argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill — House of Commons, 2019-10-22
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Many of us are still concerned that we may end up with a no-deal exit for Great Britain. Can my right hon. and learned Friend assure me that we will make sure, on the face of the Bill, that Parliament has an opportunity to vote before 1 July on whether the implementation period should be extended—whether for one or two years—if it does not look like we are going to get in the negotiations a free trade agreement by the end of the year? Will he also assure me that the Government will abide by that vote?
European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill — House of Commons, 2019-10-22
Topic: Government Operations
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. What would happen if there were potential for an extension of the implementation period has been concerning Members right across the House. We believe that we can negotiate in the time that we have now, but we accept that Parliament has a legitimate role to play, and I can bring forward an amendment that would allow Parliament to have its say on the merits of an extension of the implementation period—
European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill — House of Commons, 2019-10-22
Topic: Government Operations
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I have to commend the hon. Lady for her persistence, but to reopen the issue in that way would be, with the greatest of respect to my hon. Friends who support it, the ultimate cop-out for this Parliament. It is time for all of us who believe in representative democracy to accept the fact that the whole concept of parliamentary representation is itself on trial. It is on trial in a way that perhaps none of us had ever envisaged. Acknowledging the fact that we are facing unprecedented challenge is something that should make us—[Interruption.]
European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill — House of Commons, 2019-10-22
Topic: International Affairs
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): It is something that should make us focus even more determinedly upon the need to make decisions—however imperfect, however unpalatable, however untimely they might seem to hon. Members. The public demand nothing less than for us to make a positive move. The time for decision making is now. The time for proposing nothing, opposing everything and seeking to play old-fashioned politics is over. We have to get on with this. As somebody who spent my life believing in the concept of our membership of the European Union, that comes as bitter gall to me, but it is not about me or individuals; it is about all of us.
European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill — House of Commons, 2019-10-22
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. Let me say in response how welcome it is—even joyful—that, for the first time in this long saga, this House has accepted its responsibilities, come together and embraced a deal. I congratulate Members across the House on the scale of our collective achievement. Just a few weeks ago, hardly anybody believed that we could reopen the withdrawal agreement, let alone abolish the backstop, and certainly nobody thought that we could secure the approval of the House for a new deal. We should not overlook the significance of this moment. I pay particular tribute to those Members of the House who were sceptical and who had difficulties and doubts, but who decided to place the national interest ahead of any other consideration However, I must express my disappointment that the House has again voted for delay, rather than a timetable that would have guaranteed that the UK was in a position to leave the EU on 31 October with a deal. We now face further uncertainty, and the EU must now make up their minds about how to answer Parliament’s request for a delay. The first consequence is that the Government must take the only responsible course and accelerate our preparations for a no-deal outcome. Secondly, however, I will speak to EU member states about their intentions and, until they have reached a decision, we will pause this legislation Let me be clear: our policy remains that we should not delay and that we should leave the EU on 31 October. That is what I will say to the EU, and I will report back to the House. One way or another, we will leave the EU with this deal, to which this House has just given its assent, and I thank Members across the House for that hard-won agreement.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I must confess that I am disappointed by the tone the right hon. Gentleman has taken today, because I had thought that he might rise to the occasion and see what the electorate—and, I believe, his own electorate—broadly want us to do, which is to get Brexit done. I thought he would wish to reflect the will of the people who voted for Brexit in such numbers in 2016 and have waited for a very long time The right hon. Gentleman is wrong about environmental and social protection. This Government and this country will maintain the very highest standards, and we will lead in environmental protection and social protection across Europe and the world. We lead, for instance, in our commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050, and as I have told him many times, Brexit gives us the freedom and the opportunity to do things that we have not been able to do and that are deeply desired by the British people, such as banning the live export of animals—that is to say nothing of shark fins—and many other things we can do differently and better The right hon. Gentleman is wrong about business. The overwhelming view of business is that there are great opportunities from Brexit. Also, both Stuart Rose, who is a former chairman of the remain campaign, and the Governor of the Bank of England have said today that this is a good deal for the British economy. As I look ahead, the only risks I see to the British economy are the catastrophic plans of the right hon. Gentleman and his semi-Marxist party. What British business wants is the certainty and stability of getting Brexit done on 31 October, and then the opportunity to build a new future with our European partners and to do free trade deals around the world The right hon. Gentleman is wrong about Northern Ireland, which, along with the rest of the UK, will exit the EU customs union, in defiance of what the European Commission and, indeed, the Irish Government had intended The right hon. Gentleman talks about trust. I do not wish to be unnecessarily adversarial today, but he patently does not trust his own party—he does not trust the shadow Chancellor—and, above all, he has not been willing to trust the people of this country by granting them the right to adjudicate on him and his policies in a general election. He will not trust the people, and he does not trust the people by delivering on the result of their referendum in 2016 I suggest to the House, in all humility and candour, that it should ignore the right hon. Gentleman’s pleadings and vote for an excellent deal that will take this country and the whole of Europe forward.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I wish to agree with at least part of my right hon. and learned Friend’s analysis, because he says that there is scepticism across the continent about federalism and the desire to build a European Union superstate, and I think that he is right, but unfortunately that scepticism has not percolated up to the elites who run the EU and set the agenda in Brussels. [Interruption.]
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am making a valid point, which is that in Brussels my right hon. and learned Friend’s message has not really been perfectly understood, because they are continuing with a large number of federalist projects. At the European Council, only a couple of days ago, I heard the distinguished President of France calling for a union bancaire—a banking union, Mr Speaker; spelt b-a-n-c-a-i-r-e. There is a strong desire to intensify the process of integration—for example, by creating a defence pact— in a way that I think would meet the scepticism of not just my right hon. and learned Friend, but millions of people across the EU. I can give him an absolute reassurance that in the course of negotiations—in which we would want the entire House, or as many Members who want to be involved as possible, to take part—we will ensure that we get exactly what I think he desires: a zero-tariff, zero-quota free trade partnership so that there is maximum trade, and increasing trade, between our economies.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: Agriculture
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): There was a lot enthusiasm in that response The right hon. Gentleman was a little bit churlish in his response to my statement, because after all I did not mention England and I did not mention Wales, either. Of course, the reason why Northern Ireland is a particular subject of discussion—it is a legitimate point—is that there are particular circumstances in Northern Ireland at the border that deserve particular respect and sensitivity, and that is what they have received in the deal. This is a great deal for England, a great deal for Wales, a great deal for Scotland and a great deal for Northern Ireland. The people of Scotland now have the chance, championed by wonderful Scottish Conservative MPs, to take back control of their fisheries from the end of next year. That will allow the people of Scotland at last to enjoy the benefits of their spectacular marine wealth in a way that they would be denied under the Scottish nationalist party which, as I never tire of telling you, Mr Speaker, would hand back control of Scottish fishing to Brussels.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): May I take issue—gently—with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister? For 27 years, some of us have been warning about the federal nature of the European Union. [Interruption.] I did say gently I am in real agreement, as I stand here today, with my right hon. Friend the Father of the House, who has said that he will back this deal today. So will I. In that spirit, will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister please come to the Dispatch Box and ask my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Sir Oliver Letwin), in recognising that we need to have a meaningful vote, to withdraw his amendment and give the British people what they are dying for, which is a decision on Brexit?
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am full of respect for the contributions that my right hon. Friend has made on this subject over many, many years. I did not mean in any way to exclude him or to say that he had not made important contributions on the subject of a federal Europe. What I said was that I had not often heard people speaking up in favour of the integration of this country into a federal EU On my right hon. Friend’s point about the amendment that I believe is being proposed, and that I think you, Mr Speaker, have accepted from my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Sir Oliver Letwin), I do think that this is a momentous occasion for our country and for our Parliament, and that it would be a great shame if the opportunity to have a meaningful vote, which is what I believe this House has been convoked to do, were to be taken away from us. I say that with the greatest respect to my right hon. Friend, who I think is actuated by the best possible intentions.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid that the right hon. Lady is not correct in what she says. The new deal does absolutely nothing to remove protections from workers or from the environment. On the contrary, it gives us the opportunity to strengthen such protections. She asked for the people to have a final say at the ballot box, yet she has been preventing a general election. Instead of campaigning for a general election, she has been in Brussels asking the EU not to give this country a new and better deal. The mere fact that we have a great deal before us today is a tribute to the signal lack of influence of the Liberal Democrats in Brussels.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): Despite the fact that those who oppose Brexit have tried to undermine his negotiating position at every turn, despite the fact that the Benn Act sought to remove his strongest negotiating lever, the Prime Minister has done what they said was impossible two weeks ago and got the European Union to reopen and change its negotiating position. Does he agree that, during the referendum, this Parliament effectively made a promise to the British people to deliver on their decision, and that today is the day to deliver on that promise?
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for what he has said, and he is indeed correct. I do believe that this excellent deal dispels the doubts of many people about what this country could achieve and, indeed, will achieve in the future. I thank him—my fellow campaigner on this issue—for the way that he has stood up for the vision that we both share for our country as an open, global, free-trading, generous, outward-looking, but European economy, and that is what this deal allows us to be. I believe that it is a great step forward, and I hope that the House endorses it.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman, for whom I have a high regard, is, I think, one of those who believes that we should delay further in the EU. I do not believe that. I think we should come out as one UK, and I think there is a very important difference between Northern Ireland and the other constituent parts of the UK. That is evident in the Good Friday agreement and it is evident in the need to treat that particular land border with a great deal of sensitivity and respect. That is something that is agreed in all parts of the House and is I think appreciated by the right hon. Gentleman himself.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend personally guarantee that in the withdrawal Bill there will be a guarantee to protect in practice our parliamentary sovereignty and furthermore that, in relation to the withdrawal agreement, there will be provision to protect the United Kingdom from any harmful matters relating to our vital national interests under a parliamentary system that will guarantee that this House will decide if there are any situations where we need to prevent EU laws from being harmful to those vital national interests during the course of the future arrangements that have been put in place?
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend has campaigned on this matter for many, many years. Indeed, there is a sense in which this occasion today is a colossal vindication of his parliamentary career, in that he has long campaigned for us to come out of the EU. He raises an important point about our ability to protect this country from injurious or vexatious legislation coming from the EU during the IP. I can certainly give him the assurance that we will have such protection.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): There are many of us, who do not often feature at the noisy ends of the debate, who campaigned hard for remain, but who accept the result of the referendum, because we are above all democrats. Many of us have said things like, "We will do anything to avoid no deal." Does the Prime Minister agree that today is the day actually to make those words mean something and vote for a deal?
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): Was not the right hon. Leader of the Opposition right on 22 February 2016, when he said: "We welcome the fact that it is now in the hands of the people of this country to decide"—[Official Report, 22 February 2016; Vol. 606, c. 26.] whether we remain in the European Union? Did the people not come to a conclusion on that? He was right then; should we not now carry out that instruction?
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): It seems to me that the right hon. Lady may conceivably have made up her mind about the 535 pages that she has in her hand before she scrutinised every word of the text. I am a fan of hers, but I gently remind her that, as she and I both know, Wales voted to leave. She should respect that.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Lady knows, the arrangements envisaged for Northern Ireland in this deal lapse automatically, and the default position is full alignment with the UK in every respect, unless the people of Northern Ireland decide, by a majority vote, not to remain in alignment; that is always open to them, and that must be fair. The arrangements are for a very small range of policy. From the beginning, as I explained to the House, Northern Ireland will not only be able to take part in free trade deals, but will benefit from many of the advantages and attractions of Brexit, in the sense that we could, for example, regulate financial services differently and better, and have a free port in Belfast.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I see my distinguished friends in the Democratic Unionist party accepting this good news, as is their customary way. There are many advantages to be had. On the point made by the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey), yes, there is the prospect of a free trade agreement between us and the EU, under which these arrangements would eventually be superseded. We would enter into free trade, as the right hon. and learned Father of the House indicated—a zero-tariff, zero-quota arrangement—and then the current arrangements would be obviated.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Christopher Stephen Grayling (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend will remember from the referendum the strength of feeling that he and I experienced in some of our most deprived communities about Brexit. Could he gently explain to the Leader of the Opposition the sense of betrayal that will be felt in those communities if we do not now deliver Brexit?
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is completely correct in what he says. I think it is a feeling that is well known to Members on the other side of the House and well known on our Benches as well. The people of this country, wherever they come from, are coming together now in a desire to get Brexit done, and I hope that this House will today reflect that will.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid there is a complete conceptual confusion here. Scotland, Northern—the whole of the UK is coming out of the customs union. Particular arrangements are being put in place to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland, which I think is an objective that the whole House supports. As for the people of Scotland, they had a referendum, as the hon. and learned Lady knows full well, in 2014, and they voted very substantially to remain in the United Kingdom. That was the correct decision. They were told it was a once-in-a-generation decision, and I see no reason whatever to betray that promise that was made to them then.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister, I think, has said that he now wants to speak for the 52% and the 48%, but does he recognise that the rhetoric, the actions and the way that this Government have approached Brexit achieve the exact opposite of that, actually? Does he also recognise that dismissing the concerns of communities such as my own is no way to bring even England back together, and dismissing the concerns of other nations within the United Kingdom is also no way to bring the UK and Britain back together either?
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly did not mean to dismiss anybody’s concerns, let alone her own. I recognise, as I think I said in my opening statement, that this is an issue that has aroused deep feeling across the country on both sides, but it is my strong belief that the way forward for this country now is to deliver Brexit, get it done and move our country forward. That is the way, I believe, that people can honestly and passionately express their pro-European views in a new deep and special partnership of the kind that my right hon. Friend—both of us—campaigned for.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: Agriculture
Sheryll Murray (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend reassure the fishermen in my constituency that he will put right the wrong heaped on them more than 40 years ago, and that they will get a better share of fish from UK waters?
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: Agriculture
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): They certainly shall, and I congratulate my hon. Friend and thank her for everything she does to stick up for UK fishing. Fishing has a glorious future in this country, in the west country, and in Scotland too, if only the House will do the right thing and allow us to come out on 31 October.
Prime Minister’s Statement — House of Commons, 2019-10-19
Topic: Environment
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid the hon. Lady has totally misread or misunderstood the provisions in the agreement. It is stated plainly in the political declaration that we will maintain the highest possible standards, and it is up to this House to do so. I think it is the will of this House, and this Government, to have even higher standards. This is the party and Government who have banned microbeads and are cracking down on plastics. We are leading the world in going for zero-carbon by 2015. We are world leaders in environmental and animal welfare protection, and we will continue to be so outside the EU.