argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Geraint Richard Davies (Labour, Centre-left): One would expect marginal productivity to fall, but the fact is that there are 800,000 fewer people earning more than £20,000 a year than there were five years ago, in 2010. Is that not why the Government have had to borrow more in five years than Labour did in 13? Productivity is a catastrophe.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): The OBR has today revised down the growth forecast for this year. It is not 3% but 2.4%. Over the five years—which is how we should judge the Chancellor, over his term—it has been one of the weakest growth rates in any of the major economies and the weakest recovery in over 100 years.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): Does my right hon. Friend recall that in May 2010, when the Labour Government left office, the annualised growth rate was back to 1.8%, only a little below what we have now, and then it was wrecked by the incoming Chancellor sucking growth out of the economy?
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Iain David Wright (Labour, Centre-left): Has the right hon. Gentleman seen the OBR report, accompanying the Red Book, which states: "We have revised borrowing up in 2016-17 and more significantly in 2017-18, while the surplus of £5.2 billion in 2018-19 that we forecast in March is now expected to be a deficit of £6.4 billion." Is he comfortable with that?
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Khalid Mahmood (Labour, Centre-left): Like the right hon. Member for Wokingham (John Redwood), I congratulate the hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins) on her maiden speech. She replaces the former Father of the House, who held the attention of the House whenever he spoke. I am sure she will follow in his footsteps and do that, too Presenting the Budget today, the Chancellor was smug, self-confident and arrogant. He told us that we were the fastest-growing economy in the world, then proceeded to tell us that we would be on a downward trend for the next year and the year after. That needs to be looked at carefully. He spoke about cutting the deficit. We were told before the 2010 election that this Government and this Chancellor would eliminate the deficit completely by this year, but he has not been able to do so. He says now that he will reduce it by 2020. He reminds me of a good councillor friend of mine, Councillor Barbara Dring, who says that such promises are like pie crust—meant to be broken. The Chancellor has been good at doing that The Chancellor spoke about the nation’s finances, but in his speech today, he did not recognise the one serious issue affecting us all—the elephant in the room: the current situation in Greece and what effect the next couple of days of negotiation will have. Negotiations have been going on for a long time and there is no way forward. It would have been right for the Chancellor to tell the people today what his response to that would be.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Adrian Edward Bailey (Labour, Centre-left): May I start with an unusual and perhaps uncharacteristic thank you to the Chancellor, on one issue only? I thank him for his commitment to a memorial to the victims of the Tunisia bombing. Three of the victims—Adrian and Patrick Evans and Joel Richards—are constituents of mine, not, as the Prime Minister said earlier, of my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz) I congratulate the two maiden speakers, the hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins) and the hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Philip Boswell); I hope my pronunciation is correct. The quality of their speeches demonstrated that they will be very valuable additions to the House, and I look forward to listening to them on many occasions On the substance of the Budget statement, I could not help but remember the last one we had in March, less than four months ago. The Chancellor told us in his introduction that "Britain is walking tall again", and he concluded that it was "the Budget for Britain, the come-back country."—[Official Report, 18 March 2015; Vol. 594, c. 765, 779.] I did not realise at the time that the March Budget was designed just to win the election, and that he would be coming back to deal with the unpopular decisions that it had so obviously evaded. I know that many Members will want to analyse and discuss the impact of this Budget in this and subsequent debates, but I want to concentrate on the central economic issues that it has failed to address After five years under his supervision, the economy that the Chancellor has produced is one in which productivity has been reduced, our trade deficit with the rest of the world has grown, our investment has been far lower than what is necessary to sustain the level of growth needed to eliminate the public sector deficit, our living standards have dropped and tax receipts have fallen as a result. That is why we are in a pickle today, and why this Budget is in this form. Our regret is that, in dealing with that, we have more of the same: an attack on the living standards of some of the most vulnerable in our country The greatest failure has been in productivity. Amazingly, that issue was not even mentioned in the March Budget. The level of output per worker is the key to expanding our economy, delivering growth rates, and providing increasing standards of living and the tax receipts necessary to eliminate the public sector deficit.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Transportation
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): The Red Book describes the midlands as the "engine for growth". When the Chancellor visited the midlands before the election, he gave a cast-iron commitment to the electrification of the midland main line. Is it not hugely disappointing that there was no progress on that electrification in today’s statement?
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Adrian Edward Bailey (Labour, Centre-left): Absolutely, and what the Chancellor said before the election, and what he does afterwards, is always revealing. For all the announcements, there is no indication of what the Chancellor will spend through this Government on investment in public sector infrastructure My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr Mahmood) mentioned most of the issues that I wish to raise, so I will make only brief remarks on those topics. The Government have increased the number of apprenticeships, but often they have been poorly focused. After all the investment, companies are still complaining that they cannot get the sorts of apprentices they want. The measures that the Chancellor announced may or may not improve that, but to attack funding for further education colleges, which are the most strategically placed to address the skills problem that the Chancellor says he is trying to solve, is counterproductive and likely to be self-destructive In conclusion, productivity is key to eliminating the deficit, raising standards and getting the sort of economy that we need to compete in the world. It is reasonable to judge this Budget on its ability to do something about that, and on that basis and measurement I think it fails miserably.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (Labour, Centre-left): I pay tribute to the two Members who have made their maiden speeches today, the hon. Members for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins) and for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Philip Boswell). I mean no disrespect to the hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle when I say that we are all going to miss Sir Peter Tapsell and his view of history. I hope that all his recordings have been kept for posterity so that we can understand what a catastrophic mistake we made in Afghanistan—I agree with Sir Peter Tapsell on that The Budget we have just received today is the first Tory Budget for a very long time, but I have been here long enough to remember the last one. It is as though this is the land that time forgot, because this Budget is exactly the same. It has exactly the same narrative of cutting taxation for the very richest, making life worse for the very poorest and selling off state assets to pay for it all along the way It is time for the Conservatives’ strategy to be significantly challenged, and there are a number of points on which I wish to challenge them. The first is the Chancellor’s really strange statistic that Britain spends 7% of the world’s welfare budget, which is, he said, way above the average of every other country. He may be unaware of it, but many countries in the world have no welfare budget of any sort. In large swaths of Africa and Latin America, there is no public assistance for people in poverty or desperation. It is a ludicrous statistic plucked out of the air and used to justify a quite appalling attack on many of the poorest people in this country. I long for the day when a Chancellor of the Exchequer introduces a Budget, in a way that very few have done in the past, and says, "The priority is to have an expanding and sustainable economy with sustainable jobs in an environmentally friendly way and to eliminate poverty and destitution at the same time." We had none of that. We had all this anti-benefit narrative as though nobody was sleeping on the streets of Britain, as though the number of children growing up in desperate poverty was not increasing day after day, and as though there were no young people who are unable to do their homework because their bedrooms are too crowded with their siblings.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Social Welfare
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the fact that the Chancellor has changed the method of calculating poverty to produce the statistics that he wanted in the first place. He is doing extremely well on statistical changes, and I admire his gymnastics in that regard This Budget, with its benefit changes, is essentially an attack on the poorest and on young people. What do the Conservatives and the Chancellor have against young people? We start off with a third child onward policy. What is that about? If the Chancellor is saying that children deserve to be supported through child benefit—I guess we all agree on that—why does it stop after the second child? If a family happens to have four or five children—some of us come from families of three, four or five children—is he saying that the third, fourth and fifth children are less valuable than the first and second? What has been suggested is outrageous.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Diane Julie Abbott (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that this Budget is particularly bad for Londoners? Two thirds of Londoners on tax credits are actually working, so, far from encouraging people to go back to work, this Budget is a particularly cruel attack on working Londoners.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Environment
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (Labour, Centre-left): Well, indeed. I hope there will be sufficient opportunity to question the Chancellor on the whole environmental strategy behind this Budget, because I really wonder if there is one at all. We live in an era when climate change is a serious problem around the world. Air pollution is a very serious problem, particularly in India and China, but it is also a growing problem in London and other cities. Surely we need to think hard about the health effects and the role that a financial strategy can play in improving our environmental standards. Asked how all this would be paid for, I turn to pages 28, 29 and 30 of the Red Book, where we see all the public assets that are to be offered up, totalling £30 billion in this financial year—the largest ever sale of public assets in the history of this country, and almost double what Margaret Thatcher achieved at the height of her privatisation mania. [Interruption.] Conservative Members say, "More." Of course they do, because the only economics they can think of is getting rid of public assets to fund tax cuts for corporations and to pay for the inheritance tax cut that will largely benefit the wealthiest in our society.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (Labour, Centre-left): No. I am conscious of the time and want others to be able to contribute The BBC has been persuaded, willingly or unwillingly, to pay £150 million for the over-75s licence fee concession. There will be a £40 billion sale of shares in Lloyds Banking Group and £20 billion in fees from Lloyds, RBS and UK Asset Resolution. There is the sale of Eurostar, Royal Mail and remaining shares in Lloyds bank, and the sale of the Green Investment Bank, which I mentioned. There is even, for goodness’ sake, the sale of the King’s Cross property development, which did such a great job of developing King’s Cross into a wonderful place. And, of course, there is the sale of the remaining RBS shares—at a loss This Budget is a trick—a trick of smoke and mirrors. It hits the poorest, it does nothing to solve the housing problem, it creates greater inequality in our society, and it is paid for by the sale of public assets from which we should all be able to benefit. I hope that one day there will be a Government in this country that set as their priority a commitment to reduce inequality, to get rid of destitution and poverty in our society, and to bring about a society that is more at ease with itself. Inequality is the only message the Chancellor seemed able to offer today
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Social Welfare
Clive Stanley Efford (Labour, Centre-left): Other benefits such as tax credits are taken into consideration in calculating the minimum wage. That is how we arrive at the living wage, so we cannot cut tax credits and, using the previous living wage, say that it is the living wage. It has to be completely recalculated Back in 2012, the London School of Economics did a study of the impact of the £26,000 benefit cap and concluded that, after all other bills were paid, households with children in some of the less desirable parts of London would be left to bring them up on 62p a day. I read an article the other day about Ban Ki-moon launching the new millennium development goals. He said that expenditure of $1.25 a day is not enough and that the target should be increased. Sixty-two pence a day is about half that. What we are saying therefore is that families with children in a capital as wealthy as London should have that much income to provide for them and to live on This Budget is not fair; it is completely unfair. It is very divisive between those who have and those who have not, in terms of property. As for the increase in the minimum wage, welcome though it is, it is not a living wage, and we must continue to campaign for an improvement in that regard.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2015-07-08
Topic: Government Operations
Natascha Engel (Labour, Centre-left): With the leave of the House, we will take motions 2 to 12 together Ordered, Business, Innovation and Skills That Paul Blomfield, Richard Fuller, Peter Kyle, Amanda Milling, Amanda Solloway, Jo Stevens, Michelle Thomson, Kelly Tolhurst, Craig Tracey and Chris White be members of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee Culture, Media and Sport Bill Wiggin, on behalf of the Committee of Selection That Nigel Adams, Andrew Bingham, Damian Collins, Paul Farrelly, Nigel Huddleston, Ian C. Lucas, Jason McCartney, Christian Matheson, John Nicolson and Steve Rotheram be members of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee Energy and Climate Change That Mr Alistair Carmichael, Glyn Davies, James Heappey, Ian Lavery, Melanie Onn, Matthew Pennycook, Dr Poulter, Antoinette Sandbach, Julian Sturdy and Dr Alan Whitehead be members of the Energy and Climate Change Committee Environment, Food and Rural Affairs That Sarah Champion, Chris Davies, Jim Fitzpatrick, Harry Harpham, Simon Hart, Dr Paul Monaghan, Rebecca Pow, Ms Margaret Ritchie, David Simpson and Rishi Sunak be members of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Foreign Affairs That Mr John Baron, Ann Clwyd, Mike Gapes, Stephen Gethins, Mr Mark Hendrick, Adam Holloway, Daniel Kawczynski, Yasmin Qureshi, Andrew Rosindell and Nadhim Zahawi be members of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Health That Dr James Davies, Andrea Jenkyns, Liz McInnes, Rachael Maskell, Andrew Percy, Paula Sherriff, Emily Thornberry, Maggie Throup, Helen Whately and Dr Philippa Whitford be members of the Health Committee Home Affairs That Victoria Atkins, James Berry, Mr David Burrowes, Nusrat Ghani, Mr Ranil Jayawardena, Tim Loughton, Stuart C. McDonald, Keir Starmer, Anna Turley and Mr David Winnick be members of the Home Affairs Committee International Development That Fiona Bruce, Dr Lisa Cameron, Mr Nigel Evans, Mrs Helen Grant, Fabian Hamilton, Pauline Latham, Jeremy Lefroy, Wendy Morton, Albert Owen and Mr Virenda Sharma be members of the International Development Committee Transport That Robert Flello, Mary Glindon, Karl MᶜCartney, Stewart Malcolm McDonald, Mark Menzies, Huw Merriman, Will Quince, Iain Stewart, Graham Stringer and Martin Vickers be members of the Transport Committee Treasury That Mr Steve Baker, Bill Esterson, Mark Garnier, Helen Goodman, Stephen Hammond, George Kerevan, John Mann, Chris Philp, Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg and Wes Streeting be members of the Treasury Committee Work and Pensions That Debbie Abrahams, Heidi Allen, Mhairi Black, Ms Karen Buck, John Glen, Richard Graham, Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck, Craig Mackinlay, Jeremy Quin and Craig Williams be members of the Work and Pensions Committee.—(Bill Wiggin, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.)
Armed Forces Covenant — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: Government Operations
Marie Elizabeth Rimmer (Labour, Centre-left): It is over a year since the Labour party called on the Government to undertake an audit of what local authorities are being asked to do and what resources they are being given to meet the expectations laid out in the community covenant—which we are all committed to. When will the Government carry out such an audit, so that we know once and for all what is actually happening on the ground and can start to take steps to rectify problems and meet the spirit of the covenant and the Government’s intentions?
ISIL — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: International Affairs
Vernon Coaker (Labour, Centre-left): What the Secretary of State has said shows that this is a complicated picture. As I have said, we stand ready to work with the Government to defeat ISIL and will consider carefully any Government proposals for further military action, but will the Secretary of State reassure us that any proposals that he does present will have clear objectives in respect of defeating ISIL? Will he, in presenting such proposals, also make it clear what support will be provided by other countries in the region, and explain how the proposals fit in with the Government’s overall foreign policy objectives in the region and beyond?
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: Social Welfare
Andrew Joseph McDonald (Labour, Centre-left): May I tell the Minister what is truly terrifying? It is his Government’s proposal to introduce a two-child policy that will punish the most vulnerable and the poorest in our society. That is the terrifying thing about this Budget.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: Transportation
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): I know that the right hon. Gentleman is committed to devolving powers to the regions. However, in the last Parliament Conservative Ministers made a commitment to deliver the electrification of the midland main line. Why will the Government not get on with that, because it would be good for the east midlands economy?
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: Government Operations
Bridget Maeve Phillipson (Labour, Centre-left): I have listened carefully to what the Secretary of State has said about giving local people a say and not forcing areas to do things against their will. Why will the Government not devolve further powers to the north-east without a directly elected mayor, and why do they refuse to give local people a say on whether they even want a mayor in the first place? Will the Secretary of State listen to the north-east?
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2015-07-13
Topic: Macroeconomics
Emma Elizabeth Reynolds (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the opportunity to open the third day’s debate on the Budget on behalf of the official Opposition. I will focus my remarks on two of the most important long-term challenges that we face as a country: devolution and housing. First, however, I want to make a number of points about the Budget as a whole Last week, the Chancellor presented his Budget as a Budget for working people. Regrettably, the grim reality is that millions of hard-working families will be worse off as a result of this Budget. The Chancellor gave with one hand, but took away so much more with the other. Of course, we welcome action to tackle low pay. The minimum wage was, after all, a Labour policy and one of the proudest achievements of the previous Labour Government. We first introduced it in the face of fierce Tory opposition. More recently, we campaigned to increase it. Let us be clear about what the Chancellor has actually done. He has not introduced a national living wage; he has attempted to rebrand the national minimum wage. Admittedly he has increased it, but at the same time he has decimated tax credits, leaving 3.3 million families worse off and 500,000 families without any tax credits at all The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies says that the Chancellor’s claim that the increase in the minimum wage will compensate working people for the changes to tax credits is "arithmetically impossible". For example, a working couple in full-time employment earning the minimum wage who have two children will earn £1,500 more, but will lose £2,200 as a result of the cuts to tax credits. Far from making work pay, the IFS says that the Government’s changes would "reduce the incentive for the first earner in a family to enter work" In effect, what the Chancellor has done is introduce a work penalty As my hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor said last week, the Government are "pulling the rug from beneath people’s feet while higher wages are not yet available."—[Official Report, 9 July 2015; Vol. 598, c. 473.] Young children in the families affected are likely to grow up to become poor adults, which is not only wrong and unfair, but will cost society more in the longer term. Yet again, this Government are hitting women the hardest, with women losing twice as much as men. Yet again, too, this Government are putting more of the burden of clearing the deficit on to the shoulders of young people. The Government seem absolutely determined to deepen and entrench the inequality in our country and the inequality between generations.