argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Principles of Democracy and the Rights of the Electorate — House of Commons, 2019-09-26
Topic: International Affairs
Helen Elizabeth Hayes (Labour, Centre-left): In Dulwich and West Norwood, 77% of people voted to remain in the EU—the seventh highest pro-remain vote in the country. My constituents are not remoaners; they are not anti-democratic. They are citizens with deeply held and sincere convictions. Yet since June 2016, 77% of my constituents and 48% of voters across the country have been told that we must be quiet and that our views no longer count. We have been told to be silent in the face of the Government’s own evidence that Brexit will harm the UK economy. We have been told to be silent as we raise important questions about the future of scientific research, supply of medicines, regulation of chemicals and the future of trade. We have been told to be silent as we raise grave concerns—not discussed at all during the referendum campaign—about the impact of Brexit on the Good Friday agreement and peace in Northern Ireland. We have been told to be silent as we have raised concerns about the increase in hate crime and the anxiety of EU nationals living in our communities The continual dismissal and denigration of the views of 48% of UK voters—77% of my constituents—has been extraordinary. It is not how Governments should, or usually do, behave in a democracy In 2016, faced with a very narrow result, the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) had the opportunity to define Brexit in a way that reached across the divide—in a way that took seriously both the result of the advisory referendum and the concerns of almost half of those who voted about the impact of Brexit on our economy, security, rights, and access to medicines. Instead she spent six months saying nothing but "Brexit means Brexit", while the right of the Tory party, and Nigel Farage, moved into the vacuum and defined Brexit as the hardest, most extreme Brexit possible It is a principle of democracy that we all seek to win the argument—that we seek to provide evidence to justify a position, to reassure and persuade those who disagree with us, and ultimately to achieve a mandate to proceed. The right hon. Member for Maidenhead put her Tory-party-facing version of Brexit to the people in 2017, and they took away her majority and her mandate. In this context, it is no surprise that my constituents’ pro-remain views and their deep fears about what Brexit will mean for them, and for our country as a whole, have only grown and strengthened, these past three years. The Government have done nothing to reassure them; nothing to provide evidence that their concerns are unfounded; nothing to prove that they respect and take seriously their values and their views. Instead we have a Prime Minister who is facing down his opponents with the language of hate, a Government who have failed to provide any assurance that our communities—
Principles of Democracy and the Rights of the Electorate — House of Commons, 2019-09-26
Topic: International Affairs
Helen Elizabeth Hayes (Labour, Centre-left): To be absolutely clear, the reference to a surrender Bill—the language of "traitors", the language of "surrender", is the language of war, and that is being used by our Prime Minister, in an utterly irresponsible and reckless way As I was saying, the Government have done nothing to prove that they respect and take seriously the values and views of my constituents. We have a Government who have failed to provide assurance that communities will not face job losses, shortages of food and medicine, and lower environmental standards; and a Government who are prepared to put at risk peace in Northern Ireland, casting aside the Good Friday agreement Democracy is a process of governance, not a moment in time. In a context where the Government have failed to reach out, failed to engage and reassure, and failed to provide evidence and win the argument, the only option is to allow that process to continue—to hold another vote, not on the same proposition as the first, but on what we now know, to allow people to vote again on whether they have confidence that the Government have been able to negotiate a deal that can secure their future, protecting their jobs and security I say this again: my constituents are not remoaners; they are engaged citizens—internationalist and outward-looking in their views and values, worried about their families, their communities and their future, and this Government have ignored, denigrated and failed to reassure and convince them. They deserve better than this failing Government and our reckless, irresponsible Prime Minister. They deserve more democracy, not less. They deserve a people’s vote.
Kashmir — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Paul Daniel Williams (Labour, Centre-left): The Kashmiri community in Stockton South are understandably concerned about the safety and human rights of the people of Kashmir. Does the Secretary of State believe that there is a role for the United Nations or other independent parties to monitor and report on the alleged human rights abuses to ensure that the Kashmiri people are protected?
Kashmir — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Paul Christopher Blomfield (Labour, Centre-left): In Sheffield on Saturday, there was a big protest of people who felt that the Foreign Secretary’s response to the crisis has not been good enough. Will he therefore commit to working through the United Nations and the Commonwealth to strengthen international pressure on India to restore Kashmir’s special status, and to working with both India and Pakistan to secure a long-term solution based on the 1948 UN resolution, so that there can be a plebiscite for the people of Kashmir to determine their own future?
Kashmir — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Imran Hussain (Labour, Centre-left): I refer Members to my registered interest. For over four years, I have stood in this place and warned Members of the ongoing persecution, oppression and injustice that the sons and daughters of Kashmir face daily. That situation has now escalated as a result of the revocation of articles 370 and 35A, and the humanitarian situation as a result of the blockade. The reality is that we see up to 10,000 people arrested without due process, and food and medicine shortages. This is a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations Security Council meeting and not even agreeing a condemnation is not something that this House should welcome. What is the Minister doing to end the draconian blockade, at the very least?
Kashmir — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): Alongside the revocation of article 370, the Indian authorities have detained more than 4,000 Kashmiris without charge in the last month—not just political activists, but ordinary civilians. There are widespread allegations of torture, and many families do not know where their loved ones are being held. This is no way for the largest democracy in the world to behave, let alone a member of the Commonwealth. Can the Secretary of State tell us what protests he has made to India about those detentions?
Amazon Forest Fires — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Foreign Trade
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): Over 120,000 people have already petitioned this Parliament, urging trade sanctions to be used against Brazil to put pressure on it. Given that a Minister was in Brazil recently, what pressure was put on by this Government?
Amazon Forest Fires — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Environment
Helen Catherine Goodman (Labour, Centre-left): The fires have affected 650 million acres of Amazon rain forest. In his answer just now, the Minister revealed that he did not understand that the problem with the Mercosur trade deal is that cutting beef tariffs incentivises destruction of the rain forest. What proposals will the Government be putting forward at the Chile conference on climate change in November?
Hong Kong — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Virendra Kumar Sharma (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the new Foreign Secretary to his position and congratulate him on taking up the role at a time of such calm. I asked his predecessor in June whether he would extend an invitation to any Hong Kong citizens at risk of persecution. Will the Secretary of State do his moral duty under the 1984 joint declaration?
Hong Kong — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Foreign Secretary update the House on whether in his conversation with Ms Lam on 9 August he specifically raised the question of moving towards universal suffrage to elect the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council members?
Zimbabwe — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Catharine Letitia Hoey (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Minister agree that any semblance of the rule of law has now broken down in Zimbabwe? We saw that just last week when a peaceful protest was banned at the very last minute by Mnangagwa. What more are Her Majesty’s Government doing to get the Southern African Development Community and the African Union on board to make their views known about the appalling way that Mnangagwa is treating the people of Zimbabwe?
Leaving the EU: Gibraltar — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Khalid Mahmood (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister, I believe, supports a no-deal Brexit. How will the Minister assure the people of Gibraltar that there will be no disruption of the supply of goods, including food and medicine? News about delays of four hours at the border, resulting in huge economic loss, has leaked in the Yellowhammer document. If the Minister believes that the Yellowhammer document is outdated, what is the updated solution?
Leaving the EU: Diplomacy — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Anna Rhiannon McMorrin (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Secretary of State agree that trust is critical to international diplomacy? If so, does he agree that by threatening a catastrophic no deal and non-payment of the EU divorce bill, instead of a global player on the world stage, he paints us as a dishonest and disreputable nation—much like his Prime Minister?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What conditions were given by Iran ahead of the release of the tanker Adrian Darya from Gibraltar, and how will the United Kingdom respond if and when it is shown Iran has breached those conditions?
Fabian Hamilton (Labour, Centre-left): Can the Minister of State tell me what clause in UN resolution 2216 provides for Saudi Arabia to bomb captive inmates in a Houthi-run prison in Yemen or for the United Arab Emirates to kill forces loyal to the President that their own coalition is supposed to be there to reinstall? If the answer is that there is none, is it not time for him to bring forward a new UN resolution to replace 2216, demanding an immediate ceasefire by all parties across the whole of the country of Yemen?
G7 Summit — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Hilary James Benn (Labour, Centre-left): It is not just Chancellor Merkel who has confirmed that no substantive proposals have been put forward. Last weekend, the Irish Deputy Prime Minister said that "nothing credible has come from the British government" on alternatives to the backstop. It is also reported that the Attorney General told the Prime Minister at the beginning of August that, if he insisted on the removal of the backstop, it would inevitably result in no deal. Is that true? If it is true, can the Prime Minister try and persuade the House why it is credible to argue that progress is being made in the negotiations, because a growing number of Members have come to the conclusion that what he really wants is a no-deal Brexit, and that is why many of us will try, over the next two days, to prevent that from happening—in the national interest.
G7 Summit — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Angela Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): I am sure completely inadvertently the Prime Minister failed to answer a question that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition put to him earlier: if a Bill passes that makes it illegal to leave without a deal, will he and his Government abide by the rule of law?
G7 Summit — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): In the Prime Minister’s answer to the former Chancellor of the Exchequer he referred only to the "rough shape" of an alternative deal. Does he have any detailed proposals, and can he confirm that he has not sent any detailed proposals to the EU?
G7 Summit — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen John Doughty (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has made a number of wild and unsubstantiated claims about the negotiations. Can I ask him directly: did the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, Frost, in a Tuesday 27 August EU subcommittee meeting, link the rationale for talks with the EU article 50 taskforce to "domestic political handling reasons"? Yes or no?
G7 Summit — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Foreign Trade
Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (Labour, Centre-left): For automotive manufacturers in my constituency and beyond, the WTO tariffs that would apply in the case of a no-deal Brexit would not only wipe out their profits but often exceed them. Why should anyone take what the Prime Minister says about jobs and investment seriously when he has been so reckless with people’s livelihoods?
G7 Summit — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Rachel Jane Reeves (Labour, Centre-left): Your argument seems to be that you have a plan but that you just cannot share it with the House, or indeed with Chancellor Merkel, and that we just have to trust you; and that Parliament, which has a mandate—unlike your Government, who no longer have a majority—should not legislate against a no deal because that would somehow scupper your plans, which nobody knows. Prime Minister, why should we trust that you have a plan and, indeed, that you can deliver it?
G7 Summit — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Stella Judith Creasy (Labour, Centre-left): In response to the suggestion by Chancellor Merkel that a deal could be done in 30 days and that alternative proposals could be put forward, the Prime Minister said: "You rightly say the onus is on us to produce those solutions…You have set a very blistering timetable of 30 days—if I understood you correctly, I am more than happy with that." Given that the Prime Minister accepted the 30-day challenge, and said that the onus was on this place and this country to come up with solutions, why will he not answer the question from the hon. Member for Winchester (Steve Brine)? [Interruption.] Wait for it, Prime Minister! That is the question that we are all asking: where is the evidence that, halfway towards his own deadline, he has done anything at all?
G7 Summit — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Patrick Bosco McFadden (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has described the consequences of a no-deal exit as a few "bumps in the road". If that is the case, is not the right time to have a general election after his few bumps in the road have been implemented, when he can fully own the consequences, rather than relying on making statements about them before they have actually happened?
G7 Summit — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Peter John Kyle (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister admonishes this House that the EU is looking to see whether we will block Brexit, but he is almost oblivious to the fact that he twice voted against the deal that the EU signed off. Why is it okay for him to vote against it, but not us?
Leaving the EU: Preparations — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Catherine McKinnell (Labour, Centre-left): A no-deal Brexit, according to Government messaging, is something we can completely prepare for as long as we spend enough money on advertising, while at the same time so crucial and fundamental that it must be kept on the table as part of the negotiations. It cannot be both. Which is it?
Leaving the EU: Preparations — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): Why should anyone believe Government claims that meaningful talks are taking place in Brussels to avoid no deal when the rest of Europe flatly denies that and the Prime Minister’s own chief of staff has said that that claim is a deliberate sham to run down the clock to a no-deal Brexit?
Leaving the EU: Preparations — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Transportation
Hilary James Benn (Labour, Centre-left): It was reported yesterday that analysis done for the Department for Transport in the last fortnight says that in the worst case, the average delay for lorries and freight at Dover would be one and a half days, and in the best case, there would be a wait of two to three hours—either of which would cause chaos. Can the Secretary of State confirm for the House that the Government have received that analysis? What has the freight industry had to say to him about it? It has been warning for some time that they do not think the Government are prepared.
Leaving the EU: Preparations — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Foreign Trade
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): I have been contacted by local manufacturers and food producers who are deeply worried about no-deal tariffs. One, an exporter, says that the price of his exports to the EU will go up by 30%, and he called it "manufacturing suicide." Another is an importer; the price of his imports will go up by 50%. A third told me that they might have to close down altogether. Can the Secretary of State confirm that all his preparations about public information and committees will not mitigate the impact of those no-deal tariffs? What is the total cost to British industry of those no-deal tariffs?
Leaving the EU: Preparations — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Transportation
Martin David Whitfield (Labour, Centre-left): Great mention has been made of the freight industry and the importance of guaranteeing the effective flow of goods across the border. Can the Secretary of State explain what has been done since February with regard to the ISPM—international standard for phytosanitary measures—on wood pallets? Two thirds of the pallets in this country do not comply with European Union requirements.
Leaving the EU: Preparations — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Agriculture
Paul John Sweeney (Labour, Centre-left): Having previously worked as a supermarket fruit and vegetable assistant, I know how perishable and fragile supply chains are. I was therefore surprised to hear the Minister say on Sunday that a no-deal Brexit would cause no shortage of fresh food. Sure enough, soon afterwards the British Retail Consortium and the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium said that that, quite simply, was not true. It said: "it is impossible to mitigate" as stockpiling is not possible with such perishable produce. Will the Minister therefore accept that his statement on Sunday was inaccurate?
Education Funding — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Education
Margaret Olivia Hillier (Labour, Centre-left): We need to beware the smoke and mirrors. There has been an 8% cut in per pupil funding, and it will take a while for an inflation-linked increase year on year to catch up with that. The Secretary of State said that Ofsted might have a role in looking into how schools spent the money. Is he giving Ofsted new powers and new funding to enable it to investigate the way in which schools spend their funds, which is currently not its responsibility?
Education Funding — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Education
Lucy Maria Powell (Labour, Centre-left): I do try, Mr Speaker I welcome the Secretary of State to his post. We in the Education Committee look forward to giving him a good grilling, hopefully fairly soon. I also welcome his announcement, which is long overdue, but may I ask him about the crucial early years and, in particular, about our maintained nursery schools, about which he has said nothing? Their funds will run out very soon, but they are the jewel in the crown of social mobility, and the amount that they need is a tiny fraction of what he has announced today.
Education Funding — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Education
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): The £200 uplift in 16-to-18 funding is welcome—but it is only a start; it is for only one year; and it falls short of the £760 per student for which Raise the Rate campaigners asked. Will the Secretary of State take an early opportunity to put that right?
Education Funding — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Education
Stephanie Louise Peacock (Labour, Centre-left): We in Barnsley have lost nearly a third of our teaching assistants and school support staff. As a former teacher, I am aware of the vital job that they do, but the Secretary of State did not mention them once in his statement, and, despite his warm words in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner), we have still not been given any firm commitments. Will he rule out funding his plans by cutting school support staff further?
Education Funding — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Education
Louise Margaret Haigh (Labour, Centre-left): Some of the consequences of the chronic underfunding of special educational needs have been a huge rise in the number of exclusions and an increase in the number of parents forced to home-educate their children because they cannot find school places for them. What measures will the Secretary of State attach to this funding to ensure that there are enough specialist places and enough support in mainstream education to keep children with special educational needs in schools?
Education Funding — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Education
Karin Marguerite Smyth (Labour, Centre-left): The question is whether parents have the information they need for utilising school funding. In Bristol South as few as a quarter of primary schools and no secondary schools will receive any of this money, so what is the Secretary of State’s message to the other 75% of schools and their parents?
Education Funding — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Education
Christopher Paul Farrelly (Labour, Centre-left): Special needs education is, we know, in crisis across the country, but in the county the right hon. Gentleman and I share—Staffordshire—there are woeful discrepancies between different areas. In the last academic year, no education, health and care plan was completed within the statutory time limit in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands, compared with 75% elsewhere, while in the Secretary of State’s own area the proportion was only 24%. When is he going to step in and act in the interests of children with special needs in our county?
Education Funding — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: Education
Sarah Ann Jones (Labour, Centre-left): We have seen a 53% increase in school exclusions over the last few years—a 53% increase—and half of all those children have special educational needs and are not getting the support. The anger about that is a sign of distress. How on earth is a renewed emphasis on exclusion going to help those children when we need more money spent on special educational needs?
European Union (Withdrawal) — House of Commons, 2019-09-03
Topic: International Affairs
Thelma Doris Walker (Labour, Centre-left): Does my right hon. Friend agree that, if we are to trust the Prime Minister that a deal is in sight, he should do all he can to show evidence of the progress he has made in the negotiations over the summer and publish the Government’s proposals?