very solid way now of making sure that these companies pay tax properly, and I want to see that completed.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that any course of action designed to reduce tax that does not constitute tax evasion must, by definition, be legal, even if some may regard it as aggressive tax avoidance? It is up to this Parliament to legislate to make such courses of action illegal.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Where there is aggressive avoidance taking place that is clearly against the spirit of the law, Parliament should act. As I have said many times, that is what the Chancellor has done, and that is what HMRC advises us about. I think that sometimes there are occasions when the tax avoidance is so aggressive that it is right to warn those taking part in it that legislation will follow, and therefore they should not take part in the scheme in the first place. That often happens.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: International Affairs
Robert Edward Jenrick (Conservative, Centre-right): I would not recommend doing this, but, having read back through Hansard over the 13 years of the previous Labour Government, I could not find a single occasion on which the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) raised any of these issues. The closest he came was when he described the Labour Government’s decision to use Orders in Council to take control of the Turks and Caicos Islands as "mediaeval" and "extremely undemocratic", but he now advocates that policy for all territories. Is it not fortunate that after 2010 we had a Government who actually took up this agenda?
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: International Affairs
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I am interested to see that the right hon. Gentleman has conducted a U-turn because recently he has been suggesting taking control of these territories. I can now see a use for the nuclear submarines as they head off towards the Isle of Man, and as the Corbyn invasion force begins to mass to take over this territory. It is much more sensible to get them to do the things they ought to be doing.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Andrew James Bridgen (Conservative, Centre-right): May I thank my right hon. Friend for his open and frank statement today? In the mind of any reasonable person, he has completely exonerated himself. Will he confirm that, under HMRC rules, all supporting documentation for a tax return should be retained for seven years? Since the Leader of the Opposition was late supplying his tax return, should he be fined?
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): There is obviously no fine for the fact that the right hon. Gentleman did not come to the House having already published it, although it was disappointing that we got it at 3.35 pm, when I was on my feet. Obviously, the matter of fines for late production of tax returns is a matter for HMRC.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Government Operations
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): The point is that we now have rules in the House for the declaration of Members’ interests; we have a policeman, as it were, in terms of making sure that they are properly carried out; and we do have punishments, including expulsion, for misdeclarations and misbehaviour. I am not as familiar with the situation in the House of Lords, but I think it has been moving in the same direction and that is all to the good.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Mark Steven Spencer (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Prime Minister assure the House that any future changes to taxation will do nothing to diminish the aspiration of working families, so that those families who want to do the right thing—provide for their future, save for their retirement and pass something on to their children—can continue to do so?
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Our reforms to inheritance tax and pensions are enabling people to take and spend more of their own money as they choose. People are also able to pass that money on to their children and to help with those key purchases such as the first home or the first car, helping young people with their families. Having all of that wealth cascading down the generations, and helping people to do that, is absolutely part of our goal.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): It is certainly true that the coalition Government achieved a lot in this area. That agenda was led and driven by myself and the Second Lord of the Treasury, in particular at the G8 and the G20, but at the time we had the full support of our coalition partners.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, and I listened carefully to the Leader of the Opposition. Does the Prime Minister share my concern that the Leader of the Opposition seemed to forget—possibly he is unaware—that aspiration, determination and the prospect of eventual financial reward are ingredients of our strong economy, leading to jobs and incomes for many? Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should condemn the politics of envy, and will he stick to the politics of opportunity and aspiration?
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We want an aspiration and enterprise society, in which we set low tax rates and encourage people to make the best of themselves, for their families. That will build not just a stronger economy but, in my view, a stronger society.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Social Welfare
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s remarks, and I am sure that my mother will be too. She said that like me, she is developing a thicker skin with every week that goes past. He is right to say that many people want to pass down wealth, assets and help their children in all the ways they can. That is not something we should be ashamed of; it is something that we should actively encourage, because it can help to build the strong society that we want in our country.
Panama Papers — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Law and Crime
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes an interesting suggestion that I will consider carefully. We have announced our proposal, and identified an opportunity in the Gracious Speech to include that measure in a future Bill. At that time we can consider an extension and a tidying up of the offences so that they can be used in the same way, and I will look carefully at what she suggests.
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Kenneth Clarke (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that Tata is an excellent company that has made a great success of Jaguar Land Rover, turning it into one of the finest car companies in Europe, something that defeated every Government when it was a nationalised industry? Does the fact that Tata cannot make a go of British steel not demonstrate the seriousness of the problems that my right hon. Friend is facing Will my right hon. Friend continue to reject the simplistic solutions that are on offer, such as tariff wars on China regardless of whether there is dumping, subsidy competition with Italy in breach of the EU rules on which we have always insisted, and nationalising Tata on the basis that we just carry on paying for the losses, pour billions of pounds into the liabilities at the taxpayer’s expense, and seek to prevent anything from changing? Given that we all want to see the good news in Port Talbot that we have just seen in Scunthorpe, will my right hon. Friend continue to search for a reputable, sensible investor who understands steel, has a proper business plan, and can give a credible future to the best products of parts of this business, which could no doubt have a long-term future if we had the right business plan for it?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Energy
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said in my statement, I commend the Scottish Government for what has been done in respect of the two mills in Scotland, but I hope the hon. Gentleman recognises that the scale of the problem in the rest of the UK is a great deal larger, and I hope he can find it within himself to appreciate the challenge that the industry faces throughout the UK in particular I think that the hon. Gentleman is wholly wrong to suggest that the Government have not taken action already in providing help for the industry. I gave a number of examples in my statement, but the action on energy prices is making a big difference, and the action on procurement is also making a difference. I urge the hon. Gentleman to work with his colleagues in Edinburgh to see whether they can change their procurement rules to help not only Scotland, but the UK.