argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-25
Topic: Government Operations
Tina Stowell (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, like everybody else who has spoken in the Committee so far today, I share the objective of returning to the status quo ante and repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. But as some noble Lords who heard me speak on Second Reading may know, I do so for different reasons from that which the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, and most others have set out today. I supported the original legislation, and the reason why I think that it should be repealed is because something that I believed was a relinquishing of power to the electorate turned into a weapon that got used against the electorate, as my noble friend Lady Noakes has described That is why I think it is important that we go back to how we were before, rather than, at this point, seek to introduce something that would maintain a power that the House of Commons did not have before. I thought what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, said when he introduced his amendment was interesting as he said this about where power lies. He carefully made the point that this was not about the current Prime Minister, this was about where power rests in this situation. Should it be with the Executive? Should it be with Parliament? I know that over the last few years the noble and learned Lord has raised many different examples of where there is an imbalance of power between the Executive and Parliament, and that there are some ways in which that needs to be looked at and that imbalance addressed I do not think we would be wise to try to introduce a power because of what happened a couple of years ago. The battle for power at that point, in 2019, between the Executive and Parliament was observed, in my view, by people outside Parliament as a battle that should not have taken place. It was power that should not rest in the hands of Parliament. Indeed, it should not rest, in a direct way if you like, in the hands of the Prime Minister. This was about a democratic mandate that was in need of being implemented. I think, for everybody’s interests, trying to introduce the amendment that has been proposed here would be unwise, and the best course of action would be to return to exactly what we had before.
Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-25
Topic: Government Operations
Edward Faulks (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): The noble Lord says that the clause does not restore the status quo. Does it follow that, in his view, the power to dissolve would have been justiciable at common law by virtue of the conventions?
Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward Faulks (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): This may be an observation intended to help the Minister. Since the Bill was drafted, the Judicial Review and Courts Bill has been introduced. It contains an ouster clause, but one that is qualified as opposed to absolute, so the argument that this is being used as some form of basis for future ouster clauses seems to be defied by recent legislative practice.
Communications and Digital Committee — House of Lords, 2022-01-19
Topic: Government Operations
John Eric Gardiner (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, this Motion and the other Motion standing in my name before your Lordships give effect to the rotation rule which is applied each January following a meeting of the Committee of Selection. The rotation rule operates to secure a regular turnover of Select Committee memberships. Members rotating off Select Committees, who include several Select Committee chairs, have served their full term under the rotation rule. I take this opportunity to thank them for their contribution and service to these committees. I beg to move.
Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this rather omnibus, wide-ranging debate. It has referred to the contents of the amendments, and to matters of a very raw political nature that are outwith the responsibilities of this technical Bill, which nevertheless has great political implications for all of Northern Ireland. In this wide-ranging debate we have had those who support the amendments and those who do not, but I would like to think that all of us in this House want to see peace, stability and reconciliation, and proper partnership government in Northern Ireland that delivers for all the people on education, health and the economy Various contentious issues were mentioned in this debate, such as the protocol, which we will come to later. Noble Lords also mentioned the past and legacy issues, which very much need to be resolved. We also mentioned cultural and Irish language issues. I am a Gaeilgeoir; I did Irish at school and attended the Irish college in Donegal in two separate summers, because my mother wanted me to. But I believe in that element of diversity, and I believe in respect for political difference, ethnic difference and racial difference. I would like to see that right across the community Therefore, I am pleased that the Minister has indicated he is not without sympathy for these amendments and that the Government intend to come back, post election, and have discussions with the parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly to further explore the appetite for these issues. But I offer a note of warning. Because the political situation is particularly fragile—as referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Hain, and others—my fear is that we may not have those political institutions in a way that is enduring, or capable of delivering for people in Northern Ireland in a post-election sense. That is because of all the turmoil, not necessarily but mostly around the protocol, and other political issues that have sought to threaten those very institutions It is very important that we do not walk away from these issues. In view of the Minister’s commitments at this stage, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment but point out that I will return to these issues. I hope that in those negotiations, although they relate to strand 1, the Irish Government—as the other co-guarantor of the agreement—are involved as well.
Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I support what the Minister said, particularly in relation to the commencement date being fixed in legislation. I also support my noble friend Lord Coaker in relation to the reports on the New Decade, New Approach implementation period I am conscious of the devolution settlement, but I am also conscious of the fact that the Northern Ireland Executive had commitments to deliver with respect to the New Decade, New Approach. As part of that statement, would it be possible to provide a few columns about the progress of these commitments? The Minister and I are only too aware of the delays in responses to the areas of the common frameworks that were devolved from the European Union to the UK and the devolved regions in the post-Brexit scenario. Nothing happened in terms of Northern Ireland during the three-year interregnum, so we need to know, in an expeditious way, how the Northern Ireland Executive are implementing their commitments, notwithstanding the need to protect the devolution settlement. If there could be a section in the Minister’s statement to that effect, I would greatly appreciate it.
Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): I thank the Minister for taking my intervention. In his wind-up, will he give us his estimation, following discussions today, of a date for the implementation of these negotiations or for their conclusion? They are absolutely vital because we do not want to see them impinge—although many believe that they will—on the election itself.
Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Catharine Letitia Hoey (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I thank everyone for their contributions. This has been a thoughtful and useful debate on a part of the United Kingdom that gets far too little attention at any time other than when there is trouble. I will briefly address a couple of points that were raised I get tired of people going on about how the protocol is all about Brexit. Northern Ireland voted as part of the United Kingdom, and we voted as the United Kingdom to leave. Let us be realistic. What happened then is that Northern Ireland has not left the European Union. We are in the internal market for all sorts of aspects, and we are now seeing that working through in the constitutional issue which is part of this debate tonight: the question of consent I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hannan, for his short speech of support. As someone who was a long-time Member of the European Parliament, perhaps he more than anyone here realises, when we say, "We are waiting for these negotiations and so we cannot talk about this, vote on it or do anything now," just how very unlikely it is that the European Union will cave in and give back what should never have been signed away. I am not interested in who made the bad decisions, who is blaming who in Northern Ireland, or in which Government did it; I am interested now in sorting it. The only way we will do that is to stand up for our country—for a United Kingdom—and not use the excuses that have always been made about why we have a protocol When do we get a vote on this? The noble Lord, Lord Caine, talks about the legal action. Will we get a vote after that? I believe that all the other arguments used to explain why there cannot be a vote tonight are just procrastination. The people of Northern Ireland are fed up with this place and the other place not really ever accepting that they are part of the United Kingdom. I wish people would be honest. There are Members in this House who do not want Northern Ireland to be part of the union but they will not say it. Behind the scenes, we in Northern Ireland do not believe that we have the total support of Peers in this House and Members of Parliament in the other House. I believe that we should be voting on this tonight, but I am aware that there are Members here who have said to me that they genuinely do not think that this is part of this Bill—that it should not be in it. I do not agree with them, but I know that they will use that as their reason—understandably and perhaps genuinely honestly—not to support it.
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Catharine Letitia Hoey (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I support very much what the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, said on this provision. There are a lot of good things in the Bill, but this is certainly not one of them. People watching this—the public—will think that somehow the Government have lost common sense. The idea that anyone can go on a demonstration and not make noise shows such a lack of common sense that I really do not understand how anyone could possibly have put this forward The noble Lord, Lord Hain, mentioned all sorts of demonstrations and historical events that have been helped by noise. Every Saturday, the Zimbabwean diaspora turn up outside the Zimbabwean embassy, sing very loudly and play their drums and music in a loud way. Who is going to decide whether that is bringing unease to people? It certainly brings unease to Mnangagwa in Zimbabwe, I hope. This is something on which I am sure the Minister is sitting there and thinking, "Why on earth are we doing this?" I hope that, even at this stage, the Government will not press these ridiculous amendments.
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-17
Topic: Law and Crime
Claire Fox (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I tried to say that I think we do not want to muddle up too many things. The Bill might have been brought forward in order to deal with the popular revulsion at things such as the M25 sit-ins or getting on top of the Tube, and we have heard that from a number of noble Lords The point about this set of proposals, though, and things such as the triggering noise, is that they do not solve that problem. That is what drives me mad. The second lot of amendments—which were brought in anti-democratically in terms of process—at least looked like they referred to that set of egregious demonstrations. So that is that bit One thing that has been said which I think is very important is that there is a fractious atmosphere in society, which the noble Baroness, Lady Stowell, talked about last time we had this discussion, which is that people feel very strongly about some of the issues of the day. They are not prepared to always say that they support the right of demonstration; they think that something else is going on But one thing they definitely think is that the police are biased. They think that the police are erratic. Some people will say, "Well, the police won’t intervene because they’re all too busy taking the knee or driving around in rainbow-coloured vans". Other people will say, "The police are acting like far-right stormtroopers protecting different types of people." There is a public debate going on about the role of the police So, my objection to these amendment is that not only does it concentrate on noise, which nobody has ever complained about—who has brought that up?—but it puts the police in an even more invidious position. I do want to know how the Government will deal with that. The SOAS policy briefing, which I thought summed it up well, said that the Bill "compels the police to make decisions about whether protests can go ahead, and therefore forces the police to become a visible and controversial actor in ordinary political debate." I think that this will make the position of the police much worse, so even if you are not on the side of the right to protest with no ifs and no buts—as I am—from the Government’s point of view and the Home Secretary’s point of view, who say they are doing it to help the police, they are actually putting the police in a position where they are wandering around assessing noise levels and therefore choosing which demos go ahead, which everybody will think is to do with politics and not procedure. So there seem to me to be some unintended consequences of that approach.
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-17
Topic: Law and Crime
Claire Fox (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the Government say that they are a law and order party, and it is important to recognise that law and order requires that, when Parliament makes criminal laws and sets out clear rules, the public themselves can decide whether they will be on the side of law and order or on the side of criminality. That requires that the laws that are introduced are proportional and have clarity Any member of the public needs to know whether they are breaking the law, so that they will not be labelled a criminal, but in this whole group of new amendments there is no clear guidance on, for example, what is a reasonable excuse. In an earlier set of amendments, the "ought to know" clause completely made it clear that one might not know. The phrase "reasonable excuse" is used as though one were guilty already and needed to give a good excuse for a perfectly reasonable, legal activity that is now treated with suspicion; the legal burden of proof is on the defence, whereas it should be a burden on the prosecution In Committee, when asked what reasonable excuse one might use for carrying a bicycle lock if it could be seen as potentially preparation for locking on, the noble Baroness, Lady Williams said: "It is a defence for a person to prove that they had a reasonable excuse for carrying the equipment in question. For example, carrying a bike lock for the purposes of locking one’s bike to a designated space for bikes could be considered a reasonable excuse".—[Official Report, 24/11/2021; col. 994.] It struck me then that this is a situation whereby we have to explain to the authorities that in fact we are just carrying a bike lock and that we might want to lock our bike up, and that no, we were not the type of person who might misuse our bike lock. To be honest with you, that is no business of the police, the Government or the authorities. It seems alarming that people will need to have reasonable excuses for carrying out peaceful and lawful actions to avoid, potentially, prison terms. This is the micromanagement of what is considered to be the right kind of protest, when the Government claim that it is not attacking protests I would like to counter some of the arguments used by people I am broadly on the side of.
Underpayment of Benefits: Compensation — House of Lords, 2022-01-18
Topic: Social Welfare
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, of equal distress to people is the issue of overpayments in the benefits system, which is allied to the issue of underpayments. What measures will the Minister take, along with ministerial colleagues in the DWP, to restore confidence in the benefit overpayment recovery waiver system—a write-off system that would help people so that they are not forced to pay back money they do not have?
Ukraine — House of Lords, 2022-01-18
Topic: International Affairs
Ian Austin (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, can the Minister assure us that the Government are drawing up a much tougher list of sanctions and asset freezes for anyone connected with Putin and his dictatorship—people in the Russian Government and parliament—including excluding Russia from the SWIFT banking system? Can she assure us that reports from the last few days that that is off the table are not true and that the international community will exclude Russia from the SWIFT banking system?
Xinjiang Internment Camps: Shoot-to-Kill Policy — House of Lords, 2022-05-25
Topic: International Affairs
Brian Mackenzie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, these horrific matters have been raised many times in your Lordships’ House. There is clear evidence of genocide, forced organ harvesting and other human rights abuses, clearly recorded by Sir Geoffrey Nice. We did not act decisively enough when Putin seized Crimea eight years ago and went on to commit murder in Salisbury, and we saw the consequences. Could the Minister say what further action the UK will take, in conjunction with democratic partners, to call China to account, or will history simply repeat itself with the invasion of Taiwan?
Sue Gray Report — House of Lords, 2022-05-25
Topic: Government Operations
Catharine Letitia Hoey (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the public were clearly very angry when they first heard about what had been going on in Whitehall. But now we have had the Sue Gray report—I commend her diligence—a full apology from the Prime Minister and the Metropolitan Police report, and we have seen changes in Downing Street. Outside this place and perhaps some elements of the media, I think many elements of the public—probably the majority now—really do want to draw a line under all this so that we can get on with the issues that are really affecting the country. But does the noble Baroness agree with me that there will be some people who will never give up criticising the Prime Minister because they do not like the fact that he took us out of the European Union, and that this still underpins a huge amount, particularly in some elements of the media? We all think what happened in Downing Street was shocking, but the apology has happened—let us move on.
UK Infrastructure Bank Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2022-06-14
Topic: Environment
Christopher Holmes (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, it is a pleasure to take part in this second group and to agree with pretty much everything that has been said so far I will speak to Amendment 15 in my name, which seeks simply to insert "nature- based solutions" in the definition of infrastructure in the Bill. For every £1 invested in peatland restoration there is a return of £4.60, and for every £1 invested in woodland there is a return of £2.80. Does my noble friend the Minister agree that in both examples that is a multiple greater than what the bank is seeking to get as set out in its aspirations Similarly, as has eloquently been said with regard to climate and nature-based renewal, there is an economic boon to be had if we have nature-based solutions in the Bill for the bank to clearly be able to invest in: some £50 billion for the UK economy by 2050 and, with regard to levelling up, over 100,000 jobs Can my noble friend say whether the bank is able to invest in infrastructure—in this instance, nature-based solutions—in UK overseas territories? A number of things can be done there. Just one example is mangrove replanting, which can have a significant impact on addressing the current climate emergency and more impact than some of the projects that can be done alongside in the United Kingdom. Can the bank invest in such infrastructure projects in UK overseas territories I gently point my noble friend to a report from your Lordships’ Science and Technology Committee, on which I was lucky to serve, on nature-based solutions. It clearly sets out the advantages to be had from such investments, but also the criticality, has been said across your Lordships’ House. Even if we do everything towards the reduction and eventual eradication of carbon, we must still undertake nature-based solutions. To this end, with the economic, social and environmental benefits to be had, does my noble friend agree that it makes complete sense to have nature-based solutions as part of the definition of infrastructure in the Bill?
Health and Care Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-16
Topic: Government Operations
Claire Fox (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): Before the Minister sits down, in view of the recent media revelations, might there need to be a review of the review of the guidance? The review of the guidance is coming into disrepute, and we do not understand how we can hold it to account. I do not want it to be left to newspapers.
Ukraine — House of Lords, 2022-03-30
Topic: International Affairs
Brian Mackenzie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the noble Lord is aware that, in any conflict, it is useful to get into the mind of your opponent. That is extremely difficult with Putin, as we know, but he has previous; he has committed crimes, not just oppressing his own people in Russia, but in this country—Alexander Litvinenko and the Salisbury poisonings. A couple of weeks ago, I had lunch with Professor Michael Borschevsky, who is a renowned student of Russia because his wife was murdered by Putin’s FSB over 20 years ago. Professor Borschevsky came to this country and now has a British passport. We had a very interesting lunch at which he produced this article, which I want to share with the House for important reasons.