argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): My personal view, for what it is worth, is that if we are to create a sustainable Union we must, in effect, create full fiscal autonomy for Northern Ireland, for Wales, for Scotland and, ultimately, for England. This almost imperial Parliament would remain determining the support mechanisms to ensure safety. So, yes, in that sense I am a federalist Barnett is a gift to those who want to break up the Union. It is also incredibly expensive for the English, with £1,680 more a year spending per head in Scotland than in England because Scottish spending is inextricably linked to English spending. When that is cut, SNP Members quite understandably—I do not blame them for this; they are good politicians—can cry foul, as they did last week, and say, "The Scots people didn’t vote for austerity but it’s being imposed on us." They can vote on every education and health measure, and say, "What you spend in England on health and education is going to determine what we spend." We then get a crazy situation whereby if some taxes in Scotland are raised the grant will go down. This simply does not work. It is not a recipe for preserving the Union or for a sustainable future.
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Other
David Gordon Mundell (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important to get it on the record that Alex Johnstone MSP has made it perfectly clear that his participation on the Committee is not to be conflated with the SNP press release issued at the time of the Committee’s report. He clearly supports the Committee’s report, but not the SNP’s attempt to distort that report.
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Alan Redwood (Conservative, Centre-right): No, I do not think that we need a constitutional convention, because that would create endless delay and complications. I agree with previous comments that we are here to try to solve this problem for our respective constituents. I spent quite a lot of my time during the election speaking for England and saying that I wanted to ensure that England got a reasonable deal out of this. SNP representatives clearly did the same in relation to Scotland, and we both achieved similar levels of success in attracting lots of votes for what we were saying.
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Other
John Alan Redwood (Conservative, Centre-right): Well, it functioned after a fashion, but I would not have wanted to live through that time. The nations were clearly not nearly as rich as they are today. Labour Members sometimes try to pretend that we have gone back to an ancient age, but I am sure that none of them would willingly go back in time and live in that era, because we are obviously so much better off now.
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Antoinette Geraldine Sherratt (Sandbach) (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) seems to be advocating a written constitution, but the problem with that, as we have seen clearly with the Government of Wales Act 2006, is that it invites judge-made law. Recent Supreme Court decisions on the 2006 Act have led, in effect, to judicial decision making on a reserved powers model, which is not contained in the Act.
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Other
Alberto Castrenze Costa (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his generosity in giving way to me a second time. In the lead-up to the Scottish referendum, he very articulately and eloquently put all those points to the Scottish electorate, yet the Scottish electorate resoundingly rejected them. Had the referendum gone his way and there was a yes vote, he would have had to have been in a position today to set a timescale for everything he is arguing for.
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Other
David Gordon Mundell (Conservative, Centre-right): Why then did the SNP not table the new clause in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh)? If the hon. Gentleman wants that full-blooded proposal, why did he leave it to the Tory Benches to propose what he claims is an SNP policy?
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Other
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): This is very important. The hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie) made an absolute commitment that he would vote for my new clause. I will press it to a Division and at 10 o’clock I expect to see the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Tommy Sheppard) in the Lobby.
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Other
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): My amendment gives what SNP Members say they want straight away, whereas their amendment is a bit of a fudge and slightly kicks the matter into the long grass. It is a bit like St Augustine saying, "Let me stop sinning, but not quite yet."
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Gordon Mundell (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman has already spoken a great deal on the subject this evening. I would also like to see empirical evidence to back up the suggestion made by the hon. Member for Edinburgh East that the vow and the offer of additional powers made a significant change to the referendum result, because I do not believe that such empirical evidence exists.
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Gordon Mundell (Conservative, Centre-right): What I am suggesting is that the hon. Gentleman cannot bring forward a shred of evidence to suggest that those proposals changed the referendum result and that somehow the people of Scotland have been defrauded. The people of Scotland voted decisively no in the referendum. They voted for a strong Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom. The vow, which was set out in the Daily Record and other outlets, was taken forward on the basis of the Smith commission, of which the Scottish National Party was a part and to which it was a signatory. I received an interesting letter today from John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, who was a signatory to the Smith commission recommendations. He now tells me that the Smith commission recommendations, which he signed, were incoherent. I do not understand how he came to sign those recommendations if he genuinely believed that they were incoherent. If that was the case, he should have been making some of the arguments that we have heard this evening and during the general election campaign.
Scotland Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Other
David Gordon Mundell (Conservative, Centre-right): It is not a change to how things are normally done, but a change to how they are set out on the face of legislation. As part of the Smith process, it was clear that people wanted the convention set out in the Bill, but I do not accept that they want a change to the convention as envisaged by Lord Sewel.
Car insurance costs — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): I would like to present to the House a petition signed by a large number of Pendle residents about the high cost of car insurance The petition states: The Petition of residents of Brierfield and Nelson, Declares that the Petitioners believe that the price of car insurance has risen rapidly within the BB9 post code area making it unaffordable for many, as a result of a minority of drivers making fraudulent insurance claims The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government and the insurance industry to work together to reduce insurance costs for car drivers living in the BB9 post code area so that owning a car can be made more affordable And the Petitioners remain, etc [P001528]
Navitus Bay Wind Farm — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael James Tomlinson-Mynors (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for securing this debate. It is good to see so many hon. Friends from across Dorset here in support of my hon. Friend. Does he agree that this issue affects the whole of Dorset, including the local authority areas of East Dorset, Poole and Purbeck, which fall in my constituency? The tourism industry across the whole of our county will be affected if this goes ahead.
Navitus Bay Wind Farm — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Public Lands
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely concur with my hon. Friend. I will flesh out the very point he raises shortly The UNESCO designation inscription states that world heritage sites should be "transmitted, intact and unchanged, to future generations." UNESCO’s director of the world heritage centre, Kishore Rao, on advice from a UN advisory body, has warned of the wind farm’s impact, saying: "from being located in a natural setting that is largely free from man-made structures to one where its setting is dominated by man-made structures", this, he added, "could affect the long term viability" of the site and therefore, ultimately, its designation.
Navitus Bay Wind Farm — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Public Lands
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely concur with my hon. Friend. The wildlife is important, and millions of people travel to enjoy our beautiful wild coastline because of the unspoilt view. It is one of the reasons for the world heritage designation.
Navitus Bay Wind Farm — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Simon James Hoare (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is deploying his arguments with his usual fluency and cogency. Tourism is an integral part of my constituency’s local economy, but the tourist economy is often very fragile, as we can see from lots of our seaside towns around the country. People have plenty of choice, and our county cannot take the risk of seeing even a temporary downturn in tourist numbers. Those numbers might never return, and that would hammer lots of local businesses in my constituency.
Navitus Bay Wind Farm — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (Conservative, Centre-right): It would, and while we are all trying to get long-term secure jobs into our constituencies, there is no doubt that in a beautiful part of the country such as ours, tourism still has a major role to play and must continue to do so. More importantly, we must protect it Navitus Bay has been controversial, flawed and deeply unpopular from the start. If the public are to continue supporting such projects, surely it would be wise to site them with greater sympathy, judgment and balance. Ironically, this Government created an organisation in 2012 with the intention of protecting our precious natural environment from uninformed and destructive decisions. A decision to refuse both of the two options put forward by Navitus Bay would be a very good start.
Navitus Bay Wind Farm — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): I was just coming to that. My very next comment is that it is now for the Secretary of State to consider her decision and she must announce it no later than 11 September 2015, to meet the statutory requirements for planning Act cases. My hon. Friend will forgive me for not being more precise, but he will appreciate that we have only had that report for a couple of days In taking decisions on planning applications, it is important that all parties are given a fair crack of the whip and that issues are analysed on their merits with an open mind. The consideration of all such applications has to be robust and thorough—this is a fairness point for all interested parties and the applicant Large energy infrastructure projects inevitably attract considerable interest from people who may be directly affected by the proposals and also from people who have views on energy projects in a more generic way.
Navitus Bay Wind Farm — House of Commons, 2015-06-15
Topic: Housing
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for that remark. He should certainly feel reassured that my officials and I are very much listening to his and other hon. Friends’ concerns. In planning Act applications of this sort, it is for the Secretary of State, as decision maker, to consider all the arguments that are made for and against these projects and that are set out in the Planning Inspectorate’s report. I can assure all hon. Friends that the Secretary of State’s consideration of the Navitus Bay application will be rigorous and fair In conclusion, I hope that all hon. Members are reassured that the concerns raised by interested parties about the potential impacts of this project are being properly considered through the planning process. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset for raising this constructive and thoughtful debate and to all other hon. Friends for attending and for their contributions. I can assure them that I will note the views expressed tonight and will relay them to Lord Bourne, who will be taking the decision on the consent application Question put and agreed to.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): Last Friday, FIFA’s members had the opportunity to embrace the overwhelming call for change that is coming from football fans around the world. They failed to do so. FIFA’s support for its discredited president was incredibly disappointing, but it will not have surprised the footballing public who have become increasingly cynical as the allegations of misconduct and malfeasance have piled up. FIFA needs to change—and to change now. I can assure the House that the Government will do all in their power to help bring change about I have just spoken to Football Association chairman, Greg Dyke, and assured him that we stand behind the English FA’s efforts to end the culture of kickbacks and corruption that risk ruining international football for a generation. I agreed with him that no options should be ruled out at this stage Let me also reiterate the Government’s support for the action of the American and Swiss authorities. Earlier today, I spoke with the Attorney General. We agreed that the British authorities will offer full co-operation with American and Swiss investigators, and that if any evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the UK emerges, we will fully the support the Serious Fraud Office in pursuing those involved FIFA’s voting system is designed to support the incumbent, and it returned a predictable result, but there is no doubt that what remained of Sepp Blatter’s credibility has been utterly destroyed. The mere fact that more than 70 national associations felt able to back a rival candidate shows that momentum against him is building. We must now increase that pressure still further. It is up to everyone who cares about football to use whatever influence they have to make this possible I am sure that fans the world over will be increasingly vocal in their condemnation of the Blatter regime, and FIFA’s sponsors need to think long and hard about whether they want to be associated with such a discredited and disgraced organisation. For the good of the game, we must work together to bring about change. For the good of the game, it is time for Sepp Blatter to go.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. There is understandable interest in this subject, the urgency of which is reflected in the selection of the question, but, as no fewer than 56 Members will be seeking to catch my eye during the subsequent debate, I do not intend to allow these exchanges to continue beyond 2.55 pm. Short questions and short answers are the order of the day.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Maria Frances Lewis Miller (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend my right hon. Friend for the measured way in which he is dealing with the situation. However, football fans—not just throughout the United Kingdom, but elsewhere in Europe and, indeed, the world—will be listening and watching in disbelief at what is happening. My right hon. Friend talked briefly about the importance of securing a co-ordinated response; perhaps he will take a few moments to give us a little more detail about how he will ensure that the change that is needed receives widespread support, not just in the United Kingdom and not just in Europe, but throughout the world.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right to stress the need to gather together as many allies as possible. Obviously, that will be discussed by UEFA in the first instance, and when I see Greg Dyke later this week, I will certainly talk to him about the further steps that he intends to take. It is worth noting, however, that while we understand that most of the northern European countries voted against Sepp Blatter, we believe that most, if not all, Latin American countries did so as well, which shows that concern about the way in which FIFA is behaving now extends well beyond Europe .
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his kind remarks. I completely agree with him. What happened 15 or 20 years ago following the Salt Lake City bid, which led to a complete reform of the International Olympic Committee, provides a very good precedent for the tackling of matters such as this. The IOC, which at that time suffered from allegations much the same as those that are now swirling around FIFA, did clean up its act, which shows that a result is certainly possible. The British Government will work with the FA in putting as much pressure as we can on other football associations to ensure that FIFA takes the same route as the IOC.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Nigel Martin Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Secretary of State make absolutely certain that, with this "cling-on" in charge of FIFA, the sponsors will know that their names will be associated not with the beautiful game, but with a corrupt and discredited organisation?
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right to focus on the sponsors as one of the ways we can best exert pressure on FIFA to make change. The sponsors are paying a huge amount of money because they want to be associated with this game, which is popular and loved by so many around the world. If it becomes clear that FIFA is instead identified with corruption and sleaze, it must be for them to consider very carefully whether they still wish to be associated with it.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman says, there are the four home nation football associations, all of whom have their part to play, and as far as I am aware at the moment they are united in their stand and will be working through UEFA, but I am very happy to talk to them. I am sure the English FA is in touch with the FAs of the other three nations and I am also happy to talk to my counterparts in the Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly at any time.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Stephen Phillips (Conservative, Centre-right): May I take this opportunity to briefly congratulate your team, Mr Speaker, and mine on its 4-0 victory on Saturday Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State tell the House what sum out of the BBC licence fee has gone to FIFA to pay for the coverage of the 2018 and 2022 World cups and what discussions he has had with the BBC as to whether that money is being appropriately used given the revelations?
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. and learned Friend. I am sure the congratulations to Arsenal will be echoed around the House—although perhaps not by every Member. I am afraid that I cannot give him the precise figure that he requests about the BBC, but I am very happy to obtain it and let him have it in due course. It is a difficulty; if the World cup proceeds, and particularly if England or any of the home nations are participants in it, clearly people in this country will want to watch those games. Nevertheless, my hon. and learned Friend raises a valid point and we will certainly want to take it into account in considering all these matters.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Immigration
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern about reports of the conditions faced by the migrant workers in Qatar. It is obviously a slightly separate matter from the matter under discussion today, but that does not in any way diminish concern about those reports. We have made the Qatari Government aware of our concerns where there are such reports, and they have assured us that conditions are being improved, not least through the workers charter, but we will continue to watch this carefully.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
David John Barrington Burrowes (Conservative, Centre-right): What a contrast between the beautiful game displayed by Arsenal on Saturday and the ugly dealings of FIFA! And what hope is there for concerted action, not least by UEFA, when countries such as France vote in favour of Sepp Blatter?
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will know from the exchanges that took place last Thursday that the Minister for sport, the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch), wrote on that day to all her counterparts in the European capitals to call for co-ordinated action. This is a matter for football in the first instance, and I want to work closely with the English FA and the other home nations’ FAs, but if they believe that it would be helpful for us to try to persuade other countries to act together with us by contacting members of the Governments of those countries, I would be happy to do that.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Gareth Alan Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The election of Sepp Blatter is as unsurprising as it is depressing, but does the Secretary of State agree that the biggest losers in all this are the millions of fans and players, not only in this country but around the world, who simply want an open and honest system for managing the sport? They are the ones who are often overlooked in this whole process.
FIFA — House of Commons, 2015-06-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend. In many ways, this is the tragedy of what is now unfolding. Not only is the game loved by millions across the world, but the World Cup is seen as one of the greatest sporting competitions, second only to the Olympics. For that reason, we would not want to try to interfere with that unless it became clear that to do so was the only way of proceeding. My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the fact that it is ultimately the fans who will be most upset and who will lose out unless change is brought about in FIFA.