argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Henry Edward Millar Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The children of Syria are the victims of dictators, terrorists and traffickers. They are certainly not the victims of UK immigration policy, and therefore I commend and support my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s statement today. What discussions have been had with countries such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states on providing greater aid, taking refugees and supporting refugee camps around Syria?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point. We have had those discussions and will continue to do so. The Arab world has provided some generous funding for refugee camps, but I am sure we will have further conversations with them.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not agree with the hon. Lady. I think 20,000 Syrian refugees is the right response for Britain. While I agree that we need a co-ordinated European response, I do not believe it should be Britain giving up our borders and joining the Schengen no-borders arrangement. That lies behind what the hon. Lady and others are suggesting—[Interruption.] If that is not the case, the Labour party needs to be clear about it. I think we can have a comprehensive approach that helps the Schengen countries with their external borders, but maintains our borders and recognises that we benefit from having them.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Simon James Hoare (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend’s decision to spread the 20,000 refugees over the lifetime of this Parliament seems to me a sensible one, but it does not come without risks—namely, the opportunity for those who wish our country ill to infiltrate the camps to see if they, too, can get themselves to the UK under this programme. Will the Prime Minister assure the House and the country that robust but sensitive vetting and security procedures, where appropriate, will be in place from day one until the end?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I will look carefully at what the hon. Gentleman says. Obviously, what the Republic of Ireland does is a matter for the Republic of Ireland, if it wants to opt in to the relocation system. I am pretty confident that 20,000 refugees coming into Britain is, and will be seen to be by other European countries, a generous and compassionate offer that will help to take the pressure off other European countries.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): This response is immediate, and it is generous. We will start straightaway, working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, taking people into our country—as we have up to now—and giving them a warm welcome.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David John Barrington Burrowes (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the increase in the number of refugees, but may I raise the issue of timing? Given that only 216 vulnerable Syrian refugees have been relocated via the vulnerable persons relocation scheme, can the Prime Minister assure me that the expanded programme will happen more quickly, so that it will not be desperately too late for those thousands of refugees over the course of this Parliament?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly join my hon. Friend in praising the KRG for the work that they are doing, not only looking after people but combating ISIL. We will go on talking to Saudi Arabia and other countries about the support that we can all give, together, to those in refugee camps.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Craig Whittaker (Conservative, Centre-right): I was pleased to hear the Prime Minister refer again to the huge contribution of Britain, not just over the last few weeks but over several years, in helping to ease the burden of the Syrian refugees. Can he elaborate on whether discussions are going on with our European counterparts on how, jointly, we can tackle and stop these murderous people-traffickers at source?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): One of the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues raised the issue of family reunion, which we obviously look at in this context. The rules we have are there for a good reason, but I know that the Minister for Immigration has taken careful note of what the hon. Gentleman has said.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Arthur Stephen Tredinnick (Conservative, Centre-right): Is my right hon. Friend aware of the remarks of former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, who has pointed out that the UN camps have hardly any Christians in them because the Islamists have driven them out? Will my right hon. Friend take special steps to address the issue of Christians who are not in the UN camps?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a good point, which is why I pointed out earlier that we will take people who are vulnerable and that could include Yazidis or Christians, who, because of their religious beliefs, have not only been persecuted in Syria but have sometimes found life difficult in the camps as well.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): We are engaging. Our decision to take 20,000 people and our immense funding of the refugee camps will take the pressure off other European countries. I am not conflating those two things. Those who are part of Schengen have taken away all their internal border controls across Europe and they maintain their external border, so obviously the Schengen countries have to come together to work out what they are going to do about this migration crisis. We can be part of that—we help to fund Frontex and to secure the external border, and we are helping to break up the criminal gangs —but we have not decided to take our borders down, as they have, so we are not in the same position. I am not conflating the two; this is a really important point.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I can certainly give the hon. Lady that assurance. The Gateway programme, which she talks about, and other schemes effectively resettle about 1,000 people in Britain every year. In addition there are successful asylum applications—I think there were 11,000 last year—and we will now be taking 20,000 Syrian refugees. I think that is a generous, compassionate country in action, and we look forward to working with Hull City Council on that basis.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): There is widespread support for the Prime Minister’s generous decision to take 20,000 refugees, but last year alone we took 183,000 economic migrants from the European Union. I wonder whether that is proportionate, or whether we could not be more generous to refugees if we were less obsessed with the free movement of people.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): The ability to move in Europe and take a job is something that many of our own citizens enjoy by going to live in another country. What we should be addressing is the additional pull factor of our welfare system, which can give people some €12,000 or €13,000 in their first year after coming to Britain. That would ensure that free movement works, which is important, but is not artificially inflated by our own welfare system.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Peter James Guy Aldous (Conservative, Centre-right): The International Chamber of Shipping, the UK Chamber of Shipping and their respective members are doing their best to assist with the rescue of refugees and migrants at sea. However, there is a pressing need for the UK and the other EU countries to work with those in Africa and the middle east to deal directly with people smugglers. My right hon. Friend outlined in his answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker) the work that is being done in that regard, but may I urge him to leave no stone unturned in eliminating that wicked and cruel practice?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): We are getting on with it now, and in the letter that the First Minister of Scotland wrote to me, she said that Scotland would be willing to take 1,000 refugees. She will have to reassess that, because now that we are taking 20,000 as a country I will be able to write back and say that Scotland will be able to do more.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Andrew James Bridgen (Conservative, Centre-right): By announcing that their borders are open to all the migrants who can get to them, Germany and Sweden have inadvertently increased the demand for migration across a continent and increased the human misery. Will the Prime Minister assure the House that the UK will not make that mistake and that we will not do the wrong thing, even if it is for the right reasons?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I keep spotting people who I did not think were here at the start of the statement, but they are all people of the very highest integrity, so I will leave people to self-regulate, if I can put it that way. If they were here at the start, they are welcome to take part, and if they were not, they are not.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right to praise those countries. They have borne a huge burden in terms of the people they have taken in and looked after. We must go on supporting them and the work they do.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I believe that 20,000 Syrian refugees is a generous and correct figure for Britain. What we should do now is get on with it and move as rapidly as we can to process those people. It takes time because we have to work with the UNHCR to go through those in the camps and find suitable people to come here. It also takes time to work with local councils. I do not want to make a pledge that we then cannot deliver properly on the ground, and I believe that this 20,000 pledge can be delivered properly.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Oliver Newton Colvile (Conservative, Centre-right): As my right hon. Friend knows, Plymouth is a dispersal centre for asylum seekers. When he knows what the figures are, will he let Plymouth MPs and Plymouth City Council know how many people they will have to help? Will he also make sure that there will be health screening so that we can sort out whether or not people have TB, which is an important issue in my patch?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): Every country must take its own approach, and justify it to its Parliament and its people. I do think that the money we spend in Syrian refugee camps is hugely important, because it not only saves lives but gives people the chance of security and safety without having to make a perilous journey.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said, I think taking 20,000 people is the right response for the United Kingdom, and I think we should come together and work out how best our local councils and local voluntary groups can give those people a warm welcome.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): Let me be clear about what I was saying; I do not want to mislead anybody. I said that the thinking about safe havens was the "right sort of thinking", because it is addressed at trying to help people in the region, rather than encouraging them to travel. The problem with safe havens up to now—it is still a problem—is that if we are going to declare somewhere a safe haven, it must be safe. Our experience in Bosnia and elsewhere is very relevant here. To make the haven safe, we would have to commit a lot of troops and, potentially, air support to take out Syrian air defences. A whole series of steps would have to be taken, and we are a long way away from that. The only point I was trying to make was to show some sympathy with those people who are pursuing the idea of safe havens, because they are at least trying to help people in the region, rather than encouraging this trade in people.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, we can and we do. We help them with their capacity in terms of fingerprinting and sorting people. Part of the problem with the Schengen system is that people who come to Greece and Italy then transit onwards, rather than doing what they ought to do, which is to provide their details so that they can make their asylum applications in the first country they arrive in. We are helping with that, as it is part of the problem that Schengen is coping with at the moment.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the Prime Minister’s move today, and the generous spirit shown by my constituents and others around the country. I wonder whether he has considered the other part of our humanitarian recent history from this House, which is the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and its measures against transport and trafficking. Does he think links can be made here?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Huw William Merriman (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the compassion and safe harbour afforded by this Government to Syrian refugees. I also welcome the Prime Minister’s statement on the isolated military action taken by this Government. Does he agree that while the UK remains at risk from dissident terrorists, our constituents would not forgive us if we failed in our ultimate duty to keep them safe, no matter how difficult the circumstances?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Sue-Ellen Cassiana Braverman (Conservative, Centre-right): May I commend the Prime Minister on his proportionate, humane and timely response to this crisis, which has escalated at a rapid pace? Before I came to this place, I defended the Home Secretary in asylum and immigration cases in court, and I saw at first hand how considerable progress was made in dealing with the asylum backlog. We inherited more than 100,000 asylum cases from the previous Labour Administration. What measures and resources have been put in place in the Home Office to deal with the additional burden, so that robust and legitimate decision-making is ensured?
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I look forward to the House gaining the benefit of my hon. Friend’s wisdom from pursuing all those cases. It means that when she speaks in these debates, she has real knowledge of what these cases are like. It is very important that the Syrian refugees are given humanitarian passports, so that they do not have to go through the lengthy asylum process, which is why we are taking that approach.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
Gareth Alan Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Prime Minister agree that the downside of the Opposition’s suggestion of taking refugees from mainland Europe is that it gives a green light to people smugglers and encourages exploitation? We have a good record in this country, thanks to this Government, of tackling modern slavery and human trafficking, and it would be wrong at this stage to turn our back on the genuine progress that we have made.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for what he has said. As we are not part of Schengen, we had a choice over how to design our programme. We have taken the decision that it is better to take people from the camps. That is a good and humane decision, it will help others to be able to use those camps, and it will not encourage people to make that perilous journey.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I think people will respond very positively to the idea of giving a warm and thorough welcome to 20,000 people coming to our country. We should now get into the business of implementing the scheme rapidly. We need to get local councils and local groups on side, and make sure that everyone works together. Let us find a warm and really good welcome for these 20,000 people.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. I think that 20,000 is the right response; it is a good response that everyone can now get behind and work with. Those people who have made it already to Europe are in many cases in a far better and much safer situation than the people still stuck in Syria or stuck in the refugee camps, which is why it is those people whom our effort will be directed towards.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): We certainly will. We will be looking specifically for orphans and vulnerable children among the people we take from the camps. They will require a particular amount of care and attention, as they are coming miles away to a strange country, as regards ensuring that they have all the care and love they need as they grow up.
Syria: Refugees and Counter-terrorism — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): On the second issue, we do not publish the advice of the Attorney General. No Government have done that. What we did with Libya was describe the legal case, and I am happy to do that, and to describe the legal advice, which is based on self-defence, as I set out in my statement On the asylum system, of course we want to speed it up; we have sped it up, and that is why we have dealt with so much of the backlog and have introduced measures such as the suspension of appeals, so that people can continue to appeal once they have been returned to the country they have come from. We will continue to do that, but let me stress that these 20,000 Syrians will not have to go through some lengthy asylum process. They will be helped from those camps to a life in Britain. Let us say today that we will give them a warm, friendly and joyous welcome.
Refugee Crisis in Europe — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I have listened carefully to the application from the right hon. Member and am satisfied that the matter she raises is proper to be discussed under Standing Order No. 24. Has the right hon. Member the leave of the House Application agreed to.
Refugee Crisis in Europe — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Member has obtained the leave of the House. The debate will be held tomorrow, Tuesday 8 September, as the first item of public business. The debate will last for up to three hours and will arise on a motion that the House has considered the specified matter set out in the right hon. Member’s application.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I hope that the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) will accept my prioritising age before—well, age before something. Let us hear a point of order from the Father of the House, the right hon. Sir Gerald Kaufman.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): May I say to the Father of the House that I think he is almost always, including today, the means of his own salvation? There were occasions in the previous Parliament when the right hon. Gentleman had occasion to bring to my attention his dissatisfaction with not having received a reply from a Minister, and I think that on more than one occasion he received a reply from someone who did not exist—the name on the letter was that of someone who did not exist Look, these are not matters in which the Chair ordinarily becomes involved, but I have the highest regard for the courtesy that the Home Secretary has always shown to me, and which ordinarily she has always shown to the House. I think that it is much easier to respect the traditions and courtesies of the House and to err on the side of speed of response and, if I may say so, also on the side of acknowledging a very senior and long-serving Member who has made an approach I do not think that there will be a division of the House, or even any great objection from the right hon. Gentleman, if I say that he is not always the easiest colleague to please, but he has a right to represent his constituents and to be treated with the utmost courtesy. I am sorry if he feels that he has not been. I know that the Home Secretary will do her best with her ministerial team to accommodate his various requests and, periodically, his demands. [Interruption.] She says from a sedentary position that she does. Let us leave it there for today. The right hon. Gentleman has not been in the House for 45 years for no reason.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2015-09-07
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Not readily, no. However, there are various means by which Members can secure the presence of Ministers if important matters arise on which those Members wish to probe. The hon. Gentleman is an experienced denizen of this House and will be well familiar with those mechanisms. He might even, from time to time, abuse them.