argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Stephen Nathan Kinnock (Labour, Centre-left): I hope that the UK Government will take note of the fact that the Welsh Assembly Government so rapidly put £60 million on the table The Secretary of State asked for some focused suggestions and questions, so here are three for him. First, what are the Government doing to secure the customer base—key clients such as Honda, Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover? I hope he and his colleagues are picking up the phone to those customers and ensuring that we retain the integrity of the order book. Secondly, on the blast furnaces, I would like to follow up on what was asked by my hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State. Does the Secretary of State believe that the blast furnaces in Port Talbot should continue as an integral part of the UK steelmaking industry? Thirdly, can he explain why the British Government continue to block the scrapping of the lesser duty rule? The entire industry and the European Commission repeatedly tell us that by scrapping that rule we would give the anti-dumping measures real teeth to deal with the dumping of Chinese steel. Perhaps the reason is that the UK Government would rather cosy up to Beijing than stand up for British steelworkers.
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Energy
Stephen John Doughty (Labour, Centre-left): There is a real danger that the Secretary of State is at times presenting the idea that everything has been done and that he has done everything in his power. Let us look at the issues facing the industry as a whole. On energy, we still see prices that are 89% higher than those of European competitors. On procurement, the Ministry of Defence is not even keeping records of where its steel comes from; and on tariffs, he says he will do everything, but, as we have just heard, he will not take action to scrap the lesser duty rule and to change it, and this country is being seen as the ringleader on this in Europe. What is he going to change in those industry fundamentals that will prevent us from seeing crisis after crisis after crisis in the steel industry?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Jessica Elizabeth Morden (Labour, Centre-left): Steelworkers watching this debate—including those from Llanwern and Orb in Newport, who have travelled here today as they have many times to press the Government for more action to help the industry—are asking that their businesses, with full order books and assets such as the Zodiac line in Newport, remain saleable in this crisis; that the Government act on the pension fund; and that there is a long-term industrial strategy to give potential buyers confidence. The Secretary of State’s statement has not made clearer what practical measures he will take to do that. Please will he expand on that now?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Labor
Anna Catherine Turley (Labour, Centre-left): Last year, the Secretary of State and even the Prime Minister said they were doing everything they could to keep steelmaking on Teeside. Despite knowing for months that SSI was in trouble, nothing was done. Three thousand jobs were lost, 175 years of steelmaking were gone and a town was dealt a devastating blow. So when the Secretary of State says again that he is doing everything he can to help, why should the workers of Port Talbot and anywhere else in the country believe a single word he says?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Labor
Angela Christine Smith (Labour, Centre-left): May I make it absolutely clear to the House that this is an issue relating not just to Wales or Port Talbot? It is a UK problem, and the Secretary of State will agree that it is a national issue. The 900 steelworkers in my constituency whose jobs are on the line expect him to guarantee that he will do whatever it takes to give them the future that they deserve. There was an optimistic note in what he said. He mentioned co-investment. Will he explain to the House what that is, and whether it guarantees that the Government are willing to intervene and do whatever is necessary to save our industry?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Labor
Christina Elizabeth Rees (Labour, Centre-left): To help prospective buyers, may I ask the Secretary of State whether the UK Government will take on the pension liability of £15 billion for 130,000 Tata workers and former workers, and will they redress the imbalance caused by the reduction of the workforce over many years, as more people now take money out of the scheme than pay into it?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Energy
Tom Blenkinsop (Labour, Centre-left): When the Secretary of State comes to the Dispatch Box, he has to be careful about what he says. In his statement he referred to the £80 million promised to Redcar. I would dispute that figure in relation to what has been delivered in our area in the past six months. Today in our all-party parliamentary group meeting the Secretary of State did not rule out the option of Tata potentially remaining in situ at all steel sites, not just in relation to strip products. What type of co-investment plans can he put forward to the House so that we can discuss on the Floor of the House the options available for UK steel?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (Labour, Centre-left): The European Commission wants to move away from the lesser duty rule. Quite simply, the problem is that when it is in place the duty that can be imposed will always be far less than the margin of the dumping. Can the Secretary of State be clear: was the Eurofer spokesman right when he said that the UK Government were "certainly the ringleader" in blocking its reform?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Adrian Edward Bailey (Labour, Centre-left): Business rates on plant and machinery are effectively a tax on investment, and they have comprised a very significant element of the cocktail of costs that have so seriously undermined the steel industry. It was rumoured before the last Budget that plant and machinery would be made exempt. Can the Secretary of State confirm that that was so and explain why it did not happen? Will that be reconsidered in putting together a package for any future buyer of Port Talbot?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Louise Margaret Haigh (Labour, Centre-left): I have submitted two freedom of information requests and numerous written parliamentary questions to see the Secretary of State’ s secretive BIS 2020 plan. Well, now we know why he has wanted to keep the plan secret, because it proposes cutting more than 4,000 jobs and 40% of the Insolvency Service’s staff, who have been working flat out since the steel crisis began to unfold. These proposals go far beyond what the Chancellor has asked the Secretary of State for from his Department. Given the deepening crisis, will the Secretary of State go back to the drawing board and rethink those ill-thought-through plans that will make his job so much harder?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Labor
Steve Rotheram (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State has spoken about looking at all options in regard to saving jobs, so will he assure the House and steelworkers that if he does develop a co-investment package to save jobs, he will include the unions at every stage of its development?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
John Woodcock (Labour, Centre-left): Why can the Secretary of State not just admit that there is a secret deal, which everybody knows about, and that the Chancellor has promised to pull his punches on any effective action against steel dumping so that investment from China keeps flowing into this country?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Labor
Joanna Meriel Stevens (Labour, Centre-left): I am sure the Secretary of State’s civil servants in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have been working extremely hard to try to safeguard the 40,000 Welsh steel and supplier jobs that are at immediate risk, just as the staff at the Insolvency Service were critical in ensuring that the Redcar workers got their redundancy payments. Will he therefore reassure my constituents that the hundreds of BIS jobs losses at the critical Insolvency Service in Cardiff, which were outlined in his McKinsey report, will not happen, adding to the misery of Welsh workers?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Labor
David George Hanson (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State says that the issue of pensions is at the front of his mind. Will he reassure me further by saying what guarantees on pensions he is seeking from Tata as part of the sale, and can he guarantee that none of the pensioners in my constituency who have given their lives to Tata over many years will be worse off as a result of the sale?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: International Affairs
Ruth Smeeth (Labour, Centre-left): Given the Secretary of State’s new-found robustness in his attitude towards China, can he assure us that he will no longer block the EU’s attempts to ensure that China is not granted market economy status, which would not only affect the steel industry to the tune of thousands of jobs, but cost up to 2,500 jobs in my own constituency?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Energy
Geraint Richard Davies (Labour, Centre-left): Tata Steel has invested hundreds of millions of pounds in Port Talbot in recent years. Along with Swansea University, it has developed multi-layered steel that generates its own electricity and that therefore has a negative carbon footprint when it clads buildings. Will the Secretary of State consider the possibility of minority equity share- holding in Tata Steel, to show that we are all in it together and to get a margin from Government procurement? At the very least, will he match Tata Steel on any offer he gives to prospective buyers, including help with the pension funds?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): Given the issue’s importance to the UK economy, the Government ought to have recalled Parliament in the same way that the Welsh Assembly was recalled to debate this very important topic. Given that the Chinese have the capacity to destroy British steel through a double whammy of dumping cheap steel from China and placing exorbitant tariffs on British steel in China, will the Government think again about their approach to the European Union’s lesser duty rule? Will they also have a serious think about granting market economy status to China, which would be unacceptable, given the current situation with British steel?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Michael Joseph Patrick Kane (Labour, Centre-left): More than half of UK steel exports go to the European Union. Does the Secretary of State, who is now a fervent Europhile, I think, agree that exit from the European Union would be devastating to the industry?
Government Referendum Leaflet — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Foreign Trade
Catharine Letitia Hoey (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister will try as hard as he can to bluster, but the reality is that the public will see through it and realise that this leaflet is deeply unfair. On one fact— "Over 3 million UK jobs are linked to exports to the EU"— the Government have deliberately conflated trade with countries in the EU with EU membership. He knows very well that it is not necessary to be a member of the EU to trade with the EU. With this leaflet, the public know that the Government—the Prime Minister, in particular—now realise they are on the wrong side of the argument and will lose on 23 June.
Government Referendum Leaflet — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: International Affairs
Geraint Richard Davies (Labour, Centre-left): Many of my constituents are concerned about the impact of loosening or cutting our ties with our biggest market and closest allies, and they want more information, especially at a time when the media will be dominated by a Murdoch-driven, anti-EU press, and the BBC has been dumbed down to give equal weight to propaganda from the flat-earthers, rather than a rational evaluation of the merits of continued EU membership. Will the Minister undertake not just to publish a leaflet, but to do much more with posters, TV and other media, to ensure that Britain can make a rational judgment?
Government Referendum Leaflet — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: International Affairs
Wayne David (Labour, Centre-left): I am sure the Minister will agree that the leaflet distributed by the leave campaign, "The UK and the European Union: The Facts" is thoroughly misleading and reprehensible. Does he also share my concern that in large parts of Wales, that leaflet was distributed by post inside a good leaflet from the Electoral Commission that explains the voting system for the Welsh Assembly and police and crime commissioner elections? We are trying to get to the root of how that happened, but if Royal Mail was responsible, will the Minister join me in condemning that?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Technology
Paula Michelle Sherriff (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. As you know, I am a new Member. When I arrived, I was told of the strict convention, which I have always sought to observe, regarding visiting other Members’ constituencies on parliamentary business. I was therefore surprised to learn that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport had made a ministerial visit to my constituency without any official notice to me. It was particularly disappointing because I have repeatedly raised the issue of broadband roll-out, particularly in the rural parts of my constituency, and would have welcomed the opportunity to introduce him to some of the local businesses that have been adversely affected What remedy is available for a Back Bencher in such circumstances? Is there any way in which I can convey through your office, Mr Speaker, that I would be happy to arrange for the Secretary of State to make a more informative visit? On this occasion, he may wish to revisit and address the issue at hand directly.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Energy
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. More than a year ago, Lord Maude of Horsham, the then Minister for the Cabinet Office, signed a contract on behalf of the Crown Estate with Air Products to take the electricity from two innovative energy-from-waste plants being built in my constituency. This was to save taxpayers some £84 million a year. Sadly, the company announced last week that it had failed to get the new technology working and planned to walk away from Teesside, at the cost of hundreds of jobs and leaving the plants incomplete. Are you aware of any plans by Ministers to make a statement to the House about the ramifications of this failure, about what will happen with the Government’s contract and about what Ministers are doing to help seek a new developer who could take over the plants and secure the jobs?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Labor
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): I have heard all of this on skills before from the Government. Will the Minister explain the productivity puzzle? Productivity appears to have gone down, rather than up. Why is that, because in every Budget attention has been given to skills? What has gone wrong with productivity in this country?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Seema Malhotra-Saluja (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman says that I am in a positive frame of mind. I normally am, but I am just very concerned about the economy. Perhaps he will raise the Resolution Foundation’s finding that, as a result of the measures in the Budget, the poorest 20% of the population are set to be £565 worse off, while the richest 30% are set to be £280 better off. Perhaps he will think about his constituents and how they are set to suffer as a result of the Budget before he makes another intervention I was talking about the steel industry.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Seema Malhotra-Saluja (Labour, Centre-left): I will just continue on steel, because it is important also to talk about what is missing from the Bill. This is a serious missed opportunity to provide greater support for manufacturing and steel. The collapse of the steel industry could cost the Government £4.6 billion over the next 10 years. Some 40,000 jobs could be lost, devastating steel-making communities and industries that depend on British steel We welcome today’s news that a buyer has been found for Tata’s Scunthorpe steel plant, and we congratulate Unite, Community, the GMB and others who played an important role in the negotiations leading to that deal. However, against that background comes the revelation of a U-turn on business rates by the Chancellor. Before the Budget, the Engineering Employers Federation made a strong case for giving companies an allowance on business rates for plant and machinery, which could have applied to assets such as the blast furnaces in the steel sector. However, we learned from The Times that although the Chancellor was planning to act, he then pulled plans to give Britain’s struggling factories tax relief on business rates Why did he do that? The answer, analysts suggest, is that British manufacturing has been sacrificed on the altar of the Chancellor’s obsession with getting a £10 billion Budget surplus in the final year of this Parliament. We wait to see what actually materialises from today’s statement and what actual support comes forward from the Government, particularly for Port Talbot The Office for Budget Responsibility revealed that the decision was taken so late that there was no time to change the calculations in its economic and fiscal forecast. That means that its forecast for the level of business investment in this Parliament could well be an overestimate. Families in Britain are to suffer as a result of another missed opportunity—on housing. By 2025, nine out of 10 Britons under 35 on modest incomes will not be able to afford a home. Rents in the private sector are soaring. So much, again, for a Budget for the next generation.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Seema Malhotra-Saluja (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman certainly does not seem to have the same sort of direct conversations as I do with businesses. This is a question of choices and timing. They also raise the issue of housing, which affects the stability of their workforce, and of infrastructure investment, which affects access and their opportunities to grow. Investment is also required to support the scale-up of their businesses through developing skills. There is a whole host of issues. This is also about judgment, timing and what would be most effective in increasing our productivity.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Seema Malhotra-Saluja (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point. That is one of the concerns. It is assumed that the proceeds from those tax cuts will go directly into investment, but the evidence for that does not necessarily stack up. In fact, an estimated £500 billion is not invested in this country at the moment. That is an important point, which is why greater analysis and scrutiny are required, as well as conversations with businesses about what will actually make a difference for them in the long term The basic rate of capital gains tax is to be reduced from 18% to 10%, and the higher rate from 28% to 20%. That is set to cost £735 million in 2020 and £2.7 billion over the forecast period. Capital gains tax was paid by only 200,000 taxpayers in 2013, which means that about 0.3% of the population will benefit from a giveaway of more than £600 million in total from the first year. That was not called for or expected. In fact, the Financial Times described it as an "unexpected gift" for wealthy investors. In 2010, the Chancellor told the House that raising capital gains tax was necessary to "create a fairer tax system."—[Official Report, 22 June 2010; Vol. 512, c. 178.] It would be interesting to hear perhaps during the Exchequer Secretary’s wind-up speech what has changed.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): Far be it from me to make any proposals to Labour Front Benchers, but will my hon. Friend consider some research into the impact of the Liechtenstein disclosure facility and how it has been used during the past two to three years to subvert the Government’s attempts on taxation?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Seema Malhotra-Saluja (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for his extremely well made comment. He is absolutely right that we should explore that area, because we want evidence about what works as we move forward urgently on the issue of gross tax avoidance and evasion. Indeed, if we want to ensure that tax avoiders and tax evaders pay their fair share of tax, the Finance Bill will need to be toughened up considerably. If the Chancellor fails to listen to our arguments, the public will want to know why The Bill also fails the fairness test. Resolution Foundation analysis shows that 80% of the gains from this Budget’s changes to income tax will be for the top half of the income distribution, with the top 20% of households getting the lion’s share. It estimates that, during this Parliament, households in the lower half of the income distribution will lose an average of £375 a year, while those in the top half are set to gain £235 a year. We are lucky that it can tell us that. It is a matter of shame that the Chancellor no longer produces his own full distributional analysis. This is a Chancellor who either does not want to know or does not want to tell us what impact his decisions are having. Neither competent nor compassionate—after the Budget, that is the verdict on this Chancellor This country faces huge economic challenges—automation, competition from nations such as India, China and other growing economies, our grossly imbalanced economy and our growing current account deficit—yet faced with these big challenges, what do we get? We get cuts to corporation tax that the Office for Budget Responsibility says will do nothing to reverse the deteriorating outlook for business investment, productivity and exports. There are cuts to capital gains tax that will benefit a tiny minority but do nothing for the millions of working people struggling simply to stay out of debt, let alone save for a home or a pension. There are clever accounting tricks aimed at reducing the Chancellor’s short-term political embarrassment that do nothing to secure our long-term public finances or economic stability. Missing was a clear vision of the future—a vision of a Britain that has a strategic partnership between Government and business, and is stronger because prosperity is shared more fairly We will vote against this Finance Bill because it is unfair. It is unfair on women, on low-paid workers and on children living in poverty—the number of children in poverty has increased by half a million since this Government came to power. These are people who are seeing their living standards cut to pay for the Chancellor’s tax giveaways to the better off. The Bill is unfair on the workers in our steel and manufacturing industries, who are worried now about their jobs and their families. It is unfair on all the hard-working families and responsible businesses that play by the rules and pay their fair share of tax. We will vote against the Bill because it fails the test of moving this country forward to a more prosperous and secure future for Britain’s businesses and families.