argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Nuclear Power: Toshiba — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Energy
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy if he will make a statement on Toshiba’s decision to withdraw from the development of a nuclear power plant at Moorside in Cumbria.
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): It is an attractive market. That is one reason there is interest from several companies in the new nuclear opportunities available. Our market has always been open to overseas investment, and our commitments have attracted interest, not least in the next in the pipeline, which is Hitachi’s proposed investment in Wylfa in north Wales.
Nuclear Power: Toshiba — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Energy
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy if he will make a statement on Toshiba’s decision to withdraw from the development of a nuclear power plant at Moorside in Cumbria.
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): Small nuclear reactors have already been mentioned briefly today. May I invite the Secretary of State to go fractionally further than he did in his previous answer and say that when it comes to these smaller, cheaper, more efficient reactors, we should be looking not just at existing nuclear sites, but at other sites being decommissioned in the near future?
Nuclear Power: Toshiba — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Energy
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy if he will make a statement on Toshiba’s decision to withdraw from the development of a nuclear power plant at Moorside in Cumbria.
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the advantages of small modular reactors is that they can be deployed in a wider range of locations than the larger traditional reactors, and that is part of the attraction recognised in the sector deal.
Nuclear Power: Toshiba — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Energy
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy if he will make a statement on Toshiba’s decision to withdraw from the development of a nuclear power plant at Moorside in Cumbria.
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): It is up to the company, as a commercial investor, to decide its future strategy. It has had a major financial problem as a result of the problems experienced by Westinghouse. We have always been clear that these projects need to be commercially backed, and Toshiba has taken a commercial decision to exit from overseas nuclear. That is a matter for it.
Appointment of Sir Roger Scruton — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert William Henry Seely (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Secretary of State agree that Sir Roger Scruton is respected throughout the world, not necessarily because of all his opinions but because he is a profound and distinguished thinker? Will my right hon. Friend accept my congratulations on the fact that the Government are not allowing themselves to be bullied by the thought police rent-a-mob, and that they are going to stand by this decision?
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Government Operations
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I inform the House that I have certified clause 3 of the Bill as relating exclusively to England, Wales and Northern Ireland on matters within devolved legislative competence I inform the House, moreover, that I have selected the amendment in the name of the official Opposition.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time When our party first came to office after the great crash, after the years of borrow and spend, our country was close to the abyss. We inherited then the greatest deficit in our peacetime history, a deficit of a magnitude that posed a real and present danger to every one of us, to every man, woman and child in our country and, indeed, to generations yet to come This was a deficit greater even than that created by another profligate Labour Government decades before that party reduced our country to scampering cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund for a bail-out, because they had brought us to the point of bankruptcy. It is the Conservative party that has once again—just as we did then—brought our country back from the brink and into better times.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): I will make a little progress What does this history teach us? Is it that that Marxism provides the answers, as the Labour leadership would have us believe; that fomenting the overthrow of capitalism, as the shadow Chancellor put it, can lead to prosperity; or that high taxation, nationalisation, the blatant sequestration of private capital and borrowing on a scale hitherto unimagined might provide us with the answers or some easy way out? No, the lesson is rather more prosaic but, none the less, noble: that living within our means matters; that those who work hard for their money should get to keep more of it; that the taxman should be held back from the pay packets of those who create and strive; that those parts of our country that have, for too long, felt neglected and left behind should once again be included and heard; and that economies, our communities and our very liberty thrive if we are freed from the burdens of the excessive state interference advocated by the Labour party.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Leo Docherty (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend may not have read "Economics for the Many" by the shadow Chancellor, but he will not be surprised to learn that in that book the shadow Chancellor says that the fact that Labour’s figures do not add up is "largely irrelevant." Does he agree that that shows a shocking disregard for the economic future of our great country?
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Education
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is entirely right. Of course, it is easy to make pledges when in opposition. Indeed, in the run-up to the last general election the Leader of the Opposition appeared to pledge the abolition of student fees, only to discover that the measure would cost around £100 billion and is totally unaffordable.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): What I can confirm to the House is that in reducing corporation tax from 28% to 19% since 2010, we have increased the yield from corporations, not just by a few per cent. but by 50% over that period. We are now talking about taxation, so let us ask: what is Labour’s plan? It is to put taxes up to 26% for large companies and to 21% for small businesses, which would be a full 50% increase in tax bills for large companies and a 25% increase in tax bills for smaller companies.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is entirely right; there is no doubt that if you keep on putting up taxes, as Labour says it will do and would be forced to do if, heaven forbid, it was ever to form a future Government, because its numbers do not add up, you end up killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is an excellent Minister, knocking on the door of the Cabinet, so I am sure he will agree with everything—[Interruption.] I know he is one of us, too. Is he slightly concerned that we are increasing spending by £30 billion a year up to 2023 and that we are taking out of the state the same proportion as Gordon Brown took out? As a fellow traveller in the Conservative cause, can he convince me that he is committed, as I am and those on our Benches are, to reducing government debt?
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): I can assure my hon. Friend that we are indeed reducing government debt. The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast that in each year of the coming period we will be reducing debt as a percentage of GDP. We have of course met our two intermediate targets a full three years early. We are fiscally responsible, which is why we are in a position to be able to support our public services in the very significant way that we are doing.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will know that the deficit was up at about 10%—£150 billion a year—at the time we inherited the mess that her party left us with. That deficit has now reduced by a full 80%, to below 2% of GDP, and will go down further as we move forward. Now, let me make some progress As I was saying, these are the economic facts of life and, as a great lady once said: "The facts of life are conservative." Under this Conservative Government, sound finances are being restored. The future is brighter, bringing with it our increased commitment to our public services, most notably to our highest priority of all, our national health service. Thanks to the commitment of this Government and the hard work of the British people, we are now entering a new era. The deficit is fading, real wages are rising, the debt is declining and better times are returning. We now have a near record level of employment, with unemployment at a 40-year low, and we have halved youth unemployment since 2010. Central to this progress is my right hon. Friend the Chancellor’s Budget and this Bill This Bill introduces a tax cut for 32 million people, through bringing forward by a year our manifesto commitment to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 and the higher rate threshold to £50,000.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right; a large proportion of the tax cut that has been delivered is in the form of a significant increase in the personal allowance—that amount someone can earn before they pay any tax—and that of course has benefited the low paid very significantly and will continue to do so.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Labor
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Minister also confirm that this Government are raising the living wage—the national living wage—and that that really is giving people more money? Although that might be difficult for businesses, it is really beneficial for our constituents.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend characteristically makes an important and insightful point. The national living wage, which this Government brought into being, was raised by 4.4% last year and will be raised by a full 4.9% in the coming year. That is well ahead of inflation, which is why in respect of net income those in the lower deciles of the income distribution have benefited disproportionately compared with those at the top end. I remind the House that the wealthiest 1% pay some 28% of all income tax that the Exchequer receives.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Labor
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): Perhaps I can amplify the Financial Secretary’s point about the minimum wage. Since 2010, the national minimum wage, or living wage, has gone up by 38%. When that is combined with the increase in the personal allowance, somebody who works full time on the minimum wage is 44% better off post tax, and inflation over that period was around 25%. Is that not delivering for those on the lowest incomes?
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Labour party will tax and tax, borrow and borrow and spend and spend. The Conservative party is reducing the tax burden. Collectively, we have now taken more than 4 million people out of tax altogether, which has disproportionately helped those on lower incomes.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): That is the wonders of the management and proper stewardship of the economy. It is about taking a balanced approach to our economy, which is getting the debt and the deficit down and restoring our country’s reputation for financial stability and confidence. That is now coming through to the point where we can start to take away some of the pressures of tax and of public expenditure as we move forward to more positive times.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is entirely right. Let us take employment: in this country we have a near record level of employment, we have a near record number of women employed, and we have the lowest level of unemployment since the 1970s. What is Labour’s record? Every single Labour Government in history have left office with unemployment higher than when they started. That is a simple fact. [Interruption.] It may be an inconvenient one, but it is a simple fact none the less The tax cut in the Bill is worth £9.5 billion. That means more money in people’s pockets. Since 2015, some 1.7 million more people have been taken out of tax altogether. The saving to the average taxpayer has been more than £1,200 since 2010.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Social Welfare
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): Hopefully, the hon. Gentleman will welcome the announcement that the Chancellor made in the Budget that we will provide a £1,000 uplift to the universal credit work allowance, which will be worth, when we reach full roll-out, a total of £630 million for 2.4 million recipients of that benefit.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander John Gervase Chalk (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Financial Secretary agree that were we to go back to the situation in 2010, when people had to start to pay tax after their first £6,750-odd, that would mean that ordinary, hard-working taxpayers would have to pay an additional £1,000 in tax and would therefore have less money to meet their day-to-day priorities?
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. The problem with Labour’s approach to taxation, and to personal taxation in particular, is that it is a huge discouragement to going out and creating wealth and jobs and the kind of economy that supports the vital public services that Members from all parties wish to see prosper.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Labor
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, for somebody on the minimum wage, if we combine the increases in the national living wage with the increased personal tax threshold, somebody in full-time work is £3,955 a year better off in cash terms than in 2010?
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Labor
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that, as well as taking people out of tax, with a whole raft of policies this Government are helping wages increase? In Redditch, for example, there has been a 35% increase in median weekly payments to full-time employees, which means that Redditch workers have more money in their pockets.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. For the past six months, we have seen rising real wages, and the latest data show that they have been rising faster than at any time in the past 10 years, so we are the party that is fixing the economy and improving living standards.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): This debate is not the place to make pronouncements about the Taylor review. The Government are considering the Taylor review and the way in which people are working. There are a number of aspects in the Budget that relate to the taxation elements of the way that people work, but we will come back in the fullness of time with a full response to the Taylor review.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman will know, we have made, within this year, more finance available to various Departments, and the Chancellor was very clear about that in the Budget. He was equally clear that there will be a number of decisions to be made in the spending review next year relating to all the Departments across Government.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not think that the hon. Gentleman is entirely right. I do not think that we are at the bottom of the G7 growth table at this precise moment—I think that we are some way off the bottom. He mentioned the important element of growth, and the forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility is that our economy will continue to grow for the next five years and, of course, we come into this period on the back of five years of continuous growth.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right: the Scottish National party will know that when it took the decision to reorganise fire and police in Scotland, it was fully aware and cognisant of the fact that that would mean that VAT was not recoverable. It really is thanks to the Members on the Conservative Benches who represent Scottish constituencies who have made the case so strongly to the Treasury that we were able to change that situation going forward. Perhaps I may now be able to make a little progress We have, of course, also announced that we are freezing fuel duty for a ninth year in succession and increasing the living wage by 4.9% from April. In this Bill, we deliver a freeze on the duty on beer and spirits, keeping living costs down and supporting our pubs. Our freezing duty on spirits comes as a direct consequence of Conservative Members representing their constituency interests in the industry.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alister William Jack (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that the growing tax gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK is in fact a tax on aspiration and that it discourages higher earners from wanting to work north of the border?
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. If we look at some of the relieving measures on tax that have been provided to Scottish taxpayers, we can see that they come by way of the increases in the personal allowance that this UK Government have made. He is absolutely right to highlight the fact that Scotland is becoming more of a high tax jurisdiction.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will know that we are a first mover: we are one of the first countries in the world to take this approach. She will also know that this is a complicated tax and a tax that we absolutely have to get right. I have already spoken about the restricted scope of this tax. We want to make absolutely certain that it works and that it does not discourage technology companies from coming to this country, as they do in their droves under the economic policies of this Government.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is totally right. We have been in the vanguard of efforts conducted through the European Union, the OECD and the G20 to come up with a multilateral approach on this matter. That is the preferred option of the Government, and rightly so, because it obviates the problems that one would otherwise have with aspects of double taxation. It is helpful if we all move together, and that is still our aspiration, but we have said that if we do not get that multilateral agreement within the next year or so, we will move ahead with our measure.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Environment
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): We are investing hugely, and the evidence is there that we are succeeding. We have had a 43% reduction in carbon emissions since 1990. We are still pursuing, committed to and confident that we will meet our 80% reduction target by 2050. There are measures in the Bill, for example, to provide a tax relief for those who charge their cars through the businesses for which they work. We will continue to be very forward-leaning on the issue of the environment.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Environment
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): What I mean by our environmental credentials in that area is that we are consulting, as the hon. Lady will know, on the amount of packaging that contains recyclable plastics. We see that not only as informing what we will subsequently do but as helping to change behaviour, much as the sugar levy changed behaviour in the sugar-based drinks sector. We have a very strong record in this area. We have already done a number of things in the public health area, and we will also make progress on the environment.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): On that point, I was pleased to see in the Budget that there is money for the planting of millions of trees. That will have a huge impact not only on ameliorating the effects of flooding and on health and wellbeing, but in terms of the carbon that those trees will take in, which will affect climate change.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: International Affairs
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to highlight that commitment, which will see 11 million trees planted as a direct consequence Our country faces the great challenge and opportunity of leaving the European Union. Some say that Brexit has been so all-consuming that we are not capable of seeing beyond it—that we are not able to lift our eyes to the future because we are too fixated with the challenges delivered by the past. However, Conservatives are better than that. On the eve of the D-day landings one of the greatest pieces of legislation passed by this House—Rab Butler’s Education Bill—received Royal Assent. Even war did not stop us then As we take our country forward to a world beyond austerity, beyond the toughest of times, beyond the sacrifices that have been endured and, indeed, beyond Brexit itself, our country will show that we are capable of not just enduring but thriving, and that no challenge is too great for us and no opportunity is beyond our reach. This Bill, following this Budget, sets us firmly on that path. I commend it to the House.
Finance (No. 3) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-11-12
Topic: Social Welfare
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman mentions the reasoned amendment, which refers to the long-term funding of adult social care. Two Select Committees, the Health and Social Care Committee and the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, recommended a social insurance system in their inquiry’s report. Is he willing to support that cross-party recommendation as a solution to the future funding of adult social care?