argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Preventing Crime and Delivering Justice — House of Commons, 2022-05-11
Topic: Energy
James Neale Hanvey (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker. I mean "the people the Government are supposed to serve" What is clear, and what I do not think has been mentioned by anyone today—although it has been mentioned many times outside this place—is that poverty is a deliberate political choice. Scotland is replete with energy, far more than we could ever possibly need, but our people see no benefit from that. Contracts for difference, along with asymmetric and uncompetitive transmission costs, impede any inward investment in Scotland. We should be in the vanguard of the renewables sector manufacturing industry, but unfortunately there is precious little manufacturing happening in Scotland It is not just Westminster that is at fault. This brings me back to the point made by the Minister a moment ago. The Scottish Government shamefully sold off ScotWind licences for relative pennies—£700 million. They set a ceiling on the bids. Bids for a much smaller licence in the United States realised $4.37 billion.
Preventing Crime and Delivering Justice — House of Commons, 2022-05-11
Topic: Social Welfare
James Neale Hanvey (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I think he has made his point clearly. I do not want to go back over what I have said; I think I am using up enough time There are real people in need. The monthly operating costs of my local food bank, Kirkcaldy Foodbank, have risen from £3,000 to £23,000. The notion that this is some kind of "squeeze" is a complete fantasy. This is a cost of living catastrophe: people are in absolute desperation. A "working poor" gentleman phoned LBC radio station to say that he could not afford to feed himself for days on end. He prioritised feeding his children, and he had been thinking about stealing clothes for them because he was so desperate. It was horrendous to listen to, and it cast my mind back to my university days and the "Heinz dilemma". A man with a sick wife is forced to consider stealing the cure for her illness because the pharmacist will not cut the price or allow him to pay over time. That is where we are. People are in absolute desperation, and that is the misery that the greed of the markets drives. I knew, when David Cameron was elected Prime Minister, that things would be bad, but I did not anticipate that it would be quite the horror show that we are now witnessing. I do not regret or apologise for my sense of urgency over Scottish independence. The Prime Minister talks about compassion, but people need Governments’ deeds to match their rhetoric. I hope and pray that Scotland’s First Minister comes good on her promise for an independence referendum next year. Prevarication will not do; people are desperate and they need action. If we want to prevent crime, we need to lift people out of deprivation. That is the only true way to deliver justice.
Cost of Living: Leaving the EU — House of Commons, 2022-06-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
Christopher Charles Stephens (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): But Brexit-related trade barriers have driven up the cost of food in the UK by 6%, making life harder for everyone struggling with the cost of living crisis. So severe is the harm that 60% of leave voters accept that Brexit has driven up the cost of living. Does the Minister accept that, and what do the Government intend to do about the rising cost of food across these islands?
Brexit: Economic Opportunities — House of Commons, 2022-06-09
Topic: Foreign Trade
Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): In October 2019, the Brexit Opportunities Minister stood at the Dispatch Box and assured businesses that the "broad, sunlit uplands" of Brexit lay ahead. Yesterday, I spoke to Elizabeth, whose company, Gracefruit, has exported chemicals for cosmetics to the EU for almost two decades. She weathered the financial crash, but such was the impact of Brexit that she has told me she no longer has the "mental or emotional energy to make a success of a once-thriving business." So would he like to tell Elizabeth, and all the others struggling with red tape, soaring costs and a loss of market, when they can expect those "broad, sunlit uplands" to arrive?
Brexit: Economic Opportunities — House of Commons, 2022-06-09
Topic: Foreign Trade
Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The idea that the Minister for Brexit Opportunities believes that the sun is shining for small and medium-sized companies in this country is absolutely unbelievable because, in the first year following Brexit, Elizabeth’s business fell by 65%. Because of red tape and new regulations, her product line had to be reduced from 350 products to one, and the company has had to lay off 50% of its workforce. So it is Brexit that has been an unmitigated disaster for Gracefruit and so many other long-standing successful businesses. Is it not time that this Government stopped playing games with people’s lives and livelihoods and admitted that their Brexit experiment is a lose-lose for everybody, bar a few double-breasted suit-wearing hedge fund managers and City spivs?
Northern Ireland Protocol: First Treasury Counsel — House of Commons, 2022-06-09
Topic: International Affairs
Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): On 16 June 2020, the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told the House that the Government were "faithfully implementing" the withdrawal agreement, including the Northern Ireland protocol. We know there are no surprises in the withdrawal agreement because we spent long enough debating it in this place, so either it was signed in bad faith, knowing the inevitable outcome, or the Government really did not understand what they were doing. Either way, it is a very bad look for this Government If it is true that the Government have not sought full legal advice on the legality of their protocol plan, and if they have given themselves the green light to go rogue, does the Minister agree that breaching international law in this way will only increase the UK’s reputation for being a bad-faith actor in the international community?
Household Budgets: Food Prices — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Agriculture
Deidre Leanne Brock (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The shadow Secretary of State will be pleased to hear that Cabinet Secretary Mairi Gougeon has called for a four-nation summit, and I believe the UK Government have agreed to that, so I am pleased that that will see some progress National Farmers Union of Scotland president Martin Kennedy has said that the UK is on the verge of food security concerns not seen since world war two due to covid, Brexit and the war in Ukraine, with feed, food and fertiliser costs and labour shortages drastically affecting the farming and food production sectors. London School of Economics analysis shows that Brexit alone raised food prices by 6% in the past year or so. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts Brexit losses to be more than £1,250 per person, and 178 times bigger than trade deal gains, which, combined, are worth less than 50p per person. What support packages is the Secretary of State considering for the farming and food production sectors to ensure that their extra costs will not also be passed on to consumers?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: I welcome my hon. Friend’s commitment to end the scourge of fly-tipping across the country. It is the No. 1 issue that every one of my constituents raises when I speak to them. Can she assure us that there will be a process for urban and suburban councils to get funding from the Department to ensure that they can combat this scourge in our society?; I invite the Minister to visit Ellesmere Port, where we have many fly-tipping hotspots as well. If there are to be further rounds of grants, I urge her to ensure the criteria for selection are transparent and clear, so we all know what we are looking for to get approvals to deal with this issue.; Last year in my constituency, storm overflows discharged untreated sewage into the Thames estuary no less than 48 times for the equivalent of 10 whole days, which is totally unacceptable. Will the Secretary of State or the Minister tell me please what is being done to stop water companies discharging sewage into the Thames estuary around Southend?; Farmers across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are very innovative and want to diversify. Can I ask the Minister a straightforward question? What is being done to encourage farmers to do just that to help the economy?; Further to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Anna Firth), will my hon. Friend consider giving special designation to shellfish waters, such as those in the Blackwater estuary where Maldon oysters are grown, to protect them from contamination from untreated sewage discharges?; May I tell the Minister about the very good meeting yesterday with National Farmers Union Scotland and Scotland Office Ministers on the operation of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, the powers under the Agriculture Act 2020 and the wider problems of keeping the integrity of the UK internal market? It was pretty clear, however, that those issues affect farmers right across the whole of the United Kingdom, and she can expect to hear from the Scotland Office in early course as a consequence of our meeting. When she receives those representations, will she do as the Scotland Office has done and bring in all the farmers?
David Michael Doogan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Input costs in agriculture are at a tremendous high, including for feed, fuel, fertiliser, energy and wages. On that last point, the Home Office’s pernicious surcharge on growers of £10.10 an hour has no basis in reality. Will the Secretary of State explain what the Home Office is thinking, and will he come to speak to my local growers to see how they can make their way through this unnecessarily difficult situation?
Digital Political Advertising — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: To ask the hon. Member for City of Chester, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the commission has made of the impact of digital political advertising on free and fair elections.
Deidre Leanne Brock (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): In Scotland before the Scottish parliamentary elections we saw a number of campaign groups spring up using digital advertising to peddle political messages that used unincorporated association structures to hide the source of their finances. Has the Electoral Commission considered investigating the use of unincorporated associations to evade final transparency in politics?
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: International Affairs
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Although the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) has beetled out of the Chamber, let me remind the House that the Salisbury attack was carried out by Russian FSB agents, not Ukrainian refugees; to conflate the two was wildly inappropriate I want to ask about support for the Government of Poland. I visited there recently with the Foreign Affairs Committee, and it is clear that the Poles are carrying an enormous burden in comparison even with other bordering countries. They need logistical help with the burden that they are shouldering, which is understandable given their geographical location. Will the Minister update the House on some of the Government-to-Government work between London and Warsaw to ensure that they are getting all the support they need?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Education
Carol Frances Monaghan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. As we are short of time in this Session, can we put it on the record that physics is something that girls tend to fancy, that they do want to do it, that they do like it, that they enjoy and excel at the maths in it and that the House supports their options?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: International Affairs
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You and hon. Members will know that, yesterday, the Government of the Russian Federation sanctioned a number of Members of this House—including yourself—but the list also included individuals who are no longer Members of the House. May I suggest that you write to your counterpart in the Russian state Duma to give them a list of current Members of Parliament? Some of us would very much like to have the badge of honour of being sanctioned by the Russian state.
UK Gross Domestic Product — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is interesting that the Minister talks about the covid testing scheme. Is it perhaps the case that the covid testing scheme is artificially inflating GDP, rather than the opposite way around? The UK is lagging behind every single OECD country apart from Russia. Manufacturing, construction and services are all suffering. That has all been made worse by a Brexit that Scotland did not vote for British Chambers of Commerce research shows that input inflation is running at 17%. Businesses simply cannot afford to absorb those costs when faced with increased energy prices with no additional support, employee costs through the national insurance tax hike—a tax on jobs—and wage pressures, so will he provide extra support to businesses to protect them and their consumers through this period, or will he wait until these additional costs in the supply chain are further passed on to the already struggling consumer? How does he expect people to eat when food prices are soaring, and for manufacturers to make things in factories when they cannot afford to get the goods to produce them never mind get them out into the shops and have people buy them?
Asylum Seekers: Removal to Rwanda — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The thinking that seems to underpin this plan is that to deter the criminal, we must punish the victim twice. No wonder that over the weekend both the Moderator of the Church of Scotland and the Archbishop of Glasgow have condemned the plan as unchristian and immoral. If the policy is so well thought through, how is it being assessed, what are the scientific indicators of success and what plans are being put in place in the event that it fails to stop the people-trafficking boats?
Asylum Seekers: Removal to Rwanda — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Margaret Ferrier (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Can the Minister confirm what risk assessments were undertaken in advance of each individual being served with a notice? Was the risk of modern slavery considered as a key factor in the Court’s decision to overturn some notices?
Government Food Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Agriculture
Richard Gordon Thomson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I welcome the advance sight that I had of the statement. Agrifood is a hugely significant industry, providing a great deal of employment. It is also of huge strategic importance to us as a country. It is therefore quite troubling—I hope the Secretary of State will appreciate quite how troubled I am by this—that the National Farmers Union president, Minette Batters, said earlier today that the industry is in "absolute crisis" It is easy to see why. We have massive labour shortages, we have food going unpicked and we have food being ploughed back into the fields. I welcome the 40,000 visas that have been announced, including the 10,000 additional visas, but that barely scratches the surface of demand across Scotland, let alone the rest of the UK, when it comes to tackling these issues. It is imperative that we do all we can during this heightened cost of living crisis to support our producers to maximise the quantities of food we produce domestically, so that we can keep costs down We have problems at our borders. Thanks to the Brexit we have chosen, there is effectively a free-for-all when it comes to goods coming in, but massive barriers and trade frictions when it comes to us exporting goods. The all-party parliamentary group on fisheries has today produced a report that makes for grim reading for anyone in the industry, or with a care for it, given how Brexit has played out. In addition, we have a continued welfare crisis in our pork industry, and farm incomes remain at historic lows It is hard to encourage people to buy as we might wish them to, when they are grinding against the cost of living crisis and, in some cases, struggling to pay for the energy necessary to boil vegetables or even to make something as simple, basic and nourishing as a bowl of soup We therefore need to take steps to put our food strategy on the same basis as we would an energy strategy. We need to tackle energy prices, the cost of fertiliser and the debilitating shortage of labour. We need to support rather than undermine our producers when it comes to food and welfare standards. We need to support the industry as the custodian not just of our food chain and supply but our landscape. Finally, we absolutely need to make sure that the industry plays its part in feeding our people and battling the cost of living crisis.
Government Food Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Agriculture
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Missing from this strategy is food security for our very youngest citizens—those who require infant formula. We only need to look to the United States to see how precarious the formula market can be. The forced closure of a formula factory due to contaminants resulted in costs being driven up and families being left without. In the UK, the cost of infant formula has gone up, with which Healthy Start vouchers are not keeping pace, so families are struggling to access that. How does the Secretary of State plans to address the deficiencies in infant formula policy? Will he implement the code of marketing of breastmilk substitutes, which will protect both those who use infant formula and those who breastfeed?
Cost of Living: Pensioners — House of Commons, 2022-03-21
Topic: Social Welfare
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Despite what the Minister says, the Government’s last-published figures show that there are 200,000 more pensioners in poverty compared with 2018-19, and it is going to get worse. Next month, pensioners will face an increase in their heating bills of over £800 a year compared with this time last year, and at the same time, due to breaking their triple lock promise, the Government will have taken £500 a year out of the pockets of pensioners. It is shameful. Does he agree that Wednesday represents the one opportunity the Chancellor has to reverse the breaking of the triple lock and to do something to help pensioners?
Cost of Living — House of Commons, 2022-03-21
Topic: Labor
Questions: Whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer ahead of the spring statement on tackling the rise in the cost of living.
David Melvyn Linden (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Government speak about their plan for jobs. I think many of us were quite shocked that a plan for jobs meant butchering back-office jobs in the Secretary of State’s own Department; I suspect that she might want to reflect on that. Given that her right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer is a multimillionaire who has no idea what it is like to get by on poverty, as many of my constituents and those on these Opposition Benches do, has she suggested that he should follow the Scottish Government’s approach of uprating benefits by 6% with a fixed budget? Is that something she is planning to ask him to do on Wednesday, or is it going to be more of the same from her Department—no action?
Supporting Disabled People into Work — House of Commons, 2022-03-21
Topic: Labor
Martin John Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am sure the Minister would agree that an important part of preventing the disability employment gap from widening further is the provision of assistive technology for disabled claimants who are applying for jobs. Can the Minister advise the House on whether every jobcentre is equipped with assistive technology for disabled claimants and whether that is supported by appropriate staff training—and if not, why not?
Supporting Disabled People into Work — House of Commons, 2022-03-21
Topic: Labor
Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): This Thursday, the all-party parliamentary group for multiple sclerosis is launching a report on the support that people with MS receive to get into and remain in employment, and to leave employment. According to the report, people with MS are not receiving enough support from their employers to remain in work. On average, 80% of people with a diagnosis have to retire within 15 years of receiving that bad news. Will the Department commit to improving Access to Work by reducing waiting times, ending the payment cap altogether, and helping employees to better support their disabled employees to thrive and remain in work?
P&O Ferries and Employment Rights — House of Commons, 2022-03-21
Topic: Transportation
David Melvyn Linden (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My Garthamlock constituent Mark Stewart has gone from being a cadet to a chief officer on these vessels. Indeed, he, as a professional seafarer, has experience of working on vessels that are more than 20 years old. May I say to the Government, through my hon. Friend, that my constituent is not worried about the media coverage of P&O. What he is worried about is the idea of people being paid less than £2 an hour to do a job that is very reliant on safety—the very expertise that he has. It would be good if the Government could take that into account and come forward with a much more stringent and robust approach to P&O ferries, which has acted disgracefully.