argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That this House agrees for the purposes of section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 to the Prime Minister seeking an extension of the period specified in Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union to a period ending on 30 June 2019 I will endeavour to be brief in my remarks. I will, of course, take interventions, but please allow me to make three points by way of introduction. First, the Government did not want to be in this position. I do not say that in the spirit of seeking to attribute blame to people, but in a moment of solemn reflection it is important that we acknowledge where we find ourselves It is of great disappointment to me and many others that this House has not felt able to approve the withdrawal agreement. The Prime Minister said last week that any plan for the future must include the withdrawal agreement. It is what we negotiated with the EU, and it remains the Government’s position that leaving with a deal is the best way for this country to leave the EU. Although I understand that certain right hon. and hon. Members have not found themselves in a position to support the withdrawal agreement, if we are to leave the EU in a smooth and orderly manner, we must find a way to find a plan for the way forward that includes it. Furthermore, the Government have already been clear that we are seeking an extension. As such, we continue to be of the view that the Bill passed last night was, with respect to its movers, unnecessary Secondly, it is clear that the House is not willing to leave without a deal. Thirdly, nobody who respects the outcome of the referendum could wish the UK to participate in the European Parliament elections, nearly three years after our country voted to leave the institutions of the European Union. However, if the UK remains a member state on 23 May, that is what it will be legally required to do. That is because the EU treaties provide that European Union citizens have the right to be represented in the European Parliament, and that the European Parliament needs to be properly constituted, with duly elected MEPs from all member states, for it to perform its functions.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: Government Operations
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): When my hon. and learned Friend says that we need to have left by 23 May, that is the date the election actually takes place. Will he inform the House of the latest date possible for the returning officer to publish the notice of poll and start the process of those elections?
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): In the letter that was sent to colleagues in the names of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General, I think reference was made to the necessity of allowing a suitable time between the bringing into force of the order that allows the elections to proceed and the elections themselves. My recollection is that that is a 25-day period. However, I will say also say, with regard to the process, that, of course, the new European Parliament does not meet until early July, and therefore it is important for us to distinguish between the need to hold elections and the requirement for British MEPs to actually sit in the European Parliament, if we are indeed to leave the European Union before early July.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman knows, negotiations will carry on in the Council tomorrow, and I think it would be idle speculation for me to try and anticipate what might be agreed. Some people take offence at the word nebulous; I do not. [Interruption.] I really do not. What I have tried to do, at all stages of this process, is to find a way forward and to seek a solution. It is in all our hands, and I say that in a spirit of friendship and co-operation to all hon. Members.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): It seems to me that the Solicitor General is simply giving the House a reality check as to the position that we have been put into by Members who voted in various ways. But is not the situation in law that, although it might be necessary to participate in elections—which neither he nor I nor, I think, most of us want—as a matter of law, the outgoing European Parliament exists until the moment that the new Parliament is created, and therefore there are certain things that could take place, such as ratification of any agreement, until the point that the new Parliament meets; also, the argument that British presence might impugn the new Parliament would not exist if we have left by that time?
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I think he is absolutely right about the way in which the European Parliament is constituted. It is due, I think, to rise on 18 April, but it does not cease to exist—it does not dissolve in the way that we do. That is important in terms of ratification, because section 13 of the withdrawal Act that we passed obviously includes that requirement as well.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I just want to clear up something that I heard my hon. and learned Friend say. I think I heard him say at the Dispatch Box that it was wholly feasible that the Government may actually end up fighting the European elections, then only after that not allow its MEPs to take their seats—say they had been given an extension, but somehow we had managed to ratify the deal. Is that correct? Is it Government policy that we would go as far as to fight an election but not take our seats at the end of it?
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right to ask about that detail. I think that we are obliged, as a matter of law, to prepare for European elections, but if we have exited the European Union by the end of June, we are no longer a member but a third country. Therefore, the requirement to take our seats in the European Parliament would have ended.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): The ingenuity of the right hon. Gentleman knows no bounds. He is right to ask detailed questions such as that, but we have a solution to all these vexed questions: to agree a deal so that we can get on with leaving.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. and learned Friend tempts me on to a path of anticipating what might or might not be the outcome of the summit. I hear his point about the need to avoid regular cliff edges. He will forgive me if I remind him politely but firmly that there is an option for us all to take, which is to agree a way forward and an orderly exit.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I think it is axiomatic that the Prime Minister will indeed listen carefully to any constructive suggestions made by the Council and the Commission on such matters. That is what she has always done—she has borne the brunt of some criticism for doing so, but her painstaking approach is the right way to go.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right to characterise the decision of the 27, but before that there will have been active and proper negotiation and discussion between the United Kingdom and the Council. The reality is that we can end all of this here, in this House, by coming to a sensible agreement and making those compromises that many of us have had to do, me very much included.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: Government Operations
Hugo Swire (Conservative, Centre-right): In the event of a whole swathe of MEPs being elected but not taking their seats, will they be entitled to compensation? Will the Solicitor General assure us that that compensation will be paid for not by our constituents but by the EU?
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Kenneth Clarke (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. and learned Friend is chopping about with various dates that he would prefer, and he keeps making the obvious point that article 50 can come to an end if and when we have support for a withdrawal agreement, which I have supported all the way through. Would not the best thing be to take some far distant date and give us a proper extension—saying, of course, that it will end forthwith, as soon as any withdrawal agreement is passed? I think that is being proposed in Brussels at the moment, and I cannot think of the slightest sensible reason against it. We cannot keep having these ridiculous cliff-edge debates, moving the date forward by a fortnight or a month every now and again.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. and learned Friend is right to talk about the need to avoid cliff edges. To that extent, I can agree that today we are seeking to create a situation whereby we will have the flexibility to leave if ratification takes place. That aspect of his intervention is a very important one to remember. The negotiability of the position is simply that the talks between the parties are ongoing and if there is something fruitful as a result, we can proceed to use the provisions of section 13, with which all of us are notably very familiar. Those stages can then be passed and ratification will be deemed to be complete.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: Government Operations
Edmund Francis Hughes (Conservative, Centre-right): What advice would my hon. and learned Friend give me to pass on to council candidates for the forthcoming local elections? For two years, they have been telling constituents that we were leaving on 29 March; then it became 12 April. We now have a wipe-clean board in my office so we can fill in the current date that we are leaving. What should our candidates be telling people on the doorstep?
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Daniel Double (Conservative, Centre-right): Is not the point that whether the delay is two weeks, two months or two years, it is not time that is needed, but political will to come to a deal? People such as me have made compromises—there is much in the withdrawal agreement that I do not like—to move to a position to support the withdrawal agreement. Is it not about time that other Members of this House were willing to do the same?
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an extremely powerful point. I pay tribute to him and to all hon. and right hon. Members who were faced with a very difficult decision and took what I would regard as the statesman or stateswomanlike approach by deciding to support the withdrawal agreement. It was absolutely the right thing to do, and I pay warm tribute to each and every one of them.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I will obey your strictures and move on, Mr Speaker I turn to the question of what might happen with regards to the further extension. Before the House considers the motion, as the Prime Minister said last week, we should all be very clear what the extension would be for. It is all about ensuring that we leave the EU in a timely and orderly way, and that means leaving with a deal. That is why the Government have engaged in a constructive process with the Opposition to seek to agree a plan—either a unified position that could command the confidence of the House, or a series of options upon which it could decide. As we know, that process remains ongoing.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): With the greatest respect to the hon. Gentleman, I disagree with his analysis about the deal. I did not note much opposition, certainly from certain corners of the House, to the detail of the withdrawal agreement. The focus of the debate has been on the nature of the future relationship and the declaration that accompanies the agreement. I therefore take issue with his characterisation of the current position It is our desire to pursue this process with expedition. Our intention is to secure the House’s assent to the deal and we have been clear, as I have just said, that that could include making changes to the political declaration. That would meet the necessary preconditions for ratification by 22 May, so that we could leave the EU without the need to hold European Parliament elections. While all sides recognise the urgency with which we need to make progress, given where we are and that it will be challenging, we cannot be certain that an extension until just 22 May would provide us with sufficient time.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): Just to support what my hon. and learned Friend says, business says very clearly to us that the deal is good enough for it. Is he aware that the mini-extensions are really difficult, particularly for manufacturing? The car factories are shut down at the moment in anticipation of disruption. They cannot just open up and shut down on these cliff edges, so flexibility is essential.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: Transportation
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend makes a powerful point. As a Member of Parliament, she represents car manufacturing interests very proudly. I care very deeply indeed about the future of that important industry and will do everything I can to secure it.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): Tempted as I am to take further interventions from right hon. and hon. Members, I must finish I think most colleagues would agree that it would now be odd to leave on 22 May, when just a few additional weeks would allow for the finalisation of the ratification of a deal. I should explain why we cannot seek to extend only to 22 May and then ask for a further extension to 30 June. To put it simply, we must all recognise that we cannot assemble and reassemble the European Council every few weeks The Government have committed to deliver on the result of the referendum, and we in this House must now come together to find a way forward, rather than seeking to further extend the process. It is up to us to chart a course for this country beyond the EU and to agree a plan that can deliver what I hope and believe will be a bright future, with the close and meaningful partnership with the EU that we all want to see. That is what the Government’s extension will provide time for, and that is why I urge all right hon. and hon. Members to support it, to support the Prime Minister at tomorrow’s Council, and to support a plan that will deliver on the referendum and take the United Kingdom out of the European Union. I commend the motion to the House.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for making the right decision to give way. Is it not about time that we accepted that the strategy the Prime Minister has pursued up until now is a failed strategy, that there is no majority in this House for the deal, and that being pressured at the last minute to cobble something together that is divisive in the House is not the right approach either, given how irreversible and momentous the decision in front of us is? We should embrace the opportunity of a longer extension to pause and reflect and to get the right deal for our country.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Owen William Paterson (Conservative, Centre-right): It is a pleasure to speak in this debate and to follow the shadow spokesman, the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Matthew Pennycook), some of whose points I actually agreed with. I will be brief because I know a large number of Members want to speak In simple terms, to get the message across, this is a bad motion spawned from a bad Bill. Going right back, I have said this many times, and Members of the House yawn and look tired at the fact—I am looking at the Chairman of the Exiting the European Union Committee, the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn)—but 17.4 million voted. This is a constitutional first because the people went against the voice of the establishment. The Father of the House and others have long sat here believing in parliamentary democracy, but this time, for the first time in history, the people were given the right to decide very clearly and to the horror of the establishment—political, commercial and legal—they went against it.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Owen William Paterson (Conservative, Centre-right): They were told that we would leave and take back control, and then, in the ensuing general election, the two main parties and the Democratic Unionist party confirmed that leave meant leaving the single market, leaving the customs union and leaving the remit of the European Court of Justice. That was confirmed by 498 and 494 Members on the Second and Third Readings of the withdrawal Bill triggering article 50, which triggered departure on 29 March Opposition Members just must understand the anger outside this House; and the frustration will turn into something that I would not like to quantify. People approach me the whole time and I get letters, emails and calls because it is very clear that this House, perhaps stunned by the immediate impact of the referendum, voted to trigger article 50 and has since done everything it can do to stymie it, culminating in the Bill that went through last night in ridiculous circumstances. The Second Reading went through by a majority of one, and it was then rammed through with hardly any procedures here.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Owen William Paterson (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Lady has done a very good job of infuriating the 17.4 million people out there and insulting them on a daily basis because of her stand. She and I were elected on a clear platform of leaving the single market, the customs union and the remit of the European Court of Justice.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
Owen William Paterson (Conservative, Centre-right): No, I am going to move on, because others want to speak I am aware that such views do not go down well in this House, but I really do appeal to Members to think of the reaction outside it. The anger is touchable. People expect us to leave. At the moment, there is a real, existential threat to both the main parties. The first 100 marginals that the Labour party must win include 78 for leave, and we know that a similar number of the marginals that we on the Conservative side must win are strongly for leave. At the moment, we have a free market in terms of leave votes—UKIP has disappeared, and there is no one else. If we are so stupid as to pass this motion tonight and to go for a European election—I appeal to my colleagues on the Front Bench—we will singlehandedly give a new party an opportunity to emerge, funded with European money, and that would be a great mistake.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: Foreign Trade
Owen William Paterson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Very helpfully, he has moved me on to my next point. I am looking at the clock, and I will be quite brief The biggest danger to business at the moment is uncertainty. Last week, sadly, we had the resignation of my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris)—or "Dane-tree", as it was pronounced when I used to work in Northampton. He said to the Prime Minister: "whilst I would have preferred to leave the European Union with your deal, I truly believe our country would have swiftly overcome any immediate issues of leaving without a deal and gone on to thrive." It is absolutely clear that there has been a relentless campaign by "Project Fear" against no deal. There is no such thing as no deal; there has already been a succession of mini-deals. We were told that aeroplanes would not fly; that has been sorted out. We were told that drugs would not arrive; my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has fixed the drugs problem. We know from Monsieur Puissesseau, who runs the port of Calais, that people there are relaxed. Looking at the World Trade Organisation terms, the WTO facilitation treaty, and the sanitary and phytosanitary terms, it is clear that it is illegal for our partners to arbitrarily stop the shipment of goods that conformed the day before we left. This whole issue of no deal has been blown up out of all proportion; it is a last stand for remain.
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): Has my right hon. Friend seen the excellent article in the business section of The Daily Telegraph today, in which several very senior German people, including Mr Verheugen and others, have made it categorically clear that the failure of these negotiations is the fault of all the participants, including the EU itself?
Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 — House of Commons, 2019-04-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
Owen William Paterson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend and neighbour for mentioning Mr Verheugen, who quite rightly warned about the dangers to the German economy, which, as we know, is sadly moving into recession. We will be doing the whole European economy a service if we resolve the wretched wrangle about Brexit now.