argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Britain and International Security — House of Commons, 2015-07-02
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. Before I call the next speaker, it may be helpful to know that I hope not to impose a time limit on speeches this afternoon, if I gain the co-operation of Members who, out of courtesy for their colleagues, will hopefully keep their speeches to some seven or eight minutes. If everyone were to do that, there would be no need for a formal time limit and we would have more flexibility and a better-flowing debate. This stricture, of course, does not apply to the Front-Bench spokesmen, such as the next speaker, Mr Alex Salmond.
Britain and International Security — House of Commons, 2015-07-02
Topic: Civil Rights
Andrew John Bower Mitchell (Conservative, Centre-right): I have almost finished May I end on this point? On Sunday night, I shall attend an Iftar at the Birmingham mosque—the biggest mosque in Europe, I think—with a community every bit as horrified by, and condemnatory of, what happened in Tunisia as all of us here. We in this country need to condemn Islamophobia with every bit as much force and conviction as we condemn anti-Semitism. We need to stand up for human rights, recognising that human rights are not just for nice middle-class people in the royal town of Sutton Coldfield, but for some very unpleasant people who populate our world as well We must never compromise our standards of justice and integrity in this ideological battle. Again, I make a plea to the US Government to release for transfer from Guantanamo the last British detainee held there as rapidly as they can. We must not allow terrorists to bully us into abandoning the long-cherished liberties that Britain has stood by. This House eventually stopped the absurd idea of the Executive that we should incarcerate people for up to 90 days without charge. I cannot think of any better recruiting sergeant for terrorist fanatics than the colossal mistake that that would have been. We stopped identity cards. We are now wrestling with the issue of secret courts and the information that has come out of the first secret trial, which is enormously discouraging. This is a generational battle against a threat that is a clear and present danger not only to all of us in Britain, but to many of the poorest Muslim people in the world.
Hatfield Colliery — House of Commons, 2015-07-02
Topic: Other
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): Well, we will talk about it later. If the hon. Gentleman wants to intervene, he should stand up and do it in the right place In the emails I have seen, there is no contract. There is, unfortunately, no possible contract.
Hatfield Colliery — House of Commons, 2015-07-02
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): No, hang on, hang on. I have given way. [Interruption.] Hang on. This is a debate. I need to finish my sentence, and I am running out of time There was no possibility of a contract. The right hon. Member for Doncaster will accept that the directors and others—all involved in the future of the pit—were doing everything they could to secure a contract, but the one thing that nobody has been able to do is to secure a contract. There is no debate about that.
Hatfield Colliery — House of Commons, 2015-07-02
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): That is the same email that I have seen, and the whole point about it is the "coulds" and the "maybes". Why did they not draft the contract? They had more than two weeks to do so, so why was it never done? If there was any chance of a contract being put in place, the process of deciding terms and conditions would have begun, but it never did. Why? Because the reality is that the companies knew that they could not afford to pay the prices to get the coal and to keep the colliery open Let us dig further into that email and make it clear that the offers involved a significantly lower price than those in the previous contracts that were being replaced. The level of interest was deemed insufficient by the directors, and that is the point. The right hon. Gentleman seeks to have a debate with me, and of course he is entitled so to do, but he should be having that debate with the directors. They were in possession of this information, and they were in contact with this particular company. They are the people who should have been getting the contract, but they did not do so. That is because they knew that they could not achieve what they wanted.
Armed Forces Covenant — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Housing
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, indeed. I look forward to visiting it on, I believe, 9 March. I have seen the website of that excellent charity, and I pay wholehearted tribute to the work that is being done by a wide variety of people. I note that the local council has reduced the charity’s rent in recognition of its commitment to the covenant. As I have said, we must now roll out that work throughout the United Kingdom.
Armed Forces Covenant — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Civil Rights
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course the hon. Lady forgets that she has got to win an election, and there is every chance she will not do so. Let me make it absolutely clear: as far as I and the rest of the team here are concerned, this is news to us and we are absolutely committed to the principle of no disadvantage. [Interruption.] It is in the covenant, and chuntering from the sidelines achieves nothing.
Armed Forces: Home Ownership — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Housing
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted that the forces Help to Buy scheme, launched just 10 months ago, has already helped 2,600 military personnel on to the property ladder, and a further 1,400 approved applications are awaiting the completion of the property purchase. Those 4,000 fully approved applications are broadly equivalent to the entire military presence at Colchester, and the vast majority of them—more than 80%—are for those from non-officer ranks.
Armed Forces: Home Ownership — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Housing
Henry Edward Millar Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that answer. Does this scheme not just prove the good work that this Government have been doing in ensuring the improvements to armed forces accommodation, in terms not only of service accommodation but enabling people in the armed forces to buy their own properties?
Armed Forces: Home Ownership — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Housing
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, this scheme enables military personnel to have the opportunity to buy their own home and benefit from the increased domestic stability that home ownership brings, bringing a more realistic life choice for those who have chosen to serve their country. We also recognise the importance of continuing to offer subsidised accommodation of a good standard to service personnel who are not yet ready to own their own home, which is why we have committed that from next April no service family will be allocated a house that does not meet the Government’s decent homes standard.
Armed Forces: Home Ownership — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Housing
Stephen William Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the success of this scheme, which shows how potent the Government’s Help to Buy schemes are. Will he ensure that he gets all military groups to work with the new Mayor’s land commission to ensure that any unused land can be brought forward for housing purposes?
Armed Forces: Home Ownership — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Housing
Michael Fallon (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I will certainly do that. Of course, under Labour the great recession meant that the prospect of buying a first home was no more than a pipe dream for many thousands of hard-working taxpayers. That is why we launched Help to Buy, which enables those who work hard and get on to enjoy the financial security that they deserve.
Armed Forces: Diversity — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Whitney Freer (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for that answer, but will he reflect on the comments of the Chief of the General Staff who said this month that "recruitment from the black, Asian and minority ethnic communities has been improving…but it is nowhere near where it needs to be." What steps is the Army taking to ensure that it reflects the society that it protects?
Armed Forces: Diversity — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Civil Rights
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. In calling the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames) on the subject of diversity, I note for the benefit of the House his past and possibly current presidency or patronship of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
Armed Forces: Diversity — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Other
Mark Gino Francois (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is nothing if not a survivor, as have been his illustrious predecessors who have served in this House. With regard to his specific suggestion, he is one of a number of Members of Parliament who have made the suggestion to me recently. We have passed the proposal on to the Chief of the General Staff, who is now considering the issue, and we are awaiting the CGS’s comments. The idea might well have merit.
Armed Forces: Diversity — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): Following on from the comment made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames), will the Minister specifically consider the notion of a Sikh company within the reserves as a starting point? There seems to be much more possibility within the reserves to begin what seems like an excellent idea.
ISIL — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Civil Rights
Mary MacLeod (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend reassure me and many constituents who have written to me in the past few months that the Government are doing all they can to support and protect minority groups, such as Yazidi Christians, especially women, who face unimaginable dangers from ISIL brutality?
ISIL — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Whiteside Gray (Conservative, Centre-right): The Kurdish peshmerga have indeed done a magnificent job in halting Daesh and regaining some ground from it. I am proud that we have given them 40 heavy machine guns and that we have 46 members of 2nd Battalion the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment training them in Sulaymaniyah, but I have heard that we are reducing the amount of support we are actually giving them. Will the Secretary of State please outline in detail what extra help we can give the peshmerga forces in Kurdistan?
Strategic Defence and Security Review — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Not very statesmanlike. Mr Jones, you aspire to be a statesman. I have sought to encourage and nurture your ambitions. [Interruption.] No, he says from a sedentary position. Don’t be so unambitious, man, for goodness’ sake.
Tax Avoidance (HSBC) — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. These exchanges are not, frankly, to the advantage of this House. They will be conducted in a more decorous atmosphere. I say to Members on both sides who are calculatedly trying to whip it up and are shouting at the tops of their voices, some holding very senior positions in this House: cut it out or get out.
Tax Avoidance (HSBC) — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): Well, I do not think that performance will save the shadow Chancellor’s political career. Every single question he asked I had already answered. The whole House can see that the person bringing this question to the House is the person with the most to answer for, and that he has no answers. He has nothing to say about the fact that every single one of these alleged offences occurred when he was the principal tax adviser to the last Labour Government, and nothing to say about the fact that the HSBC files came to light while he was in office. He said I admitted I knew about them in 2009. I read the Financial Times—it was in the newspapers; he was in the Cabinet and did absolutely nothing about it. He said that the information was provided to the Government in May 2010.
Tax Avoidance (HSBC) — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): Some very serious allegations have been made about HSBC Swiss and its role in knowingly advising people on tax evasion. Of course, our prosecuting authorities will want to look into the matter, but the House needs to know that the information that was received from the French authorities under the last Government—[Interruption.] This is important, and it is relevant to the right hon. Gentleman’s question. The information was received as the result of a negotiation with the French authorities about what use it could be put to, and the French agreement struck by the last Government said that we could use it only for prosecuting or pursuing individuals with regard to their tax affairs. We are currently in active discussion, which I think will come to a fruitful end, to get the French to allow us to pass some of that information to the Serious Fraud Office and other prosecuting authorities, to address the concern that he rightly raises about the potential or alleged role of banks in the affair.
Tax Avoidance (HSBC) — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): We have taken steps to deal with precisely the abuses to which the hon. Gentleman has alluded, such as the use of vehicles to avoid paying stamp duty, the creation of partnerships so that hedge funds do not pay the proper amounts, and the fact that foreigners did not pay capital gains tax. Disguised income is another abuse that we have sought to clamp down on—and, by the way, the Labour party voted against our action in that regard. As more abuses come to light and more contrived schemes are discovered, we take action to deal with them, but I have to say that we have had very little support from the Labour party.
Tax Avoidance (HSBC) — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Steven John Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): When objective members of the public review these exchanges, they could be forgiven for thinking that there was little to choose between our parties. Will the Chancellor confirm that he has instituted not just the general anti-abuse rule, but follower notices and accelerated payments, and will he also confirm that our party has dealt with this issue far more robustly than the Labour party?
Tax Avoidance (HSBC) — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Domestic Commerce
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): First of all, it is not surprising that the British Government—Conservative, coalition or Labour—would meet one of the country’s largest institutions and banks. So that it is not a matter for surprise. I am happy to write to the hon. Gentleman about any details we have about particular meetings.
Tax Avoidance (HSBC) — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): I can confirm that the agreement we have signed would not prevent us from receiving the so-called Lagarde list in exactly the way that we have been doing. Also, thanks to the Prime Minister’s leadership at the G8, we will now have an automatic exchange of information with Switzerland from 2017. That is one of the most important steps forward in tackling tax evasion. The answer is—[Interruption.] The shadow Chancellor is again not listening to the answers that he is getting across the Dispatch Box; the problem is that all his questions have been answered. The answer is that our agreement with Switzerland would not prevent us from receiving the Lagarde list.
Tax Avoidance (HSBC) — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): I have already answered that question. [Interruption.] I have; I said it is not surprising that Ministers meet one of the largest companies in this country, which employs close to 50,000 people in Britain and, as I understand it, a quarter of a million people around the world. As I also said earlier, I am happy to write about any of the content of those meetings, which were not just with me, but across the government.
Tax Avoidance (HSBC) — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. Twenty Back Benchers have contributed to this exchange. As the House knows, my normal practice is to try to facilitate everybody, on both sides of the House, who wants to take part, but I should advise the House that we are time constrained today. We now have a very important statement by the Prime Minister, on which there will doubtless be substantial questioning, and then important matters in the Serious Crime Bill, in which a lot of people are interested and for which, frankly, there is not adequate time. The inadequacy of the time is down to the business managers. It is not a matter for me, but I am doing my best to cope with the situation in the interests of Back-Bench Members
European Council — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I remind the House that, in accordance with usual practice, Members who arrived after the Prime Minister started his statement should not expect to be called to ask a question. I want to accommodate as many Members as I can on the statement but am keen to move on to the next business at, or as close as possible to, 5 o’clock.
European Council — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): On the second point first, I am confident that our border exit checks will be in place by the end of March. That will transform the situation that this Government inherited, where fewer than 40% of people were counted in and out. That will be totally transformed in the future. On what the Greeks, the Italians and others do to man the external frontiers of Europe, it is vital work and we should support them, as we do through Frontex and so on, but we need to make sure that every country lives up to its obligations when people arrive in that country. It is remarkable that when one looks at the percentage of asylum claims within Europe that are still being heard in Germany, France or Britain—not the first points of entry—compared to the numbers being heard in Italy, Greece and Spain, there is still a marked contrast.
European Council — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): My view has been consistent—it is that I do not think that Britain should join the euro, and I have been prepared to say "ever" on that basis. I put that in my election address back in 1997. It is not my responsibility what the euro does. My argument is very simple: it is in Britain’s interest that we have stability and growth on the continent. That is our argument; it is for the eurozone countries themselves to work out what are the right answers for them. I am very clear, and I have said this to a number of other European countries, that I would not be in the eurozone in the first place.
European Council — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti (Conservative, Centre-right): On tackling international terrorism, calling this evil organisation ISIL or Islamic State—no such state exists— only gives it legitimacy by linking it to Islam. Why not call it what Prince Turki al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia calls it, namely Faesh, meaning an obscene organisation committing obscenities?
European Council — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is interesting that when we started down the path of saying to internet companies that they must help us to get child pornography and disgusting child sex pictures off the internet, the response was, "We’re not responsible for what people look for; we’re not responsible for doing anything other than supporting free speech." To be fair to those organisations, they have moved miles from that position. They have now banned something like 40,000 repulsive search terms: if people plug them into their computer, they will get a nil return on them. They have done that not just in Britain, but all over the world. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we now need to get them to apply the same thinking to the problems of extremist violence and terrorism. There are some differences, but I am quite clear that if we ask companies to employ some social responsibility, they can work with us to take down even more pages than they do today.
European Council — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Prime Minister agree that local communities and all public bodies need to work together and make a concerted effort to identify vulnerable young people to prevent another situation like that of the three girls who recently went to Syria, which is surely every parent’s worst nightmare?
European Council — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right, and the preponderance of weapons in Libya, where there are more weapons than there are people, is part of the problem. This goes to the problem of there being so many different armed militias, which in turn goes to the problem of how to create a national Government of unity where the militias are disarmed, and either disband or effectively become part of the armed forces or the police and security of that country. Britain has put in a lot of effort, including trying to train some of the armed forces of that country to give them a central force and central state to start to enforce some order. The state of Libya is in such chaos at the moment that it is very difficult to do that work, and the first step must be a national unity Government.
European Council — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for that question—I think I am right in saying that a substantial number of Chagos islanders live in Crawley. This is the first Government to really sit down and think about what we could do to help, which is why we commissioned the resettlement studies. Those studies have been drawn up and the National Security Council will consider whether further steps could be taken. My hon. Friend’s idea of looking at European funding is intriguing, and I will consider it and get back to him.
European Council — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): There are quite a lot of steps we can take already with other countries, non-EU countries, where we can agree to the exchange of passenger name records. As I said, this is not just the names of people, but details of bank accounts and how they booked the ticket, in order to find potential signals of terrorist activity. It would be very frustrating if we could not agree it within the EU, but I am sure we will. What has happened in Copenhagen and Paris has, I think, made people realise just how important it is, but a lot of it will depend on the work being done by the European Parliament.