argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): I am glad that there has finally been some acknowledgment that there will be a hit to businesses and jobs from what the Labour party is suggesting. It is right that there is support provided for hospitality, which is why the Government have provided a VAT reduction, a business rates holiday, direct cash grants, eat out to help out and now the job support scheme that is directly there to support those businesses that are open and operating but not at the same levels that they were previously. To give those businesses and their employees certainty, rather than the weeks that I heard about from the hon. Member for Oxford East, this scheme will run for six months through to the spring. This job support scheme is in line with those in most other European countries and, to support the lowest paid through this crisis, we have made our welfare system more generous and responsive too.
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): As ever, my hon. Friend is spot on. It is not leadership to shy away from the hard choices and real trade-offs that these decisions take. She is absolutely right The second part of our winter plan is to support businesses that are legally required to close, and we heard about that previously. Those businesses will now be able to claim a cash grant of up to £3,000 per month depending on the value of their property. Those grants can be used for any business cost and will not need to be repaid. I have also guaranteed £1.3 billion of funding for the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Administrations so that they can choose to do something similar. The hon. Member for Oxford East asked whether other areas had received that support, and was under the impression that none other had. I can correct the facts. Bolton is the only other area that has faced hospitality restrictions in that way and Bolton Council has received, at the last count, I believe almost £200,000 of support to compensate its businesses because they have been closed in a similar way.
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Anthony James Holland Mangnall (Conservative, Centre-right): It is surprising to hear the hon. Member talk about the need to support tourism and hospitality sector when the SNP is putting forward rather puritanical bans on alcohol sales, no longer helping pubs and no longer helping the businesses in that sector. How can he lecture the Government on what form of support they should be giving after everything that they have done on the 15% cut?
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Jon Wood (Conservative, Centre-right): Hospitality is one of Britain’s biggest employers. Some 3.2 million people across the country rely on hospitality for their jobs, including 4,300 of my constituents in Dudley South. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has always been a real and true friend of the beer and pubs sectors, in particular. He knows how much they have been affected by this pandemic, and he has delivered a comprehensive and unprecedented economic support package. Without such a support package, many thousands of pubs and breweries would simply not have survived the spring. They would not have got through the first phase of this outbreak I do not know whether the Chancellor has seen his rather fetching likeness on posters in pubs up and down the country, recognising the contribution that many of those support measures have made to making our pubs and other hospitality viable over the past six months but, as we are now firmly in a new phase of the pandemic, new measures are vital for those businesses that are not necessarily legally compelled to close. For those that are required to close their doors, the grant he has announced, although it may not cover the whole rent and all the fixed costs, will make a substantial contribution to the costs those businesses incur even before they pull a single pint or serve a single meal. However, there are also enormous challenges facing venues that are not legally compelled to close, those in tiers 1 and 2, where the legal restrictions that have been introduced make it impossible for them to operate. We know that one in 10 pubs has never reopened since March’s lockdown, and about two thirds of those that did reopen were already trading at a loss last month. That was before the introduction of 10 o’clock closing, mandatory table service, and of course the new restrictions that have come into effect today.
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Jon Wood (Conservative, Centre-right): I would not presume to attempt to direct my right hon. Friend the Chancellor, beyond saying that pubs and hospitality cannot, of course, continue to operate with almost no income and without additional support that is proportionate to the legal restrictions they face. Those restrictions may not be in their immediate area. I have heard today from Titanic Brewery, a brewery in Stoke. The majority of its customers are in Liverpool and Merseyside, which are tier 3 areas, but that brewery will not receive support even though that is where its customers are based. These pubs need urgent additional support; otherwise, many of them are going to close their doors for good and never reopen, which would be a huge loss to not only our economy, but our communities.
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): Can I take the Minister back to the loan schemes, which were delivered at pace and were a fantastic success? Does he agree that we will need a new iteration of those loans scheme to take us through the next phase and that, wherever possible, we should make those loans available to all businesses, regardless of where they hold their business account, including those that hold that account with non-bank lenders?
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order, and for having given me notice of her intention to raise this matter. I trust that the hon. Lady has informed the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras.
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): I see that she is nodding, so she has informed him. It is very important for good order in the Chamber that if a specific criticism is being made, the Member being criticised should be informed. That is perfectly in order The hon. Lady asks me how she might draw attention to—excuse me, please stay back there. I am addressing the hon. Lady; you have to sit down. [Interruption.] Yes, no matter what is going on in here, it is important that we keep social distance, and are seen to keep social distance, at all times The hon. Lady will be well aware that the Chair is not responsible for remarks made and points brought forward by right hon. and hon. Members in the Chamber, nor is it for me to adjudicate as to whether what has been said is or is not accurate—which is fortunate, because that would be a full-time job. However, the hon. Lady has asked me how she might draw attention to the point that she has made, and I would say to her that she has already done so.
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I must say to the hon. Lady that she heard my answer to the hon. Member for Hyndburn (Sara Britcliffe). This is a matter for debate, not a point of order for the Chair. I have to say to the hon. Member for Bradford West (Naz Shah) that as she was criticising a Member—whoever that Member might be—she ought to have informed the hon. Member that she was intending to do so. Once again, it is a point of debate and it is not for me to adjudicate on the accuracy of statistics, but she has drawn her important point to the attention of the House and, indeed, to those on the Treasury Bench.
Covid-19 Economic Support Package — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): And I might spend all day every day adjudicating between one side of the House and the other, and that is not what I am here for, but I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the point that he has made. I am very anxious not to eat into the time on the important motion in the name of the Leader of the Opposition, which we are about to debate.
Local Contact Tracing — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Other
Alberto Castrenze Costa (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the hon. Lady not accept that this is a unique situation? This is one of the worst crises that this country has ever faced, and I invite her to assist the Government, rather than constantly opposing every measure that the Government are taking in what is an extremely challenging situation.
Local Contact Tracing — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I am afraid I have to reduce the time limit to three minutes—[Hon. Members: "Three minutes?"] Yes, because the debate ends at 7 o’clock. Members should not be surprised because they can see the call list. I call Dawn Butler.
Local Contact Tracing — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Theodora Roosevelt Clarke (Conservative, Centre-right): To pick up the hon. Member’s point about specific venues and contact tracing, in my constituency, pubs and restaurants have been successfully using track and trace now for several months. Venues such as Candid Beer, the Bird in Hand and the Market Vaults are already using contact tracing very well. Does he not agree with me that contact tracing is actually playing a vital role in helping keep our hospitality industry open for business?
Local Contact Tracing — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Other
Nigel Martin Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): During the Division, Front Benchers must leave via the door in front. Everybody else must leave via the door behind me—socially distanced, please Question put (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the original words stand part of the Question.
Electricity Generation: Local Suppliers — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Housing
Paul Howell (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Member may be aware that I co-chair the all-party parliamentary group for left-behind neighbourhoods, and there are many opportunities for this in those communities. In my constituency, for example, there is heat from mine workings. Does he agree that these sorts of innovation can come through this channel much better than others?
Electricity Generation: Local Suppliers — House of Commons, 2020-10-14
Topic: Other
Peter James Guy Aldous (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Member for securing the debate. He refers to the obstacles. Does he agree that one way to overcome those obstacles is for the ten-minute rule Bill that I presented in the summer, which is due to have its Second Reading on 29 January next year, to be passed into statute, whether through the private Member’s Bill route or the Government adopting it?
Covid-19: Local Discussions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Penelope Mary Mordaunt (Conservative, Centre-right): First of all, let me acknowledge the immense sacrifices that people in York and elsewhere around the country are making, and what people are having to endure. As the Prime Minister has made clear, the current restrictions will end on 2 December, and we will then return to a local and tiered approach. The Government will work with my hon. Friend and other local leaders in the area to determine the most appropriate response. We will be tailoring any tiers that people have to go into, as we have done previously, depending on what is needed locally.
Covid-19: Local Discussions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Darren George Henry (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend let us know what Government discussions are taking place about an exit strategy for lockdown, so that local businesses such as pubs and close contact businesses such as Skinderella in Broxtowe can plan ahead?
Transition Period: UK Preparedness — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government have been clear that the transition period will end on 31 December, when the UK will be outside the single market and the customs union. There is a guaranteed set of changes and opportunities for which the Government, businesses and citizens all need to prepare. The vast majority of the changes that will come into effect will take place regardless of the outcome of negotiations with the European Union on our future trade relationship. Although we have seen a significant increase in readiness among businesses and citizens, there is still more to do, which is why I encourage everybody who needs to do so to go to www.gov.uk/transition, where there is a range of tools to help people to make the changes they need to for life after the end of the transition period.
Regional Equality of Economic Opportunity — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gareth Mark Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): In order for us to truly level up, we will need to mobilise billions of pounds of private capital. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, as part of the national infrastructure strategy, we should launch a new financial institution such as a British development bank to make that happen?
Regional Equality of Economic Opportunity — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Amanda Anne Milling (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are committed to ensuring that businesses and infrastructure projects continue to have access to the finance they need. The UK has a range of existing tools to support investment, including the UK guarantees scheme. The Government will bring forward further measures to boost investment in UK infrastructure as part of the national infrastructure strategy.
Regional Equality of Economic Opportunity — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Housing
Mark Peter Fletcher (Conservative, Centre-right): This year has presented many challenges, but as my right hon. Friend will know from her visit to my constituency in the summer, there remains a strong desire to see a levelling-up agenda in constituencies like mine, with better infrastructure, better educational standards and more affordable housing. Can she assure me that this Government remain committed to levelling up constituencies like Bolsover?
Regional Equality of Economic Opportunity — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Amanda Anne Milling (Conservative, Centre-right): I want to take this opportunity to congratulate my hon. Friend once again on his historic election victory in Bolsover exactly 11 months ago. I was delighted to visit him in Bolsover during the summer. I can assure him that the Government are as committed to levelling up opportunity across the UK today as we were last December.
Civil Service Jobs outside London — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Housing
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I have heard the Mayor of Teesside mentioned in this place perhaps more than any civic leader in the country, and I find myself in awe, once again, of the raw power of the Teesside parliamentary caucus. I am pleased to say that I spent last night eagerly reading the Mayor’s plans for the international campus in Teesside, and I particularly enjoyed the value-for-money comparisons with the London housing market. I understand that he has already met the lead official for Places for Growth, and I will be asking for an update on those discussions so we can make sure that the north-east benefits from this agenda.
Civil Service Jobs outside London — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend’s commitment to opportunity for people from less wealthy backgrounds extends back many years to his tremendous work at the Social Mobility Foundation. We are looking at how we can get a more diverse array of people via the Places for Growth programme, but it is not just limited to places for growth; we are looking at the whole human resources strategy in the civil service so that we look at diversity in a much broader way than previously.
Future Relationship with the EU — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Immigration
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): One of the things that we will be able to do when we take back control is to have total discretion over who comes into this country. One of things that we will be able to do, for example, is to end the abuse of ID cards, which are easily forged, easily used by organised criminals, and utilised in order to gain access to this country. Once we are out of the transition period, we will take back control of our borders, a precondition of greater security for all.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): As a number of hon. and right hon. Members have reminded us, there are just 50 days to go before the end of the transition period. That is why I am pleased to be able to discuss with the CBI and other business representative organisations this afternoon exactly how we can ensure that we are all ready for both the challenges and the opportunities that that will bring.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point. It is vital that we have confidence in the integrity of our democratic institutions. That is why the Electoral Commission and other bodies play such an important role. Of course, it is also important that people can have confidence in the promises made by politicians, and it was the case in 2014 that Nicola Sturgeon and leading Scottish nationalists made the point that that referendum was for a generation. Just six years later, I do not believe a generation has passed.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I cannot think of anywhere better to put DCMS Ministers than Stoke-on-Trent: a jewel in the heart of Staffordshire, home to industrial innovation for generations and boasting three of the finest Members of Parliament in the House of Commons.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes an important point, and it is important that everyone’s vote counts. Those who are living with a disability, blind or partially sighted must feel that they can have confidence in the integrity of our electoral system. We have forthcoming legislation on electoral integrity, and I know that the Minister for the Constitution and Devolution, my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith), has been working with charities to ensure that we have a fully inclusive and modern voting system.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Cherilyn Mackrory (Conservative, Centre-right): Can my right hon. Friend reassure fishing families in my constituency and around the Cornish coast that in the remaining stages of the negotiations with the EU, our negotiators absolutely will not compromise our fishing waters and that we will have the ability to act as an independent coastal state come 1 January?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Immigration
Jacob Young (Conservative, Centre-right): Last night, the immigration Bill was signed into law, ending freedom of movement from 31 December and allowing us to create our points-based immigration system, delivering on our promise to get Brexit done and take back control of our borders. Can my right hon. Friend outline what he envisages our future travel arrangements will be with our European Union partners?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Simon James Jupp (Conservative, Centre-right): The south-west is home to some of the most innovative and cutting-edge companies in the UK, with the Exeter science park, in my constituency, home to many highly skilled jobs. But there are still more fantastic opportunities ahead, with a potential free port at Exeter airport and formal recognition of the Great South West, to give our region a louder, unified voice. What plans do the Government have to ensure that we continue to invest in the south-west and to ensure we are not left behind?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Other
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): Whenever I see the hon. Gentleman, I am irresistibly reminded of the words of "Bring Me Sunshine". I do not know whether he is Wise, but he is certainly one of the reasons the Conservatives represent Morecambe.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Daniel Leonard James Poulter (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister will be aware that even with a vaccine coming on stream and passing safety tests quickly, a roll-out will take many months, and we have local and mayoral elections coming next May. What steps is he going to put in place to ensure that vulnerable and older people are still able to vote? Will he consider, in that process, encouraging local authorities to register people to vote by post?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a very important point, and he has been a consistent and effective advocate for the rights of older and vulnerable citizens in all his time in the House. We must make sure, both through effective voter registration and through the effective roll-out of our vaccination programme, that older and vulnerable voters are in a position to take part in the democratic process, and I will work with the Minister for the Constitution and Devolution to do just that.