argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Downing Street Garden Event — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Government Operations
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): The Paymaster General has made various references to fairness and natural justice. He has made no reference at all to the Nolan principles: the seven standards that govern us all in public life, including honesty, leadership and accountability. On that basis, why will the Prime Minister not do what Gavin Barwell, a former chief of staff in No. 10 has suggested, and come clean and say whether he attended that party or not? Why is he hiding behind Sue Gray’s investigation?
Downing Street Garden Event — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Government Operations
Kim Marie Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): Today, I received an email from a constituent, Angela, whose mother died in a nursing home in St Helens where she was unable to hold her hand or be close to her before her death. She is outraged, as are many other people, by the actions of the Prime Minister and the people who partied in the Downing Street garden. Does the Paymaster General agree that the Prime Minister needs to take the decent action and resign?
Downing Street Garden Event — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Government Operations
Sarah Ann Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Two days after the party on 20 May, the revelations came out about Dominic Cummings. Five days after the party, we had the Downing Street press conference, where he explained his activities in Barnard Castle. Some 923 people wrote to me in anger about that, many of whom were angry about not just the incident itself but the attempted cover-up. It seems that the Government are making exactly the same mistake again. The British people want honesty. I ask the Paymaster General a very simple question: completely separately from the inquiry, can he publish a list of the Prime Minister’s engagements on 20 May?
Downing Street Garden Event — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Government Operations
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): When someone’s alleged conduct undermines the integrity of their role, the authority of their role, and trust in their role, they are suspended. When somebody is under investigation they are suspended, so why is the Prime Minister not suspended?
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Rachel Jane Reeves (Labour, Centre-left): We want to make Brexit work. We have this power, so let us use it now. A VAT cut is something practical that the Government could do right now, and it would be felt automatically in all our constituents’ bills. It would give security to people across our country, and I urge all hon. Members to back Labour’s motion today.
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Energy
Rachel Jane Reeves (Labour, Centre-left): In fact the poorest households spend a higher proportion of their income on gas and electricity bills, with pensioners spending the highest proportion, so the beneficiaries of this measure would be the people we know need that support more than anyone We have had a decade of dither and delay from the Conservatives on energy policy. There is indeed a global price spike for gas, but this Government have left Britain uniquely exposed. They have failed to insulate homes properly and they have failed to invest in the new nuclear or renewables that we need. They have failed on gas storage, leaving us reliant on Russia and Qatar for our gas supply. They have failed to regulate the market, with 27 companies now having gone bankrupt, which has left rising prices hitting millions.
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Energy
Rachel Jane Reeves (Labour, Centre-left): That is levelling up in action, filling in the potholes at the Lord’s manor On this side of the House we want to keep bills low, which is why Labour is bringing forward this vote to reduce VAT on home energy bills to 0% for a year. It is why we would spread out the price increase that is about to hit bill payers because of the collapsing energy firms, and it is why we would help the squeezed middle, those on lower incomes and pensioners by increasing and expanding the warm homes discount to 9 million people. Our plan would save households £200 from their bills, and up to £600 in total for those who need it most. We would pay for this with a windfall tax on North sea oil and gas profits. These companies have profited massively because of exploding prices, so much so that some in the industry have referred to soaring energy prices as a "cash machine" for producers and their shareholders.
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): My constituent Gillian Fish from Billingham has seen her dual fuel bill go up from £39 to £94.28 a month, and she fears that, with just £33 left each month from her employment and support allowance after she has paid her essential bills, she will not be able to afford to leave her home. She does not smoke, she does not drink and she is ill enough to need a mobility scooter. I do not know what to say to her. Can my hon. Friend offer me some advice?
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Energy
Rachel Jane Reeves (Labour, Centre-left): I would say to my hon. Friend’s constituent that, under Labour’s plans, £600 would be taken off her bills in April compared with what will happen without Government action. That protects my hon. Friend’s constituent and many millions of constituents like her who are struggling through no fault of their own right now During his Budget speech, the Chancellor said that the role of "Government should have limits." I wonder if the Chancellor’s refusal to act so far is because he does not politically believe it is the role of Government to help alleviate soaring energy bills, or is it just that it is not a priority for him right now? The complete absence of action from Government speaks for itself. People deserve a Government who are on their side. Labour has a plan for action now to help with bills and to prevent the Government’s mistakes of the last decade from being repeated again. We want to give support and security to families now and to keep bills low for the future. That is why Labour will reduce our reliance on imported gas by accelerating home-grown renewables and new nuclear. Our plan to make sure that 19 million homes are warm and well insulated will save households £400 not just for one year, but each and every year on their bills. We will regulate the market better, with a pledge to never again let energy companies make promises to working families that they cannot keep.
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Rachel Jane Reeves (Labour, Centre-left): On 9 June 2016, the right hon. Lady said: "We are unable to get rid of VAT on fuel bills" because the EU prevents us from doing so, despite fuel poverty, but nothing prevents the right hon. Lady from doing the right thing today by voting with us this evening There is a straight choice in today’s vote. A cut in VAT will make a real difference. If someone is on a lower income, they will feel the benefit of a VAT cut on their bills because they spend more of their household budget on energy. If someone is a pensioner, they spend twice as much on energy and will be hit even harder by the rising energy price cap. A cut on VAT for home energy bills would be an immediate relief for all. I can understand why the Government do not want to back Opposition policies, as the right hon. Lady has said. However, they would in fact only be honouring the Prime Minister’s own commitments, because the Prime Minister was once the greatest advocate of the VAT cut on home energy bills. In 2016, he said: "When we Vote Leave, we will be able to scrap this unfair and damaging tax." Not once, but three times he has backed a VAT cut on energy bills. Many on the Government Benches have since joined that call. The Chief Secretary went halfway there just last year when he said that VAT on electricity should be cut. But now that the Prime Minister has a chance to actually do something, and he and his Chancellor say no. The problem is that you cannot pay bills on broken promises Speaking of the Chancellor, yet again he is in hiding. He was not here yesterday when we debated fiscal responsibility, and he is not here today to debate the cost of living. Maybe he has gone back to California. Had he been here, I would have asked him not just about his broken promises on VAT; I would also have asked, given that he lives and works next door to No. 10 Downing Street, how long he has known about the party on 20 May 2020, and what he has done or said about this disgraceful breach of lockdown rules. Was he at the party when it happened next door, or was he at his window taking the pictures? He might not want to answer my questions, but the country deserves to know whether he too has colluded in the 18-month cover-up In just 80 days’ time, on 1 April, working people will be hit—[Interruption.] Get on your feet. Tell your constituents why you will not be voting for a reduction in VAT this evening. Be my guest.
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour, Centre-left): There has been a £67 council tax rise, a national insurance rise of £250 and an income tax rise of £150—those are averages, for the average person. How on earth can the Chief Secretary say that his Government have put measures in place to help the ordinary person in this cost-of-living crisis when he will be clobbering them with, on average, a £1,405 bill? What they are doing is disgraceful.
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen John Doughty (Labour, Centre-left): The Chief Secretary seems to be suggesting that everything is going fine, but the reality on the ground for many families is very different. The Trussell Trust had to give out nearly 1 million food bank parcels between April and September last year. That is an 11% increase on the same period in 2019. Why is that the case if everything that he is doing is working just fine?
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Energy
Paul Christopher Blomfield (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister seems to be talking about everything except the crisis facing families on the lowest incomes as a result of rising energy bills. Will he address that issue and recognise that families in my constituency will face choosing between heating and eating, as well as unmanageable debt that will break their budgets? Does he recognise that the sort of action needed—earlier he mentioned the warm home discount, for example—needs to go far further to totally offset the additional bills if those families are not to face untold misery?
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Energy
John Robert Cryer (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman talks a lot about sustainability. He is quite right. That has been the big question about energy for as long as I can remember. On that basis, was it a wise decision to close the biggest gas storage facility in the country, which this Government did?
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Energy
Gerald Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker Families in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney and across the country face a bleak start to the new year. Rising energy costs are especially concerning at the coldest time of year. The cost-of-living crisis is growing. Shopping baskets were £15 more expensive this Christmas than last Christmas because of inflation, and the price of petrol was 24% higher. Families face real pressures on their household incomes this winter, yet so far the Government have not stepped up to the challenge and offered anywhere near adequate support Next month, a new price cap is likely to be announced to take effect from April 2022, and there is some alarming speculation that bills could rise by as much as 46%. Undoubtedly, some will point to the rise in energy bills being partly due to the short-term increase in the global gas price, but let us be clear: the reality is that a decade of Conservative government has left us exposed to the market. Do the Government recognise that their failure on regulation and gas storage, the delay in new nuclear and renewables, and the failure to insulate homes properly have led to working people paying the price for the Government’s incompetence Labour’s plan, which the motion outlines, will go some way to support families up and down the country who face a cost-of-living crisis here and now. We know that oil and gas producers in the North sea have posted huge profits during the pandemic. A windfall tax to help cut VAT on home energy bills and ease the burden on working families is appropriate at this most difficult time for families across the country Cutting VAT on energy would save most households around £200 on their bills at a time when the poorest need support. We also know that the Prime Minister, the Levelling Up Secretary and the Home Secretary backed cutting VAT on fuel in the past. Therefore, the Government could support the motion. Why are they so far refusing to do so? As I said, Labour’s plan would save most households £200 while targeting support at low earners, and pensioners would save £600. The plan tries to ensure that people do not have to choose between eating and heating The Welsh Labour Government have already announced a £38 million winter fuel support scheme that directly supports families to cover their energy costs and keep their homes warm this winter. That demonstrates the Welsh Government’s willingness to offer support to those most in need. The Welsh Government never shied away from trying to support families through the crisis. We now need the UK Government, with all their financial clout, to step up to the plate and deliver for those who need it most at this most difficult time. I urge all Members, particularly those on the Conservative Benches, to do the decent thing and support the Opposition motion.
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Naseem Akhtar Shah (Labour, Centre-left): People are having to make difficult choices in their shopping lists to keep food on their family table. People are having to decide between staying warm or facing the chill this winter because of rising energy bills. People are literally emptying out their savings to cover everyday costs because of the rising level of inflation The Prime Minister and his Government have lost their grip across the board and are tearing down our economy and our country with poor planning and incompetence time and time again. They had years to plan for Brexit and boost skills and jobs for workers in Britain, yet all five flagship policies in their "plan for jobs" are failing. Last September the British population felt the brunt of their poor planning when they had to queue for hours just to get fuel for their cars, due to a shortage of HGV drivers. The energy price rises set to take place in April will be catastrophic, with bills set to rise on 1 April by another 50% to as much as £2,000 a year for an average household paying by direct debit The Prime Minister and his Government are in complete denial and empty of any solution to this crisis, probably because the cost of living crisis does not affect him. When the going gets tough and the Prime Minister has to slum it out, he texts his Downing Street chum and he can simply drop a message to his rich mate the Lord, who will cough up from the coffers to fund the designer Lulu Lytle-inspired £840 a roll wallpaper, or a Baby Bear sofa for just under 10 grand, or a three grand Lily Drum table. What is an extra 15 quid on the Christmas shopping list for him this year compared with last? How will the rise in inflation, the 24% increase in petrol prices, rents at the highest level in 13 years, or the price to heat our homes going up by 50% this April bother this Prime Minister, or anyone on the Government Benches? The Government are totally out of touch with what it is like for real families in Britain—working-class people, people in Bradford West and across this country That is why we, the Labour party, are providing a solution to protect families, especially in places such as Bradford West, to protect lower and middle-income earners—and pensioners—who have already been squeezed by years of underfunding and under-investment, and face the choice between food and heating. We have the highest rates of child poverty in Yorkshire. This is not something that we did not know was going to happen; we knew it was going to happen. The Prime Minister stood there and said that inflation was all made up; yet two months later it is the highest that it has been in decades. The Government are in complete denial and they fail every child and every person in Bradford West by not supporting our motion.
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Energy
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour, Centre-left): The cost of living is ratcheting up, but it did not need to be this way. It did not need to be this way because the Government have implemented a number of tax increases. It did not need to be this way because the Government have failed to ensure that food prices, energy prices and other costs of living, including housing costs—with the inflated housing market, people are paying far too much for renting their houses—have been controlled It did not need to be this way because, for over a decade, this Government have made poor choices on energy. They banned onshore wind farms. This is now one of the cheapest forms of electricity known to this country, but it was banned for 10 years by this Government, who only U-turned last year, in the midst of a pandemic, when they realised there were very few options left for them. They cut the solar feed-in tariff, which meant that hundreds of poor families who would otherwise have chosen the option of having solar panels on their roofs could no longer afford to do so, and it became a luxury limited to the rich and middle classes. And, of course, they failed to invest in truly insulated green homes, and their insulation schemes have been a disaster I am no fan of the tactics of Insulate Britain, although I defend to the hilt their right to protest, but what they are right about is the simple failure of this Government to insulate every single home in the country. It is possible that family energy bills could have been reduced, almost decimated. We could still do that now, in just a few years: every council house, every social house, every house in the rented sector and then the houses that are owned could be transformed through a street-by-street measure. However, this Government have no answers apart from silly giveaway grants that do not even touch the sides of the insulation of a home, let alone its transformation into a Passivhaus or something approaching it As for our proposal, it is a short-term fix for the year. It means slashing VAT, but also ensuring that we make long-term investments in green energy. Investing in our country and our infrastructure can be a possibility, but only by voting for this motion today will we start to turn the tide of Government failure on the cost of living, on bills and on our climate.
Household Energy Bills: VAT — House of Commons, 2022-01-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Ruth Lorraine Jones (Labour, Centre-left): In rising for the first time since Friday, I want to place on the record my sadness at the untimely passing of the Member for Birmingham, Erdington. Jack Dromey was a lovely man and a staunch trade unionist, and he always stood up for working people. If he were with us today, I am sure he would be speaking in this debate, because it is about fairness, decency and supporting those who are most in need I know from speaking to residents of Newport West how worried they are about the rising cost of living. They are paying more for their food, more for heating, more for gas and more in tax. In short, the people of Newport West and this country are worse off under the Tories, and they need a break. Today, the Opposition are forcing a binding vote on a VAT cut on home energy bills because the Conservative party refuses to back a windfall tax that would support families. Simply put, it is not interested in giving working people the support that they need and deserve Incomes are still falling relatively, but for those with the least, living costs are still rising. More than half of Welsh households have seen their food costs increase, while more than 60% have seen their utility bills increase. The impact on children is worsening: more than one in five families with children has had to cut back on items for them, including books, toys, nappies and clothing, while one in 10 families with two children has had to cut back on food for them My pledge to the people of Newport West is this: I support removing VAT from domestic energy bills for a year from April 2020; I support expanding and increasing the warm home discount; I support smoothing the cost of supplier failure; and I welcome the establishment of a contingency fund that would be directed at supporting energy-intensive businesses. Those are real and tangible actions that would make my constituents’ lives better. I cannot understand why the Conservatives will not support us. I say to the Minister that someone in Newport West on the energy price cap with typical usage is currently paying £1,277 a year for their dual fuel bill. That is expected to rise to £1,865 a year from April according to the latest estimate, which is a £588 increase. We need less time to be spent on agreeing excuses for lockdown parties and more time to be spent on standing up for those most in need. We need less time to be spent pretending that energy costs are not rising and more time to be spent cutting the cost of gas and electricity Simply put, we need more action for those most in need and less dither, delay and letting people down. Dither and delay are exactly what Tory Ministers will do if they vote against this important motion. The Opposition’s motion will make life that bit easier for those most in need, so what are we waiting for?