argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation Proposals — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anthony Joseph Lloyd (Labour, Centre-left): Edwin Poots, Northern Ireland’s Agriculture Minister, has made it clear that he does not believe that the new border control posts necessary to control the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will be in place by 1 January. The Association of Freight Software Suppliers has made it clear that it does not believe that the customs declaration service will be operable by 1 January. That would be massively disruptive for businesses on both sides of the Irish sea, in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Who will take responsibility if those who fear this is going wrong prove to be right?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation Proposals — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): What assessment has the Minister made of the remarks of Northern Ireland’s chief veterinary officer, who has said that it would be impossible to check all food products after exit day given that construction has not even begun on any of the three new border control posts in Northern Ireland? What contingency plans are being put in place for SPS controls for goods entering Northern Ireland from GB, specifically if there is no waiver or no phased implementation from 1 January?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation Proposals — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Minister confirm that the vital trader support service, desperately needed to remove the burden on businesses from custom checks, will launch only on 21 December? Does he accept that leaving seven working days is an insult to businesses whose livelihoods depend on this system working seamlessly?
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation Proposals — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): There are concerns that the end of the margin scheme could destroy the Northern Irish second-hand car market because VAT would then have to be paid on the full purchase price of cars from GB, not just the profit. Does the Minister think that we can expect this to be resolved during negotiations, or if not, what impact does he think that it will have on the car market in Northern Ireland?
Towns Fund — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Housing
John Derek Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): I am a member of the Runcorn town board, and I am pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury), present on the Front Bench, is also supportive of the bid being developed for Runcorn. The time and the bid are exciting, because we have seen the development of the Runcorn station quarter and we have a fantastic community initiative to restore the locks of the Bridgewater canal and the link back to the Manchester ship canal. Given what has been said today, will the Secretary of State give us an assurance, that Runcorn will not be treated less favourably than other town centres in Conservative constituencies?
Towns Fund — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Housing
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): I support boosting towns. The Secretary of State talks about a robust procedure and fine balance. There are plenty of communities in Stockport that would be worthy recipients of towns fund money, including Reddish, so what instead attracted him to Cheadle? Was it its unemployment rate, at 3% below the north-west average? Was it its deprivation ranking, decile seven, making it one of the north’s least deprived areas? Was it its low shop vacancy rate? Was it his Department’s assessment ranking it the 535th priority out of 541 towns? Or was it the Tory majority of just 2,366? [Interruption.]
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Other
Michael Lee Amesbury (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. During the general election campaign, the Conservative party candidate for Weaver Vale shared an image on social media that referred to the significant investment going to Runcorn old town; it came from Conservative party headquarters. I would just like to clarify—and to ask for advice about how I do clarify—whether a mistake of geography actually benefited my good colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Derek Twigg)—it is actually in the constituency adjacent to mine.
Exiting the European Union (Building and Buildings) — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Housing
Mathew Richard Allen Rodda (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown) I rise to speak in this debate because of the importance of building safety in my constituency—as in many parts of the country—following the dreadful disaster at Grenfell. We have a number of tall blocks, many of which are unfortunately still covered in dangerous cladding, including ACM cladding, cladding made from other materials and, indeed, dangerous wooden cladding. Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service has uncovered a series of problems in Reading and other Berkshire towns, and there is a great deal of concern from local residents about these matters. I appreciate the Minister’s reassurance on the nature of the UK standards and the fact that they are separate, although they interconnect with the European ones. I wish to reiterate residents’ concerns and ask some questions, in a helpful way, to try to elicit a response that might reassure local people First, let me outline the scale of the issue in our community, because at first sight it might not be obvious that in a medium-sized town thousands and thousands of people are affected by this building-safety scandal. It affects not only the people who live in taller blocks, nearly 10 of which are affected in Reading. They are all either privately owned or have a mixture of different forms of ownership, but they are not council-owned—the council blocks are safe. These privately owned blocks have been clad dangerously and are affected by a series of other matters, such as a dangerous car park ventilation that could lead to fires on the side of buildings There is a range of issues and a great deal of concern among thousands and thousands of residents. In fact, that is something of an understatement, because another group of residents might also be affected, and the level of risk in their buildings is unclear. I am talking about people who live in lower-rise blocks of flats and houses of multiple occupation. The issues are similar: many have issues with potentially dangerous cladding; others have issues with fire safety doors or just the very fact that a block has multiple occupation and requires greater scrutiny of the fire safety messages, briefing and information provided to residents In a town the size of the one I represent—and its suburbs—a substantial number of people live in medium-sized accommodation of three to six storeys, and however technical these matters may be, all those people are affected deeply by changes to building safety.
Exiting the European Union (Building and Buildings) — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Housing
Michael Lee Amesbury (Labour, Centre-left): Of course, many of the products, whether ACM, HPL or insulation, have been tested, though some of those tests have been questionable. As my hon. Friend rightly says, any divergence beyond the arrangements that we have now for transition out of the EU—of course, we do not have a trade deal—may have a further impact, and building safety issues go much broader than cladding, whether ACM or HPL, affecting thousands of buildings and hundreds of thousands of people Of course, 1.5 million people are now trapped in flats that largely have a zero rating for a mortgage. They also have to pay additional costs for waking watch, which in some cases can be thousands of pounds a month. Going forward, measures in the building safety Bill have the potential to put even more charges on leaseholders. Does my hon. Friend concur that, beyond Reading, this is a national scandal—
Exiting the European Union (Building and Buildings) — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Housing
Mathew Richard Allen Rodda (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I thank my hon. Friend on the Front Bench. He is right that this is a national scandal. I seek to give one example of one constituency and to represent local people. It is utterly abhorrent that millions of people in the United Kingdom face these dreadful problems and are living with the nightmare of an unsafe flat that they cannot sell or leave. It is dreadful that they are living through this utter nightmare. I call on the Government to step up their action and address this with far greater urgency. I find it staggering that, three years after Grenfell, it is still an issue on the scale that it is and that the Government are only now beginning to address it. I ask the Minister respectfully to explain—perhaps in front of the House, or he could write to me—how the Government will deal with the risk of confusion about regulation and the potential watering down of the current standards once we are no longer in the EU regime.
Exiting the European Union (Building and Buildings) — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Lee Amesbury (Labour, Centre-left): What assurance can the Minister give the House that this divergence will not see a race to the bottom? We have talked about current standards, and it has been mentioned that there have been some major issues, including products that have been tested, and which have then been used either as fire breaks or to encase buildings. It has got to be a race to the top, rather than to the bottom. What assurances can the Minister provide?
Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): I can see that we still have a fair number of speakers, so after the next speaker I will reduce the time limit to five minutes. It may have to go down a little bit more after that.
Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Other
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was really disappointed that in the Minister’s winding-up speech there was no reference to Hull. I made a very clear ask for a response to the letters from the three Hull MPs and the leader of the council. I think the Minister might want to respond to that point.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): We now come to motion 8 on virtual participation in substantive proceedings. The Speaker selected a manuscript amendment to the motion. Amendment (a) in the name of the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) is as follows: Line 5, leave out from "Members" to "to" in line 8 and insert "with a public health reason relating to the pandemic" Under the established practice of the House, a selected amendment to a motion that cannot be proceeded with after the moment of interruption constitutes an objection, so the motion cannot be taken.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Member for that point of order. First, I can confirm that if a motion is tabled for tomorrow night at five o’clock and if the hon. Member were to table an amendment and the Speaker were to accept it, the same process would be followed as has taken place tonight. I am sure that those on the Treasury Bench will have heard the comments of the hon. Member and will feed that back to the Leader of the House. Of course, it is business questions tomorrow, where this may be something that gets raised again.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2020-11-18
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): Well, a motion has to be re-tabled, an amendment has to be re-tabled and then that has to be selected. If it comes after five o’clock, then it would be the same as tonight; if it comes before that, then that is a different matter. I suspect tomorrow is actually quite busy, not least because the hon. Member has tabled an urgent question, which will be heard, so he might be wondering about that one. I hope that that explains the position.
Speaker’s Statement — House of Commons, 2020-09-11
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): May I say that I share your disappointment? I think that we should all be informed and the country should also know what is going on. The laying of this instrument is a matter for the Government, but I would say that you know and I know that other avenues could be taken on Monday to tickle this little item out, if required. So I will leave it with you to ponder what you want to do next. The Clerk has made a note, and we will come back with further information.
Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies (Environmentally Sustainable Investment) Bill — House of Commons, 2020-09-11
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anna Rhiannon McMorrin (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Member for making a very good point. That is what needs to be avoided—greenwashing and big announcements and intentions that are not delivered on. But, as I think I have demonstrated in my speech, what this does is deliver on the ground from the bottom up, transforming communities, changing lives and making sure that projects are actually delivered. That is needed by this finance.
Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies (Environmentally Sustainable Investment) Bill — House of Commons, 2020-09-11
Topic: Housing
Sarah Ann Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for putting it gently and saying I was somewhat critical of the Government’s approach; I would go slightly further and suggest that we need to look at actions rather than words. In the past 10 years, under Conservative Governments, Labour’s zero carbon homes scheme and many of the other schemes we had in place to retrofit our homes were entirely wiped out. Actions speak louder than words, and we must consider the amount of funding we need to retrofit the homes and deal with the scale of the problem. I give him the point that many of our homes are old and we have a particular problem in this country, but we have to invest in retrofitting. The £50 million for the social housing sector that was announced by the Government will cover only the very worst performing housing stock, as Inside Housing and any of the experts will tell us. We need substantially more investment, whether in our schools, homes or hospitals, to try to get to a point where our buildings are working for us in a carbon neutral way. We are nowhere near that point.
Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies (Environmentally Sustainable Investment) Bill — House of Commons, 2020-09-11
Topic: Mixed Topics
Sarah Ann Jones (Labour, Centre-left): The solution is to enable a thousand flowers to bloom. We want local organisations to be able to provide solutions, as well as the Government, who, at the moment, are woefully lacking in their climate action. We need both those things to happen, and the Bill is one part of that solution Many societies have clear purposes relating to environmental sustainability, including community energy schemes, e-car sharing co-ops, low-impact farming co-ops and low-impact community-led housing. Just to return to the housing issue, let me say that I was lucky enough to visit Berlin when I was shadow Housing Minister to see the quantity and very different nature of housing there. It is difficult to make comparisons, because there are large cultural differences between Germany and the UK. The English system is more centralised, top-down and market-orientated, with a lightly regulated private rented sector, whereas Germany has a federal system that supports local autonomy. It also has a much more public-facing housing policy, and it is much more rules-based. As we know, in Germany there is a preference for renting, but there is a huge quantity of housing co-ops there, particularly in the big cities. I believe that in the UK 0.5% of our homes are co-operative-owned, whereas the figure in Germany is about 10%. We can look to increase the number of our co-ops and of empowered residents who have more control over what happens in the buildings in which they live It is vital that we unlock green finance for our co-ops to invest in long-term sustainable projects, and this Bill would be an important step to help communities and investors to create a more sustainable living environment. Primary legislation is much-needed to provide societies with the legal tools that would enable co-operatives to thrive. As my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff North said in her excellent speech, covid is a significant fork in the road when it comes to tackling climate change. I urge Members across the House to support the Bill, so that it can be discussed further and amended in Committee, and to empower our local communities to take action and save our climate.
Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies (Environmentally Sustainable Investment) Bill — House of Commons, 2020-09-11
Topic: Other
Anna Rhiannon McMorrin (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Member is making some excellent points that need to be examined as the Bill progresses, but this form of legislation is in place in other countries, so we can take the evidence of what has worked, for example, in Australia.
Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies (Environmentally Sustainable Investment) Bill — House of Commons, 2020-09-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Anna Rhiannon McMorrin (Labour, Centre-left): Co-operatives UK has firmly supported this Bill, so I think the hon. Gentleman is being a little disingenuous in forgetting that point. He is absolutely right that we need to build on those safeguards and protections and make sure they are in place for consumers and the local community, but the co-operative movement and Co-operatives UK are firmly behind the Bill and want it to move to the next level.
Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies (Environmentally Sustainable Investment) Bill — House of Commons, 2020-09-11
Topic: Other
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. Government Members have been very kind to my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin), saying how great her intentions are and coming up with some excellent ideas to improve her Bill, so why do they not take their good ideas into Committee, discuss them there and bring back a Bill that is fit for purpose?
History Curriculum: Black History — House of Commons, 2020-09-08
Topic: Mixed Topics
Taiwo Owatemi (Labour, Centre-left): Does the right hon. Lady agree that we should ensure that the regional history of black Britain, particularly those who have contributed to our proud, shared history in the west midlands, is part of the national curriculum? We should recognise how black Britain helped to build my city of Coventry into what it is today—from its manufacturing expertise to its car-building might and our enviable arts and culture.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-23
Topic: Civil Rights
Katharine Helen Brooks-Osborne (Labour, Centre-left): At a time when LGBT+ hate crime is on the rise, it is extremely disappointing that the Government have cut the funding to support education about LGBT+ bullying in schools. Can the Minister assure me that an alternative will be put forward so that this vital training can continue to educate our young people in preventing bullying and achieving better mental health?
Covid-19: Winter Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-23
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Before I call the Prime Minister, I point out that British Sign Language interpretation of the statement is available to watch on parliamentlive.tv Some of the screens in the Chamber are not working, so we will see how we go. We will take it a bit easy if need be.
Covid-19: Winter Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-23
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Order. Have you pressed the button, Prime Minister? I think we are going to have to stop for a moment so that we can check the sound, as we lost your answer. Have you pressed the mute button by mistake? It is not our end, Prime Minister; it could well be yours. I wonder whether Mr Hancock would like to take over with the answer. Is one of you going to do it or not? It is no use looking at each other. We are going to suspend the House for three minutes.
Covid-19: Winter Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-23
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): I am going to suspend the House. We think we are going to get the Prime Minister back, but we just need to check the new line, so I will suspend the House for five minutes while we reconnect. Thanks, everybody.
Covid-19: Winter Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-23
Topic: Public Lands
Alexandra Mary Davies-Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Diolch, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am grateful that both the Prime Minister and I are now back virtually. I am pleased to hear from the Prime Minister that the devolved nations are finally being included in talks on planning for the Christmas break. However, like so many of his other promises, it comes too late for people in Wales, and they have had enough The Prime Minister may remember that earlier this year, he told the House that he would passport money for Welsh councils, such as mine in Rhondda Cynon Taf, that were particularly badly hit by Storm Dennis. He told us that the money would be there for the landslip in the Rhondda. We need in excess of £100 million, but we have had just £2.5 million. The Prime Minister says he is committed to the Union, but we all know that actions speak louder than words, and his negligence in supporting the Welsh Government through flooding and in co-operating with them over coronavirus speaks volumes. Will he therefore please confirm his exact plans to make good on his financial commitments—
Covid-19: Winter Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-23
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Charlotte Louise Nichols (Labour, Centre-left): As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on pubs, I have been contacted by pubs not only in my constituency of Warrington North, but from across the country. They are dismayed by the extension of the substantial meal requirement to tier 2, but also by the agonising wait to find out what tier their premises will be in as we come out of national lockdown. For those who will be allowed to reopen, in order to be able to do so, they need to be getting their orders in now with suppliers. Those who cannot will be losing out on one of the most profitable times of the year. As they have been absolutely battered by the restrictions, is it not time for a sector deal for pubs, which are the heart of our communities, and for their supply chain?
Covid-19: Winter Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-23
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): Small Business Saturday is only a couple of days after the lifting of this lockdown, but the fantastic small businesses in Newcastle do not know how or whether they will be able to trade. Many small businesspeople are excluded from all support, for one reason or another, and their losses are mounting, so will the Prime Minister set out the per head economic support he will be providing to local authorities to help small businesses make it through to the promised land of covid-free vaccines?
Covid-19: Winter Plan — House of Commons, 2020-11-23
Topic: Public Lands
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): You always say that before you call me, Madam Deputy Speaker. [Laughter.] I see you have united the House in that plea May I make a plea to the Prime Minister? I have asked him about this before this year. We had terrible flooding in the Rhondda. It led to a landslide from a coal tip, which could all too easily have landed on top of people’s houses, God forbid, as it has elsewhere in Wales in the past. We need £100 million. So far, the Prime Minister has promised one Member of this House to passport the money, in February. He promised me in June that this was going to be sorted. We still have seen only £2 million of the £100 million we need. Please, please, please, just say now we are going to get that money on Wednesday.