argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Grenfell Tower and Building Safety — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Energy
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I reassure the hon. Lady that, right from the start of this terrible tragedy, when it was clear that a lot of cladding would have to be replaced, we worked very closely with the industry and the supply chain. That work has been led by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. I would be happy to write to her to provide further information.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. and learned Lady makes a passionate case about the difficulties, challenges and very real threats that all MPs find themselves facing. Let us be clear that the real criminals are the instigators of these threats and attacks. Everybody should be clear that anything that is illegal offline is illegal online, so anybody who is in receipt of such a threat should go to the police, so that action can be taken From the Government’s point of view, we have made sure that the police have the resources to address the problem. We have invested, through the police transformation fund, in new digital advice to ensure that the police know how to record for evidence the types of accusation and attack that Members may receive online, so that there is a proper trail of evidence for prosecution. I believe that the attackers are the clear enemy, and we should focus our policy on them.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend’s question follows on from that asked by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve). I agree that we must call out such abuse and not allow it to become the new normal My right hon. Friend makes a particular point about the past 10 days or so, during which I know several colleagues have received a particularly large number of nasty threats and attacks. I point out to her that a number of colleagues have experienced such levels of intimidation and threat for a much longer period. I know that because those colleagues have approached me, or because I have heard about them approaching their own chief of police to report threats and request additional security, not only for themselves but sometimes for their staff. This has not just happened in the past few weeks; it happened more than a year ago, and in some cases two years ago. We must not simply accept that such abuse is part of the life of an MP. It is not acceptable, and now is the time for us to call it out and make the necessary changes together.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Hugo Swire (Conservative, Centre-right): May I add my congratulations to Lord Bew on presiding over a typically balanced and well researched piece of work? When some time ago I asked my right hon. Friend’s then ministerial colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton), what the figures for successful hate crime prosecutions were, she said that she did not have the figures to hand at the time. Although I very much welcome the tone of my right hon. Friend’s statement about looking again at the Crown Prosecution Service’s guidance and about more funding for local police forces to investigate digital crimes in particular, will she reassure me that both the CPS and police forces nationally and locally will take this more seriously and that we will see some successful prosecutions to warn off others who would follow in their wake?
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend raises such an important point. Part of addressing hate on social media is about preventing it, but we also need to make sure that we pursue people and get convictions. I am pleased to say that CPS prosecutions for online hate crime are up 68% in the past three years, and we are ensuring we have a programme of work in place to improve police forces’ digital capability. I hope that he will feel that we are addressing this, but there is obviously more to do.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for making such an important point. It is for us all to remember that our staff—they are the frontline—so often have to deal with these abusive phone calls, and they do such a fantastic job in usually protecting us from them, but they often have to deal with a torrent of abuse. Yes, I completely share her view, and I wholeheartedly endorse what she says about the people who work for her, as I do about everybody whose staff working for them put up with a level of abuse that we all have to endure.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Education
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a very interesting point. I believe that the coarsening of debate in the political environment has led to the acceleration of this, and I will certainly pass on that point to the Department for Education.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Technology
Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative, Centre-right): The difference between social media and the printed media is the anonymity factor. Will my right hon. Friend listen very carefully to the investigation about what can be done that is being undertaken by the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper)? At the end of the day, social media is becoming a cancer in our society, but the people who own and run it can actually be the surgeons who remove that cancer. They need to be encouraged to do so, because we will otherwise disengage from social media and have a lack of democratic accountability, which would be a pity.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Simon Anthony Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): On that point, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, of which I am a member, reported in some detail on party leadership. It strikes me that simply calling out bad behaviour may be going nothing like far enough, so will the Home Secretary, at least on behalf of our party, assure us that not only will offending activists and third parties be brought to book, but it will be done in a public and robust manner?
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Government Operations
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is quite right. May I take this opportunity to thank him for his work on the Committee on Standards in Public Life and to thank Lord Bew for his leadership in delivering the report, which makes a number of recommendations? I may talk delicately across the Floor of the House with the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Angela Smith), but there are some very clear recommendations in the report and some very hard-hitting points. I urge everybody to ensure that their party leaders are held to account and deliver on those.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Government Operations
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. As my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) commented, the staff in our offices are often on the frontline of this abuse. We have to make sure that they are protected. This is not just about us; it is about a wider group of public servants, such as our staff. I agree with him that it is equally important to protect them. I hope that if he looks at the report, he will see that that point is addressed, but if he has further concerns he should come and talk to me about them.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Education
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): I will pick up on a point that was made from the Opposition Benches. Where do our children learn to trust? Where do they learn what is right, what is wrong and what is acceptable behaviour? I honestly think that we have to deal in our education system and in our schools with the issue of social media and how we conduct ourselves as citizens, because what is happening now is truly unacceptable in so many cases.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Education
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. In citizenship classes, there is an online element that I would expect to be covered. That point has been made by other Members, and I will ensure that the Department for Education hears it. I think that our children hear about what is acceptable when they hear people like us calling things out, saying, "No more," insisting that this is the end of such abuse, and saying that we will take action. It is by example that they learn.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): Let us make that change ourselves. Let us make sure that our voice is heard clearly, loudly and effectively. Let us say that this is the point at which we will make those changes. We have made it clear that the sorts of activities the hon. Gentleman describes are illegal online, as they are offline, and I would expect them to be reported. We are seeing prosecutions by the CPS, and the police are taking it seriously and are much better trained on digital evidence. I would expect that to start to make a difference.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Technology
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I say to my hon. Friend that there is no pussyfooting on this side of the House. We are determined to ensure that the social media companies are held to account. As I said earlier, we are pleased that Google has announced that it will publish transparency reports. Twitter has taken action. It is not enough, but it is an important step in an area that we care about so much. We need to make sure that the people who do these sorts of things and make these sorts of posts are held accountable. We will achieve that by leaning into the social media companies.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady has drawn attention to one element of our strategy—the online hate hub, which is staffed by police officers who centralise and act on reports of hate—but that is by no means the only activity. The CPS has increased the number of prosecutions by 68% over the past three years and we have put £17 million from the police transformation fund into proper engagement with different police forces to ensure that they have the right skills for the digital recording of the evidence. I reassure the hon. Lady that the online hate hub is only one part of a strategy and we will take action.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Government Operations
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. I know she, like us, feels very strongly about this. It is a very good report and there is a lot for us to do. It calls for party leaders to call this out and to take action. I am standing here making sure that I reassure Members that we will be taking action. There are a number of different particular items. One we have not discussed today is additional legislation for people in public life. We have agreed to look at that, but we are not yet convinced that it needs to be done. I will certainly come back to her before deciding whether to go forward with it.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): We have put £17 million of resources from the police transformation fund to support the police, so they can have the tools they need to collect evidence when there are online threats. We will always make sure that the police have sufficient resources to do their jobs.
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Education
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Gentleman. When I visit schools or universities, I too get exactly the same question: "How can you put up with this abuse?" That is why it is so important for us to call it out. He asks what we can do and I urge him to look at the report. But it is not enough to just act on the report, which we will, or to consider additional legislation, which we may. We all have to make sure that we call it out often and firmly. Sometimes it is difficult when people come after us and we think that this is the role of a Member of Parliament. But no, it is not just about that. [Interruption.] I am getting a certain amount of heckling, Mr Speaker. I referred earlier to somebody from the Labour party. I just remind hon. Members that another person who needs calling out is the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell).
Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Amber Rudd (Conservative, Centre-right): That is exactly an area we are continuing to look at, and which the Home Affairs Committee is looking at, and where we are starting to see some real action. It is not enough. We want to go further and faster, but it is a start.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is entirely right. The additional tax raised from the banks amounts to £9 billion between 2010 and the present time, and a further £25 billion is projected over the current forecast period. Far from taxing the banks less over time—as, no doubt, the Opposition will shortly have us believe we have done—we are securing more tax revenues than we did in the past.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): When we consider who benefits and who does not, we must assume that overall, given that more tax is being raised than hitherto, the banks are probably paying more tax on average as a consequence of these measures. However, the measures will obviously have different impacts on different banks, depending on their profitability and on whether they are at or above the capital threshold of £20 billion at which the levy itself begins to kick in In 2015 and 2016, the Government announced a set of changes in the way in which banks were taxed. We set out a phased reduction in the rate of the bank levy to 0.1% by 2021. We announced the changes that the Bill makes in the levy, reducing its scope so that it applies to banks’ UK rather than global balance-sheet liabilities. However, we also introduced an extra 8% tax on banks’ profits over £25 million, on top of general corporation tax. I hope that when the Opposition spokesmen respond to my comments and to the amendments and new clauses, they will at least recognise the important increase in taxation that has been applied to the banks since 2016.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Melvyn John Stride (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right, as we know from recent experience. For example, although corporation tax has been reduced from 28% in 2010 to 19% and then to 17% under this Government, the corporation tax take has increased by 50%. Labour’s policy is the reverse. It foresees raising taxation not just from banks but from all the businesses in the country, large and small, including high street businesses, which, as we know, often struggle.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephen Charles Kerr (Conservative, Centre-right): It is all well and good for the hon. Gentleman to say what he is saying, but he is neglecting a simple fact. The financial sector is paying 35% more in tax today than it did in 2010 under a Labour Government.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Michael Alex Burghart (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the hon. Gentleman not acknowledge that, as we have reduced the rate of corporation tax, so revenues have increased and there is now more money to spend on public services than there would otherwise have been? Does he not acknowledge that there is a real risk that, if his party were to increase corporation tax rates, there would be less money coming in, and cuts to public services and so on would be on his party’s head?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the hon. Gentleman therefore think that France’s recent proposal to cut taxes for higher earners in order to woo bankers over to France is an incorrect policy, and that France has got it wrong because low taxes do not encourage investment and growth in a country?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that, coming from where he does, the hon. Gentleman takes a close interest in the Republic of Ireland, a country he has not mentioned. Is he aware that, by keeping its corporation tax rate low, it has revolutionised its economy and become an export tiger, and that that has been a key factor in helping it to recover from the crash?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephen Charles Kerr (Conservative, Centre-right): It is my great privilege to follow the hon. Member for Bootle (Peter Dowd), whose speech was greatly entertaining, if a little devoid of something approaching accurate history. We were treated to a festival of revisionism on this country’s economic history over the past 10 years. I did agree with one thing he said—it was almost the first thing he said—which was that it is wrong to create a single category to describe bankers. He alluded to the fact that some may be called saints and others may be called sinners—he may have said that, but I cannot recall exactly the term he used—and that is undoubtedly the case, so to generalise about banking and bankers, as we often hear Opposition Members do, is extremely rash As for culpability for the events from the end of 2007 to 2009, the hon. Gentleman may wriggle on the issue, but the fact is that the Labour Government were indeed culpable, as were other politicians of that time who were holding senior office in this country, including the then First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, who positively encouraged the Royal Bank of Scotland to engage in some of the more reckless initiatives that the leadership of that bank were engaged in. The result was that not only did they upend a great Scottish institution, but they nearly upended the whole United Kingdom economy.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephen Charles Kerr (Conservative, Centre-right): I appreciate that reminder, Sir Roger. My comments about social responsibility are in the context of why we have a bank levy at all and why it has been an important part of the Government’s focus in, quite rightly, raising the billions of extra revenue I promise that I will take only a few seconds more. There was some comment earlier about the effect of taxation. Someone mentioned the Laffer curve, which is well known to Members. It was certainly well known to the former Member for Gordon and the former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, who used to regularly quote the Laffer curve in his models. He argued with great eloquence in many places—perhaps he even did so here, I cannot be sure—for lower corporation tax. That was one of the things that Alex Salmond absolutely stood for. The lack of any intervention on me means that I am obviously not going to be corrected on that score.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is talking about Scotland, but is he aware that, in the whole UK, while we reduced corporation tax from 28% to 19%, the amount collected has increased from £37 billion to £50 billion during the period 2010 to 2017. Will he comment on that as well?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephen Charles Kerr (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted to offer a comment on that, because that is exactly in line with the point that I am trying to make, which is that the Laffer curve is exactly that—we increase revenue as we reduce taxation rates. It is very much at the core of what we believe on the Government Benches. At one time, it was what the SNP also stood by, but now the Financial Secretary in the Scottish Government has not even heard of Laffer. He told a Select Committee in Holyrood that he had never heard of the Laffer curve. That is where we are at in Scotland. When it comes to incentive, hard work and industry—I am referring this to the bank levy and the bankers’ bonuses that were mentioned by Opposition Front Benchers—we are now at a point where £33,000 a year is classified in Scotland as "rich". I think that that is dismal. We are talking not about people with yachts in the marina bays of the west of Scotland, but doctors, teachers and middle managers—the working men and women of Scotland. Therefore, when it comes to the bank levy and to bankers’ bonuses, and we talk about incentives to work hard, to exercise initiative and to take a few risks, it is just not on in Scotland now. The Scottish Government are sending out a clear message, which I find dismal and dismaying, that that is not the kind of Scotland that they want. It is the kind of Scotland that I want. It is the kind of United Kingdom that I want, which is why I unreservedly stand to support the Bill.