argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Commons, 2020-12-07
Topic: Government Operations
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): In. Out. Reinstate? As the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) has pointed out, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State have dropped this, and it is left to the Minister to hold Dominic Cummings’s baby, and to front this up in Parliament. I almost feel sorry for him, but then I remember that both the Treasury solicitor and the Advocate General for Scotland have already resigned over this, because it is such a terrible move by the Government The House of Lords, as we have heard, has rightly carved up this disastrous, petty, grubby, law-breaking, power-grabbing Tory Bill—and after the announcement made just an hour before we came in here tonight, we can add "shambolic" to that as well. We welcome the Lords’ removing a number of threats to devolution from the Bill. We already know that the Tories hate devolution, as the Prime Minister has made clear Clause 42 authorises the UK Government to spend on devolved areas. The UK Government intend to use clause 42 for the purpose of a shared prosperity fund. However, as we have heard, we have yet to see details of that. I personally have been asking about it since 2017, yet we have heard nothing on it. As we have heard, we have also yet to see any sign of the long-promised consultation. It has been repeated over and over that there will be a consultation, but we have not seen it. Lord Thomas confirmed in the other place: "It is therefore plain that the purpose of Clause 42 is to cut across the powers of the devolved Governments to provide financial assistance in areas such as economic development and commercial activities".—[Official Report, House of Lords, 25 November 2020; Vol. 808, c. 276.] That takes away a power from the Scottish Parliament. Baroness Finlay said that "Clause 42 would enable the Government to work around, rather than work with, the devolved Governments".—[Official Report, House of Lords, 25 November 2020; Vol. 808, c. 280.]
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Commons, 2020-12-07
Topic: Government Operations
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Member is absolutely right. It is no surprise that in Scotland we have now had 15 opinion polls in a row that show that a majority of people support independence. That has not happened overnight; that has happened because they have been watching what has been happening here, and have seen the contempt with which Scotland and Wales’s Parliaments have been treated. The result is the growing demand for us to protect our Parliament in that way When it comes to devolution, the Tories used to wear a mask to hide their contempt, but the Bill, and recent comments from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House, have ripped it away once and for all. The Prime Minister recently told his MPs that devolution was a disaster and Tony Blair’s biggest mistake—the latest in a long line of statements that he has made to show his distaste. We all remember him saying that "a pound spent in Croydon is far more of value to the country…than a pound spent in Strathclyde." The Leader of the House has called devolution a failure and is arrogantly dismissing it, while the Scottish social attitudes survey shows that only 7% of the Scottish people do not support devolution. As I have said, the Bill is an orchestrated attempt by this Tory Government to re-centralise powers.
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Commons, 2020-12-07
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Indeed, it should be the right of people living in any country to determine their own future, and he is right: if the people of Northern Ireland choose a different path, they should be respected, as should be the case for those in Wales and Scotland as well I will start to wind up my comments now, Madam Deputy Speaker. I could go on for much more time, but I know that you have packed Benches of Members waiting to come in. I was just about to talk about Joe Biden. He said: "We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit. Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period." That is what he said This Bill continues to facilitate a race to the bottom on standards, threatens our quality food and drink, opens the door to genetically-modified beef and chlorinated chicken, among other products, and opens the door to privatisation of our water and our NHS. As I have pointed out, the House of Lords has rightly carved up this disastrous, petty, grubby, law-breaking, power-grabbing, messy Tory Bill. Its amendments must be respected and agreed. The Scottish Government have always engaged willingly to take forward the common frameworks progress this devolution-wrecking—
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Commons, 2020-12-07
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Member says "Rubbish", but he knows that is not the case. We understand that the Tories have a very casual relationship with the truth, but we expect them to at least have a one-night stand with it. This Bill confirms the contempt that the Prime Minister and his Government have for devolution. People in Scotland see this clearly. As I have said, 15 polls in a row are showing that independence is the only way to save our Parliament’s powers and the voice of the Scottish people, and as the Defence Secretary confirmed earlier, we can have that discussion in the referendum that is coming.
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Commons, 2020-12-07
Topic: Government Operations
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman has repeatedly said that there is no power grab, but Lord Hope of Craighead, who is very widely respected in Scotland and across these isles, said in the Lords that when the SNP described the Bill as a power grab, he initially thought it was "hyperbole", but "having read the Bill and…report of the Constitution Committee,"—[Official Report, House of Lords, 19 October 2020; Vol. 806, c. 1361.] he could very well see why the expression "power grab" is being used. Who is right: Lord Hope or the hon. Gentleman?
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Commons, 2020-12-07
Topic: Government Operations
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is not as simple as listing a power. [Interruption.] No, it is the whole scheme. This is not my view. It is the view of Professor Michael Keating, a very well respected constitutional expert across these islands. It is about the cross-cutting powers that give not just this House, but this Government, the last say across a whole range of devolved fields that Donald Dewar devolved to Edinburgh.
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Commons, 2020-12-07
Topic: International Affairs
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I want to concentrate my remarks on the Lords amendments in relation to devolution, but first I will say something about the reports that the Government may yet agree to the removal of part 5 of the Bill. That is all very well and good, but the problem is that the damage is done. It is now known across Europe and internationally that this British Government are prepared to break their word on an international treaty in order to get their own way. Of course, we knew that this Government were prepared to break their word in Scotland already—and, for that matter, so did the Irish—but now everyone knows it across Europe and the world, including the new American Administration.
Spending Review 2020 — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Labor
Patrick John Grady (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): That will be news to my constituents in Glasgow North, who have had to cope with the closure of their jobcentre. That decision, along with the closure of 200 other jobcentres since 2010, is starting to look a little bit short-sighted. The Chancellor says that he will do everything it takes to support the estimated 2.6 million people who will be unemployed next year, so where exactly are these job coaches going to be based, and will the Government prioritise the places that have already suffered from the closure of local jobcentres?
Spending Review 2020 — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Social Welfare
Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Chancellor could have made the £20 uplift to universal credit permanent, but instead he has left households deeply concerned as they face the prospect of a cut to this vital lifeline in spring. We in the Scottish National party have pressed UK Ministers on this matter countless times. Will the Secretary of State tell the House whether she discussed extending the universal credit uplift with the Chancellor prior to the spending review, and whether she believes that this extension should have been included?
Spending Review 2020 — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Social Welfare
Allan Hopkins Dorans (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): For the last eight months, around 2 million disabled people and others on legacy benefits have been discriminated against through being excluded from the £20 uplift granted to those receiving universal credit. The Chancellor’s failure to extend the £20 uplift to them is another humiliating insult to the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our society, and only granting them an additional 37p a week from next April is nothing short of abhorrent. Does the Secretary of State think it is acceptable that people on legacy benefits are now facing a second year without sufficient financial support from this Government?
Spending Review 2020 — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Social Welfare
Neil Charles Gray (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Shortly, Nicola Sturgeon will outline in her conference speech plans to pay families who receive free school meals a £100 grant to help them through winter till the new, game-changing Scottish child payment starts in the new year. The Secretary of State’s Government could have matched the Scottish Government’s anti-poverty ambition at the spending review, but they failed even to make the UC uplift permanent or extend it to legacy benefits. Can she point to anything in the spending review that is there to address poverty?
Spending Review 2020 — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Social Welfare
Neil Charles Gray (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Secretary of State talks about jobs, yet just as employment is expected to reach 2.6 million, she plans, shamefully, to cut universal credit. Ahead of the spending review, a petition organised by the Disability Benefits Consortium and signed by 119,000 people was handed in to the Government, calling for the UC uplift to be extended to legacy benefits. Given that living costs have increased dramatically for disabled people during the pandemic, why have the Government not acted? Does that not just summarise perfectly the tale of two Governments: a Scottish Government extending support to those who need it while the UK Government increases disability benefits by a derisory 37p?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Social Welfare
Stuart Campbell McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Fixing the low uptake of pension credit could lift 450,000 pensioners out of poverty and save taxpayers £4 billion of NHS and social care costs. Unlike the Scottish Government, the UK Government have no legal obligation to produce a take-up plan, but they have a moral obligation to act, so can we see a proper, published and ambitious take-up plan and targets, please?
Agricultural Transition Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Agriculture
Deidre Leanne Brock (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I see the headlines of stories that the Government have planted today promising that Brexit will transform our fields and farms. One would have to agree, although that transformation will not only be in ways that many in agricultural areas will necessarily welcome. The speed and scale of the reductions proposed worry many others, including, it seems, the Minister’s own colleagues, with the head of the National Farmers Union describing the Government’s approach as "high risk and a very big ask" Lack of clarity on the detail of the replacement environmental land schemes remains a big concern for agricultural and environmental representatives alike. It seems to me that what qualifying criteria we have been made aware of could lend themselves equally well to shooting estates as to hill farmers, for example. I would be grateful if the Secretary of State could enlighten us further on that point I find it astonishing that the Government have had since 2016 to construct replacement schemes, and yet here we are, just days away from either a no-deal or a low-deal Brexit, amid fears of lower imported standards and enduring the uncertainties of a global pandemic, with so many details still to be outlined. Scottish farmers and crofters do not face the same difficulties, because in Scotland the Government have committed to continuing payments at their current level. However, our Ministers were told just days ago in the spending review that, despite the Government’s manifesto commitment to match EU support, rural Scotland will be £170 million short of what was promised by 2025. The chair of NFU Scotland has said that this shortfall will undermine environmental and biodiversity targets for Scottish farmers and crofters. How does the Secretary of State answer that Finally, I would like to hear from the Secretary of State what the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill and control over state aid being in the hands of Westminster means for the Scottish Government’s ability to maintain a divergent path to England on farming support. Can he provide assurances that the Bill will have absolutely no impact on Scotland’s ability to set support in Scotland independent of the system chosen for England?
Agricultural Transition Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Agriculture
Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): A recent poll from AgriScot’s online annual event has shown that 75% of Scottish farmers now oppose Brexit. That is hardly surprising, given the harm, disruption and uncertainty that Brexit has caused the agricultural sector. Does the Secretary of State understand why so many have now turned their backs on his Government’s flagship policy, and does he understand the need for this Government to listen to their concerns?
Agricultural Transition Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Agriculture
Patrick John Grady (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am not sure that the answers so far from the Secretary of State on the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill will provide much reassurance to the agricultural sector or, indeed, anyone in Scotland who values the devolution settlement. Can he guarantee that the Government will not use powers in the Bill to prevent the Scottish Government from pursuing their own agenda on issues related to standards or state aid?
Agricultural Transition Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Agriculture
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): We know that the Tories have already broken a manifesto promise on matching EU funding and that it is going to cost Scotland £170 million, but we have real concerns that the Government are going to use the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill to prevent the Scottish Government from providing the right level of support for Scottish farmers. Can we get absolute clarification that the Tory Government will not use the Bill to block any devolved policies, such as using headage payments for the production of cattle and sheep?
Agricultural Transition Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Agriculture
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Moran Taing, Mr Deputy Speaker, agus Latha Noamh Anndra sona dhuibh. A happy St Andrews Day to you I recently met Fife and Kinross representatives of the National Farmers Union, Scotland. They already face severe problems because of combined impacts of the covid pandemic, the looming chaos of Brexit and serious difficulties in recruiting seasonal workers. Now we find that farmers in Scotland are likely to face a funding loss of £170 million compared with what the Tories promised in their manifesto. The president of the NFUS says that this will undermine the crucial delivery of promises to meet climate change and biodiversity challenges. Why should I believe that the Minister is right and that the president of the NFUS is wrong?
Patrick Finucane: Supreme Court Judgment — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Doogan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Secretary of State rightly acknowledges that this was an appalling crime, but then continues that it was in a difficult and dark period in this nation’s history—a qualification that changes nothing, because no context is relevant here. It is not for the state or its agencies to uphold the rule of law when it is easy; indeed, the obligation may be seen to increase commensurately with any extenuating challenge in compliance. Almost 32 years later, there will still be no public inquiry ordered by the British state into its collusion in this crime. How does he expect Pat Finucane’s family to maintain confidence regarding this latest failure to secure justice through a public inquiry?
Statutory Paid Bereavement Leave: Loss of Family Member — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Social Welfare
Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am delighted to have secured this Adjournment debate to highlight the need for statutory paid bereavement leave for all employees upon the sad loss of a close family member or partner. In recent years, I was privileged to be one of a number of MPs who worked cross-party to secure paid bereavement leave for parents on the loss of a child up to the age of 18 years old. That effort showed this place at its best when, finally, that right was enshrined in law as of April this year. As that work was going on, I said in this very Chamber that groundbreaking as that achievement was, it simply did not go far enough, and that I would immediately begin working to extend a similar two-week statutory right for paid bereavement leave to others. This debate is part of that effort It is true that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes, and while most of us are happy—comfortable, even—to talk about taxes, there remains a reticence to speak openly and honestly about death. I believe that is why the measures this House has already supported on parental bereavement leave for the loss of a child are only in their infancy, and why the measures under discussion tonight have not yet been adopted: we are too reticent to talk about death. Bereavement is a fact of life, and if only a fraction of the costs associated with it could be mitigated with better support at the right time, we could boost our economy and have a healthier society with a greater sense of wellbeing at its heart. Instead, we have the terrible situation where, in our society and, as a consequence, in our workplaces, people who are bereaved suffer in silence as they are expected to just get on with things. That is not healthy.
Statutory Paid Bereavement Leave: Loss of Family Member — House of Commons, 2020-11-30
Topic: Labor
Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I want to press the Minister on one point and ask for his view on it. If those who are earning a comfortable salary feel that they need to take additional time off, unpaid, they are free to do that, and they are obviously able to absorb that cost. There is a concern about the people in low-paid jobs who cannot take unpaid leave and therefore do not have the choice to take additional time, unless, of course, it is in statute.
Shared Prosperity Fund — House of Commons, 2020-12-16
Topic: International Affairs
Gavin Andrew Stuart Newlands (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for that response. It has been suggested in the other place that the management of the UK shared prosperity fund will involve advisers jointly appointed by the UK and devolved Governments, yet the past few months have shown that this Government do not see themselves as an equal partner to the devolved nations and that they are instead wrongly centralising power to Westminster at the expense of devolution. What guarantees can he give to the devolved nations that they will have a cast-iron equal say on the governance of the UK shared prosperity fund? This is particularly pertinent, given the shocking contempt shown by the Government in trying to railroad through the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-12-16
Topic: International Affairs
Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am not quite sure what that was, Mr Speaker, but it certainly wasn’t an answer to the question. I am not surprised, because the Prime Minister did not want to answer the question. He knows that the United Kingdom is poorer and worse off as a result of the extreme Tory Brexit, and the costs continue to soar. The Warwick study estimates that Scotland has already lost £4 billion as a result of Brexit, and Bloomberg Economics estimates that the UK will have lost £200 billion by the end of this year. Scottish Government analysis estimates that every person in Scotland will, on average, be worse off to the tune of £1,600 Scotland has been completely ignored by Westminster throughout the Brexit process, and we are now being kept in the dark over the devastating price that we will be forced to pay. People in Scotland are not willing to suffer the consequences of this economic vandalism, and 16 consecutive polls have shown a majority for independence—that is little wonder, Mr Speaker. Is it not as clear as day that the only way left to protect Scotland’s interests and our place in Europe is for Scotland to become an independent country?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-12-16
Topic: Transportation
John Joseph McNally (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Prime Minister promised to fund 4,000 zero-emission buses by 2024, but the spending review delivers just 800 such buses. Why has he put the handbrake on when it comes to supporting the bus building sector? With COP26 less than a year away, does he agree that it is time to put the pedal to the floor, get the low and zero-emission bus production lines in Falkirk, Yorkshire and Ballymena full, and support the bus building sector in full, as he promised?
Uyghur Slave Labour: Xinjiang — House of Commons, 2020-12-16
Topic: Foreign Trade
Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): As future post-Brexit trade deals are negotiated, can the Minister confirm that the UK will not back down on its moral and ethical principles to secure any economic gains and that China agreeing to put an end to violations of its citizens’ human rights is an unmoveable precondition to the UK signing such a deal?
Trade (Disclosure of Information) Bill — House of Commons, 2020-12-16
Topic: Foreign Trade
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman stood last year and was elected, as were the majority of Members of this House, on a manifesto that included an unconditional guarantee of a free trade agreement with Europe. Do his comments of a few moments ago indicate that he now is not convinced that a free trade agreement with Europe is the best way forward?