argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Railway Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Transportation
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady has raised, quite reasonably, a point that she has raised before. I agree with her on most of the issues that she has raised, apart from the background to the cancellation of electrification, a decision which, as she knows, was taken in the context of bimodal trains as an equally beneficial alternative. However, her general views about rail infrastructure and net zero are entirely shared by the Government. I hope that she might be able to make the same compelling case to her colleagues in Cardiff as she makes to us.
Railway Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Transportation
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): A good question interspersed with some slightly trite comments; the hon. Gentleman might have done better had he avoided them. He overlooks the fact we have invested £340 million so far, with £125 million for the core valley lines, £58 million for Cardiff Central station, £76 million for the electrification of the Severn tunnel, £4.7 million for St Clears station in my own constituency, £4 million for Bow Street station—I could go on forever. He underestimates and undervalues the investments we have already made.
Railway Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Transportation
Daniel Robert Kawczynski (Conservative, Centre-right): Having represented a border community for the last 17 years, one is cognisant of the interdependence we have in Shropshire with Wales, with our friends across the border, with my right hon. Friend’s Department and with the Senedd. We are campaigning in Shropshire for the electrification of the line from Birmingham to Shrewsbury, which will help passengers going on to mid-Wales. Will he take an interest in that scheme to ensure that the people of mid-Wales can benefit from quicker times to Birmingham via this electrification process?
Costs of Living: Households and Businesses — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Energy
Questions: What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): To alleviate the immediate impacts of this global crisis, we have injected support worth over £22 billion in 2023. For businesses, we have cut fuel duty and provided help to high energy-using businesses. In the longer term, our Plan for Jobs will ensure long-term prosperity for Wales, including the development of the Wylfa nuclear power station.
Costs of Living: Households and Businesses — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): Even the Welsh Government have not made that argument to me. I think they fully recognise that the proper and fair distribution of welfare is done most effectively and cost-effectively on a UK-wide basis, but I am grateful that the hon. Gentleman has raised this issue because the money that the Scottish Government are using is available as a consequence of the Barnett formula, and the situation is the same in Wales.
Costs of Living: Households and Businesses — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. and learned Lady rightly refers to the fact that the Chancellor may yet be making further comments about this particular issue, just as he did throughout the pandemic. For those who think that the Treasury is neither flexible nor conscious of these challenges, the fact is that there was ample evidence during the pandemic—and now, of course, during the current challenges we face—to disprove that theory. I can tell her, and everyone else in the House, that I have really regular conversations with Treasury Ministers and with the Chancellor himself about exactly these challenges.
Costs of Living: Households and Businesses — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.
Simon Robert Maurice Baynes (Conservative, Centre-right): Would my right hon. Friend agree that one of the best ways to help people during the cost of living crisis is to make sure that we have a vibrant economy and a low rate of unemployment? Would he also agree that having the lowest rate of unemployment since 1974 is helping many families across Wales and the rest of the UK at the moment?
Costs of Living: Households and Businesses — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): Absolutely. I think most people believe that growing our way out of a cost of living challenge is infinitely preferable to spending our way out of a cost of living challenge. My hon. Friend is right to point out that we want to be flexible, rapid and generous. When there are occasions, as there inevitably will be for Members across the House, where individual constituents somehow do not fit the solutions we have, there are other measures that I hope local authorities will be able to deploy to assist them.
Costs of Living: Households and Businesses — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): I suspect the hon. Lady reads the same news channels I read, so she will be aware that the Treasury will make a further announcement imminently. [Interruption.] She may be annoyed by my answer, but it is only reasonable that I suggest she waits until the Chancellor sets out precisely what his plans are May I suggest that the hon. Lady applies equal pressure to her colleagues in Cardiff? They have the power to intervene on things like business rates, council tax and income tax, which they have not done. In the meantime, however, they are thinking of imposing a tourism tax, costing Welsh taxpayers £100 million in the process. They are buying a farm that nobody wants and providing free musical instruments to young people under the age of 16.
Costs of Living: Households and Businesses — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady clearly did not listen, or did not want to listen, to my previous answer. When we know the Chancellor is about to make a statement in the Chamber on all these issues, would it not be more sensible to allow the Treasury to spell out exactly what its plans are and how they will benefit businesses and individual families in Wales before making such highly politicised comments?
Costs of Living: Households and Businesses — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.; What recent steps the Government have taken to mitigate the impact of rising costs of living on (a) households and (b) businesses in Wales.
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): I despair sometimes, with the greatest respect. I urge the right hon. Lady to wait, for what should not be a great deal more time, to hear precisely what we have in store on the cost of living challenges. I remind her that, throughout the pandemic and the cost of living challenges, the Treasury has been unbelievably flexible, unbelievably adaptable and, in some respects, unbelievably generous. To try to pre-empt the Chancellor by making cheap political points undermines the value of what those contributions may be, and it does a disservice to the businesses and individuals that the right hon. Lady purports to support.
Freeports — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Transportation
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with both of those excellent points. We have already seen that the Thames freeport has suggested that there will be 21,000 jobs directly and indirectly created, so we know that the Welsh freeport will deliver jobs. I also agree that it is going to be good for the Union and good for Wales to have vessels of all kinds coming from all over the world, bringing their jobs and investment with them, including perhaps from across the Union—we may even look forward to seeing a few ferries from Scotland, if the SNP Government can actually get around to building them.
Cost of Living: Households in Newport West — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on potential fiscal steps to help tackle the impact of the rise in the cost of living on households in Newport West constituency.
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): My ministerial colleagues and I fully acknowledge that there is a cost of living challenge, which has been caused by a combination of the covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. That is why we are providing £22 billion for households across the UK to try to get through this crisis.
Cost of Living: Households in Newport West — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on potential fiscal steps to help tackle the impact of the rise in the cost of living on households in Newport West constituency.
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): Taxes are a matter for the Chancellor, but what I can say is that I absolutely acknowledge that there is a challenge at the moment, which has been brought about by the international situation. That is why the Government are putting £22 billion aside. It is why they have changed universal credit to help people such as the hon. Lady’s constituent who are out working, and why we have increased the minimum wage. It is why national insurance contributions are going to fall, we have extended the warm home discount and put in place a whole package of other measures. While we are spending money helping people get through the cost of living challenge, the Welsh Government are spending money buying up farms in mid-Wales and increasing the number of Senedd Members.
Trade and Foreign Direct Investment — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): The Wales Office works closely with the Department for International Trade to promote the excellent opportunities that there are to invest in Wales. Wales is an attractive destination for foreign companies to come to, to invest in and to create jobs in, as we have seen with the continued support from companies such as Airbus, which only recently announced plans to increase wing production in Broughton.
Trade and Foreign Direct Investment — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Foreign Trade
Marco Longhi (Conservative, Centre-right): As the trade envoy to Brazil, I see the huge economic growth opportunities for both the UK and Brazil in the post-Brexit and post-pandemic environment. Does my hon. Friend agree that, like Dudley North, Wales plays a huge part in UK plc and that therefore we want to see the Welsh dragon flying just as proudly as the Black Country flag?
Trade and Foreign Direct Investment — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted to say that Wales has an excellent trading relationship with Brazil. In 2021, we exported nearly £85 million-worth of goods to the country, while importing £165 million-worth of goods. Wales has good trade and investment with countries across the world. We have seen 72 direct investments in the last financial year, with 1,500 jobs created. Only last week, the Secretary of State for Wales and I were with the Member for the Vale of Glamorgan looking at the new Aston Martin supercar factory in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand: Welsh Farmers — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for Welsh farmers following the implementation of the UK’s free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State for Wales and I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on free trade arrangements. The Wales Office works closely with the Department for International Trade to ensure that Wales will enjoy the benefits that will flood in both directions from free trade deals with Australia and New Zealand.
Senedd Representation and Levelling-up Agenda — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: What discussions his Department has had with the Welsh Government on the potential effect on the levelling-up agenda of proposals to increase the size of the Senedd.; What discussions his Department has had with the Welsh Government on the potential effect on the levelling-up agenda of proposals to increase the size of the Senedd.
Daniel Rayne Kruger (Conservative, Centre-right): The Welsh Government have decided that they want to increase the size of the Senedd, but there are real concerns that that will lead to a lack of proportionality in representation. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the money would be much better spent on public services?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Labor
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on trends in the level of people in (a) Rhondda constituency and (b) Wales in receipt of universal credit.
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): The Chancellor will make interventions clear in due course. The context to the hon. Gentleman’s perfectly reasonable question is that there has been a 7% increase in the number of people in work in Rhondda and the number of people who are unemployed in Wales is down 23,000 in the past year—he did not mention that. I very much hope that the increases in the national living wage and the national minimum wage will help to offset some of the issues he has raised.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on trends in the level of people in (a) Rhondda constituency and (b) Wales in receipt of universal credit.
Michael Louis David Fabricant (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant)—who is my occasional friend, when he is not slagging me off on Twitter—is right to talk about the Rhondda, because there are areas of real poverty, as there are in parts in Lichfield. Does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State agree that there are many ways to help people, some of which he has named, that there is an urgent need to address food and fuel inflation, and that that can be done in other ways, which the Treasury may well talk about, and not just by raising universal credit?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on trends in the level of people in (a) Rhondda constituency and (b) Wales in receipt of universal credit.
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): On that particular point, I agree with my hon. Friend—I would probably describe him as my permanent friend. It is perfectly right that we wait and see what the Chancellor says. We have tried to set out short, medium and long-term measures that will help with the current challenge and we will of course hear more in due course.
Shared Prosperity Fund — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: International Affairs
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): Unsurprisingly, I contest the hon. Gentleman’s assertion. I would just say this: by 2024-25, the annual funding from the shared prosperity fund will match the average annual funding that Wales would have received from the European Regional Development Fund after adjusting for inflation. If he does not take that from me, or does not believe me, I can tell him that it is from Guto Ifan, research associate at the Welsh Governance Centre. That indicates that we are going in the right direction with the shared prosperity fund. Would it not be good, just for a moment, if the Welsh Government supported those very ambitious opportunities?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Mr Speaker, I want to begin by echoing what you have just said about the reports of the fatal shooting in a Texan primary school. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrific attack Yesterday, I welcomed the Emir of Qatar to Downing Street. It is excellent news that Qatar announced that it will invest up to £10 billion in the UK through our new strategic investment partnership. Not only will that boost local economies and support jobs; it will support our green economy and decarbonisation This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): There is nothing original about a Labour plan to tax business. Labour wants to tax business the whole time. Every day, the party wants to put up taxes on business. What we are doing is helping people. The right hon. and learned Gentleman asks when we are going to help people. We are helping people now. We are putting £22 billion into people’s pockets already, cutting council tax by £150, cutting fuel duty, and cutting national insurance contributions by an average of £330 for people who pay NICs. How can we afford that? We can because we have a strong economy, because we came out of covid fast, which would not have been possible if we had listened to Labour.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): There is no surprise about Labour’s lust to put up taxes; there is nothing original about that thought. Labour Members get off on it; they absolutely love to confiscate other people’s assets. What we prefer to do is make sure that we have the measures in place to drive investment in our country and drive jobs, and it is thanks to the steps that we took and thanks to the fact that we came out of covid faster than any other European country, which would not have been possible had we listened to the right hon. and learned Gentleman, that we now have unemployment at the lowest—[Interruption.] Listen to this—Labour used to care about this, Mr Speaker. We now have unemployment at the lowest level since 1974. Put that in your pipe.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government have acted, and my right hon. Friend the Chancellor continues to act. This is the Government who not only put in the living wage—it was a Conservative institution—but have now raised it by £1,000, a record amount. Families on universal credit have another £1,000. Thanks to the £9.1 billion that we have already put in to support people’s cost of heating, we are abating the costs of fuel for people up and down the country, and of course we are going to do more. We are going to put our arms around the people of this country, just as we did throughout the covid pandemic. We can do that because we took the tough decisions to drive the fastest vaccine roll-out in Europe, which would not have been possible if we had listened to the right hon. and learned Gentleman. Let me take another statistic: youth unemployment—Labour used to care about it—is at or near a record low.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. and learned Gentleman loves running this country down. [Interruption.] How many times did he come to this place and say that the United Kingdom had the highest covid death rate in Europe? How many times? He was proved completely wrong. Did he ever apologise? Absolutely not. Did he ever take it back? Absolutely not. Actually, because of the steps we took, last year we had the fastest growth in the G7, and we will return to the fastest growth by 2024-25, thanks to the decisions that this Government took. [Interruption.] Labour does not care about getting people into jobs. We care about the working people of this country and making sure we have a high-wage, high-skill, high-employment economy, and that is what we are delivering.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-05-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): First of all, what we are doing is making sure that after a huge pandemic we are funding our vital public services, which we can because of the steps that we took. What we are also doing is making sure that we put more money back into people’s pockets through the measures I have outlined today, whether through cutting national insurance contributions, lifting the living wage or lifting universal credit. All that is made possible because we took the responsible and sensible steps to protect our economy throughout covid and then to come out strongly. The right hon. and learned Gentleman is completely wrong about this country’s growth performance. He runs it down. He was proved wrong about covid, and he is going to be proved wrong again.