argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady refers to people across Europe, no doubt meaning the European Union. The only problem is that if we cannot get unanimity among all member states, we will not get any change at all. From that point of view, the most important thing is to fight and fight again to ensure that we get what we want, but also to guarantee that we bring back the powers to this House.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Anne Margaret Main (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister may well explain that to the hon. Gentleman, but I personally do not want to have to go cap in hand asking for derogations. I would like this country to decide that it is a ridiculous illogicality to have different tax rates on similar-looking pads that could be used for interchangeable purposes. I would not wish to have to go and ask, "Please, European Union, can you allow us to do what we would like to do, which is to free up our women from this taxation that only affects them: a femi-tax?" I would like us to have the ability to do it I hope that the Minister will explain to all hon. Members here and to all the women out there in the country why, if they go and buy a mild incontinence, bladder weakness or "Oops moment" pad—call it what you like—and use it as a sanitary towel, they will not be taxed, because they do not understand it, and nor do I. It is time that we stood up to the European Union. If it does not like us doing that and having to ask, "Please can we have permission for a derogation?" then perhaps we need to consider this matter when we are deciding whether we wish to stay in the European Union.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
Anne Margaret Main (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. If we were to negotiate and were met with an immovable force, we would be forced to enshrine this unfairness because the European Union dictates that we should do so. We are not allowed to remedy it.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): That is absolutely correct. Having observed the history of 40 years of membership of the European Union, as it is now called, we know that it is not going to stay like this. The European Union will continue to develop. The trend of taking more taxation powers away from the member states, in the name of the single market, is enshrined in article 113, so it will continue to do so. Yes, we have a veto, but the European Court of Justice tends to accelerate the pace of tax harmonisation just when we do not expect it to do so. It is the ECJ that extended VAT to certain items and categories of goods when we did not expect it to do so The group of amendments also addresses the renewables obligation incentives and seeks to adjust the feed-in tariff regime. Why are we able to reduce taxation on renewable energy products to only 5%? It is because of the European Union. Why could the previous Labour Government not abolish VAT on fuel, which they said they wanted to do after it had been applied by the Major Administration? It is because of the European Union.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with everything my hon. Friend is saying, although I am slightly alarmed by his statement that the shadow Cabinet is a semi-public meeting Surely the harmonisation of tax fails on two fronts. First, different countries treat these products at the higher rate, the lower rate or at no rate. Secondly, on equality of treatment, is my hon. Friend able to think of any other product that is taxed so discriminately that it affects only one half of the population of the European Union, who just happen to be women? Is that not the most discriminatory and iniquitous measure that the EU has come up with?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): Our problem with the EU’s VAT directives is that they are a one-way street. Once the EU has adopted powers to regulate a particular tax, that power cannot be taken back by the member states. We are then left begging the EU as to whether we can set the tax rates for which the British people vote, as opposed to setting them ourselves. It strikes me as ironic that the Scottish National party wants independence from the United Kingdom in order to do its own thing, but it is happy to go on giving up more and more power to the European Union, so it will have even less freedom and less voice than it has in the UK The problem is that once VAT rates on any product are set above 5%, the European Union does not allow any member state to reduce them to below 5% again. We therefore have an anomaly whereby there is a zero VAT rate on sanitary products in the Republic of Ireland because it has never charged VAT on them. Had we started from the principle of charging no VAT on sanitary products, we would be in the same position as Ireland, but because we already charged it we cannot take it away. What a mess.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not going to give way again I congratulate the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Paula Sherriff) on tabling new clause 7. She may be a little surprised at how many Members support it, but, sadly, we have to have this debate not because it is the British Government’s policy to levy the tax, but because it is the EU’s policy to do so. That is a fundamental freedom and control that we should bring back to this House in the future.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Steven John Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): This problem of taxation on tampons and other sanitary products is one that, quite rightly, excites a great degree of anger and controversy, but the solution to the problem is uncontroversial. It is perfectly obvious that we are all agreed in the House that we should get rid of the tax on tampons and other sanitary products. The reason why this is a subject of interest to so many is that the House is of course prohibited from doing so by EU law.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Anne Margaret Main (Conservative, Centre-right): I am just trying to help my hon. Friend. He was not old enough to have voted at that time. Actually, I was not either—just. If we still had that tax in place and we were not in the EU, we could alter it. That is the problem.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
Steven John Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): Indeed. That is precisely the point. It is not because we are spinning-eyed nutcases that we wish to get excited about Europe; it is because we find, again and again, that the European Union obstructs us from solving real problems in people’s lives On this occasion, it so happens that the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Paula Sherriff) deserves all our congratulations on forcing the issue. I am very glad that my name appears on new clause 7. I must say that those who are attacking us for signing the new clause are probably going some way to diminishing the support they will receive. We are all in the House because we wish not to send messages but to take action that serves our constituents. I would like to break the news to some Members of the House that approximately half the electors of Wycombe are in fact women, and I am very happy to do the best I can to represent them in this place It seems to me that there are five courses of action available to the Government. The first is to do nothing. That is clearly untenable. We are in the House today because doing nothing is untenable. Some course of action must be taken to resolve the problem.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): In 1993 we were conducting the entire Maastricht referendum in order to get the results that the hon. Lady wants on this particular matter. At that time, we realised that if we did not sort out the European Union properly, we would never get the kind of equality that she is now demanding.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): The International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014 was nothing to do with the European Union. Some of us believe passionately in the same sorts of arguments that the hon. Lady is putting forward, and that is by no means exclusive to issues of the European Union.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not remember the hon. Lady giving way 20 years ago. She was at the very fine Colchester county high school for girls, which is a grammar school. In parenthesis, I am delighted that, through the reforms we are pursuing, this Government are doing more for educational opportunities for the least advantaged than any Government in living memory. Why does the hon. Lady think that Dame Dawn Primarolo was unable to remove the 5% VAT on tampons and sanitary towels when she succeeded in reducing the things that we had discretion over? Why did she not take this initiative to the European Union? It was because she found that the Government of the day felt that they had other, more important fish to fry in their negotiations with the European Union. We should get away from such an unsatisfactory give and take to national interests by leaving the European Union.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Craig Mackinlay (Conservative, Centre-right): May I give my respects to the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Paula Sherriff) for bringing this debate to the House? I have heard some very interesting figures this evening—in particular, that 250,000 people have signed previous amendments and discussion points about this issue over the years, and I know that there have been all sorts of discussions about this very issue for as long as I have been in Parliament I am not surprised that new clause 7 has attracted cross-party support, with many Members, both female and male, from the Government, SNP and, obviously, Labour Benches supporting it, and so they absolutely should, because this has always been, and will always be, a wholly illogical tax. We heard some interesting detail from my hon. Friend the Member for St Albans (Mrs Main). I would not know the difference between various products if they were laid out, yet some would be zero-rated and some would be taxed at the lower rate, although this is not just a female issue. I think she described some of these items as "Oops-a-daisy" products, and if there is a male "Oops-a-daisy" product, it would be zero-rated, so we can immediately see these anomalies in the tax system. Nappies have always been zero-rated because they relate to children. Indeed, one of the anomalies that we have enjoyed compared with much of the European Union—how long that will last, who knows—is that children’s products and food continue to be zero-rated, no matter how luxurious the food might appear to some.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Craig Mackinlay (Conservative, Centre-right): My sincere apologies, Madam Deputy. [Interruption.] You have taken me way off track now In conclusion, the hon. Member for Glasgow Central made an appeal earlier for a message or plea to come from this place to the European Union. I think we have heard that from many Labour Members, too. I am afraid this goes back to the very old times of taxation without representation. Messages are all very well, but surely this sovereign place should be able to choose to set the rate of sales tax or VAT on products such as tampons and sanitary towels. I am afraid that it rather reduces the status of this House to one of being a colony of old, pleading with an empire power.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Craig Mackinlay (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly hope his visits around various European capitals have an awful lot on their agenda. Following today’s debate, I hope this issue will be one such item. The issue is one of exclusivity in setting VAT rates on products important to us in this place, not elsewhere.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): In response to the hon. Lady’s intervention, is not the point that there are so many issues we want our Prime Minister to raise in the European Union? There is an increasing number of myriad issues, such as how much contribution we make, the free movement of people and how we control our borders. It is these little things—I say "little" mistakenly, because of course it looms large as an equality item in our minds—that get set aside in favour of other things. This is a rotten way of running a continent.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
Craig Mackinlay (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend. I hope progress can be made on very many areas, not least on this one We should not be like a colony pleading with an empire power. This is clearly a rate that should be set here. I thank again the hon. Member for Dewsbury for raising this issue, which, important in itself, has opened a Pandora’s box on who governs this country.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not know about the hon. Gentleman, but I am here because I had to stand in an election and my constituents have the right to vote me out. How can people vote out the European Union except by voting to leave in a referendum?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her remarks, and I will address that point in a moment New clause 7 would require the Chancellor of the Exchequer to "lay before both Houses of Parliament a statement on his strategy to negotiate with the European Union institutions an exemption from value added tax for women’s sanitary protection products" within three months of the passing of the Act. It would also require a Minister of the Crown to "lay before Parliament a report on progress at achieving an exemption from value added tax for women’s sanitary protection products within European Union law by 1 April 2016." This debate has highlighted the ongoing campaign to zero-rate or exempt from VAT tampons and other sanitary protection products. As we have heard tonight, that campaign has cross-party support. In the case of the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy), that support goes back many years to when she was at school. My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Charlotte Leslie) has also campaigned on the issue for many years, and my hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mrs Trevelyan) has raised it tonight and on other occasions, as have many other hon. Members As the hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) pointed out, this Government sympathise with the aim of the new clause. As we have also heard, however, the UK does not have the ability to extend zero rating to new products unilaterally. We have more extensive zero rating than most, if not all, other member states, but any change to EU VAT law would require a proposal from the European Commission and the support of all 28 member states. Without that agreement, we are not permitted to lower rates below 5%. None the less, as this debate illustrates, there is considerable cross-party support for the UK to abolish VAT on sanitary products. To that end, I undertake to raise the issue with the European Commission and with other member states, and to set out the view, which has been reflected in this debate, that it should be possible for a member state to apply a zero rate to sanitary products. In that context, I thank the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Paula Sherriff) for raising the matter tonight. We have seen on both sides of the House a demonstration of the belief that that flexibility should exist.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend used the word "permitted". We do not have the capacity to effect a change such as this, because of the European Communities Act 1972. He knows that, the Opposition know it, and Members on the Conservative Benches know it. Will he now commit not only to talking about this but to doing something about it? It is a hugely important cross-party issue. Will he please take on board the fact that we insist on legislating on our own terms in this House? We want to govern ourselves.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Doing full justice to that question in the five minutes available for me and for the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West would be a challenge. This has been part of the VAT regime since 1973, but on this specific area, as we have heard, time has moved on and it is right that we look again at it.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): It is not just a matter of the EU law; the UK courts would ensure that we have to comply with the law, one way or the other. I suspect that my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash) would be happy to explain the position to the hon. Lady, but it would not be lawful for us to reduce that rate.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Energy
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I will make those representations to the European Commission to allow member states to have the flexibility to do that, which I think is the key issue here On the climate change levy, let me briefly explain the policy rationale, as we have debated this on a number of occasions. The climate change levy renewables exemption was misaligned with today’s energy policy, providing indirect support to renewable generators when the Government are now investing in more effective policies that target them directly. Together, policies such as the renewables obligation and the feed-in tariff will provide more than £5 billion-worth of support to renewable electricity generation in 2015-16 alone. I do not believe the report on this clause is necessary. The Chancellor has already written to the Chairman of the Treasury Committee in August setting out the environmental analysis of the summer Budget in 2015 On enforcement by deduction from accounts, we believe that we are introducing a necessary measure and that we have struck the balance correctly. I am grateful for the remarks made by the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West in pointing out that the safeguards are strong. I know he still has concerns about the measure, but the safeguards are strong and we believe we are striking the right balance To conclude, I urge the House to reject new clauses 1, 2, 7—if it is pressed to a vote, and I hope it will not be—10 and 11, and amendment 90.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time I would like once again to briefly outline the provisions of this Finance Bill. These measures demonstrate the Government’s commitment to support working people, support business and protect the public finances by tackling tax avoidance and evasion. They mark the next steps on our path to economic security, building on the economic foundations laid in the last Parliament and continuing our long-term plan for the economic stability and prosperity of this country Let me turn first to the support that the Bill provides for working people. This Government are committed to the principle that hard-working people should keep more of the money they earn. That is why, following the measures introduced in the last Parliament, 27.5 million individuals saw their typical income tax bill reduced by £825, but we want to go further. This Bill increases the tax-free personal allowance to £11,000 in 2016-17 and to £11,200 in 2017-18. We will also increase the higher rate threshold, from £42,385 in 2015-16 to £43,000 in 2016-17. The Government also believe that individuals working 30 hours a week on the national minimum wage should not pay income tax. That is why we are enshrining it in law that once the personal allowance has reached £12,500, it will always be at least the equivalent of 30 hours a week on the national minimum wage It is a basic human aspiration to pass something on to one’s children, an aspiration the Government are committed to supporting. The Bill will help people to provide for their families after they have gone by phasing in a new £175,000 per person transferable allowance, when a person’s home is passed on at death to their direct descendants. By the end of the Parliament, the effective inheritance tax threshold for married couples and civil partners will therefore be £1 million.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Anne Margaret Main (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend agree that all the very welcome movements in the tax bands for lower earners have helped to readjust the inequality created by Labour when it managed to remove the 10p tax band?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. Whereas the previous Labour Government doubled the 10p rate of income tax, this Government and the coalition Government increased the personal allowance very substantially from below £6,500 to the levels I have set out this evening I turn now to the support that the Bill will provide to business. We want to provide certainty to businesses, increase investment and improve our infrastructure, because that will drive growth and job creation in the coming years. First, it is clear that we need a business tax regime that is stable, competitive and fair. This is essential to make the UK more competitive and to support growth. In the previous Parliament, the main rate of corporation tax was cut from 28% to 20%, which led to more businesses coming to the UK to carry out their activity. Given the global competition that the UK faces, we must go further. This Bill cuts the corporation tax rate to 19% in 2017 and to 18% in 2020, saving businesses more than £6 billion in 2021 and giving the UK the lowest rate of corporation tax in the G20. The Bill also sets the annual investment allowance at the permanent higher level of £200,000. This will provide long-term certainty to businesses and encourage them to invest in plant and machinery Finally, I would like to turn to the measures in the Bill that tackle tax avoidance and evasion, tax planning, compliance and imbalances in our tax system. Hon. Members will recall that the summer Budget announced a raft of measures to tackle those who do not pay their fair share of tax. The measures will collectively raise £5 billion a year by 2019-20. I am proud to say that the Bill will implement a number of those measures and will make an important contribution to the further £37 billion in fiscal consolidation that is required over the course of this Parliament to run a budget surplus by the end of this Parliament.