argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: The Greater Manchester region is a huge supporter of apprenticeships, with 30,000 starts last year alone. I recently met the young apprentices from Thales in my constituency, who are doing excellent and innovative work on the development of underwater sonar systems. Will the Minister outline what additional support his Department is giving to the city region to increase apprenticeship uptake?; As we head towards Brexit, many EU-derived regulations will no doubt come under the microscope. Some of the most important are the working time regulations, which protect vital safe working limits in the workplace. Will the Government confirm that they intend to retain all elements of the working time regulations?; Pendle is home to a number of excellent aerospace companies such as Euravia, Senior Aerospace Weston and Rolls-Royce. What assurance can Ministers give the aerospace sector of the Government’s ongoing commitment following the vote to leave the EU?; Fire and rescue services attend up to three fires a day that are a result of faulty tumble driers. Which?, the Local Government Association, Electrical Safety First and other consumer interest groups have all raised concerns about how Whirlpool has handled that problem. Is the Minister comfortable that Whirlpool has merely issued a safety statement and not a total recall?; Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is the duty of Ministers who are loyal to the Crown to promote the British economy and not to talk it down? Will she agree to a joint meeting with me and Ministry of Defence procurement to discuss how we can more effectively promote and develop defence industries such as those in my constituency?
Iain David Wright (Labour, Centre-left): I think that is the kindest thing that anybody has ever said to me The Secretary of State fully appreciates that uncertainty lasting for months and years will drain business investment away from Britain. In our Select Committee this morning, Funding Circle told us that an £100 million investment deal with a European consortium will now not go ahead—it has been pulled, and it will not be the only one. Today’s round table is a welcome gesture, but in the face of the current unprecedented uncertainty, what tangible actions is the Secretary of State putting in place to maintain and stimulate inward investment, maintain that funding gap, and steady business nerves?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Transportation
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I was led to believe that the Labour Front-Bench team was requesting a statement on this morning’s further chaos around HS2—both its preparedness and the resources it is sucking up from our economy. Did you receive any application for a statement on HS2? We have the Business Secretary here today. Does he not realise that British industry, which is in chaos and reeling from Brexit, wants to see HS2 stopped now before it sucks up all those resources?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Margaret Eve Hodge (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the Minister for giving way, especially as he is in pain. He said earlier that the amendment was "technically flawed", but that is not the advice that my right hon. Friend has received. It seems to me that, in reality, the Government are more driven by their ideas about tax competition. Will the Minister confirm that that is the case? If it is, I suggest to him that transparency is more important for the British people in particular, and that if any global company chooses to leave the UK simply because of demands for transparency and demands that it pay fair tax, which will be a rare occurrence, it may well be that it is not the sort of company that we want to be headquartered here.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Olivia Hillier (Labour, Centre-left): It is clear that the Minister has some sympathy with the amendment tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) and most of the Public Accounts Committee, along with many other Members in many parties. Rather than requiring my right hon. Friend to come back to the House, will he therefore commit the Government to looking at this matter unilaterally if multilateral agreement is not achieved? Or will he go even further today and agree to a sunrise clause to add to the proposals that my right hon. Friend and I, and others, have put forward, so that this can come into action if the multilateral agreement that he is hoping for does not come to fruition?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Margaret Olivia Hillier (Labour, Centre-left): Perhaps I can help the Minister. On behalf of the Public Accounts Committee, I sent an open letter to the chairs of European finance and public accounts committees or their equivalents. The Minister might have picked up the fact that, to date, the letter has been signed by the chairs of parliamentary finance committees in Germany, Hungary, Finland, Norway and Slovakia, as well as by senior MPs in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. We also know that the French Finance Minister, Michel Sapin, is doing some interesting work in this area, as are many others. Does that help to push the Minister in the right direction and enable him to make us more of an offer today?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Caroline Louise Flint (Labour, Centre-left): I rise to support amendment 1, in my name and those of my hon. Friends the Members for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier) and for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) and the hon. Members for Amber Valley (Nigel Mills), for Southport (John Pugh) and for Edinburgh North and Leith (Deidre Brock). I am grateful for the support of six other members of the Public Accounts Committee who signed this amendment: my hon. Friends the Members for Islwyn (Chris Evans) and for Bristol South (Karin Smyth) and the hon. Members for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mrs Trevelyan), for South Norfolk (Mr Bacon), for Peterborough (Mr Jackson) and for Warrington South (David Mowat). In total, 77 right hon. and hon. Members have signed the amendment, and it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Roger Mullin) Apart from the Labour party’s support, for which I am extremely grateful—particularly that of my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South West (Rob Marris), who has been fantastic in his liaison and advice—Scottish National party, Liberal Democrat, Ulster Unionist party, Social Democratic and Labour party, Plaid Cymru, Green party and UK Independence party Members, alongside a number of Conservative Members, and the independent hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon) support amendment 1. There is truly cross-party support, and I am therefore grateful to all those right hon. and hon. Members Amendment 1 also has the welcome support of the business-led Fair Tax Mark and the Tax Justice Network and that of development charities such as Christian Aid, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, Oxfam, Action Aid, the One Campaign and Save the Children It is understandable, given the momentous events of recent days that are creating ripples that reach all corners of our nations and across parties, if Members are a little distracted from the business that we are debating today, so let me be clear about what is at stake. If amendment 1 is agreed to, the Government’s requirement that companies publish their group tax strategy on their websites will include, for large multinational enterprises with bases in the UK, the headline details required on their revenues and taxes paid, in accordance with the OECD requirements for country-by-country reporting. In lay terms, this is Parliament’s Google moment I should like to clarify something: the amendment would require companies to publish everything that the Government already require them to report to HMRC. Yes, I agree with the Minister that it would not achieve worldwide reporting for any multinational enterprise, but it would catch not only those parts of a multinational enterprise that are in the UK but those that are over a certain size and have a turnover of more than £600 million.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Caroline Louise Flint (Labour, Centre-left): I feel I have to pursue this point. Amendment 1 would insert two new subparagraphs in schedule 19. The first would mean that a "group tax strategy of a qualifying group which is a MNE group must also include a country-by-country report." The qualifying group referred to is based on what the Government have already legislated for. The second subparagraph is very clear: "In paragraph (2A) "country-by-country report" has the meaning given by the Taxes (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) (Country by Country Reporting) Regulations 2016." That qualifying group, then, includes UK-headquartered companies but also companies from elsewhere whose turnover is more than £600 million a year, as I have said. It would affect not just UK companies but those companies with activity here that are headquartered elsewhere. I urge the Minister to ask civil servants whether they have got that advice right.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Foreign Trade
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): May I make this offer on amendment 1? My right hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) and I are quite happy to meet the Minister and Treasury officials to iron out any technical deficiencies there may be. I make that offer today so that we can do so before Report. Secondly, I urge the Minister to think a little more broadly, in terms of the world that we live in now after the Brexit vote. If the United Kingdom, having left the European Union, chose to make it a condition of trading in the UK for multinational enterprises not headquartered here that they disclose that information, we could do so.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman is quite right about the climate change levy. Changes in this Finance Bill effectively make the climate change levy just another tax, because it will no longer be used by the Government as a lever to change behaviour, which is why Labour dislikes the proposal. Business tax has probably gone up a bit overall, but what has happened in the economy, which the Minister described as fundamentally strong, is that employment is up by almost 2.5 million, and we salute that as a considerable achievement However, it has been bought on a sea of debt, on the drip, on the never-never. The national debt has gone up 60% in six years. We still have a huge annual deficit. Pay has stagnated for six years, and public sector pay will remain stagnant for another two or three years. Overall capital investment is markedly down. We have the biggest trade deficit in our history. Productivity is completely stalled. It is welcome that 2 million more people have jobs, which is good and the best route out of poverty, but almost every other economic indicator is poor and the Government propose to cut corporation tax.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
James Dolan Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend mentioned borrowing. Given the economic situation over the last few days, it seems that the Chancellor might have to borrow more money to add to the national debt, and he is now talking about increasing taxes and cutting public services as well.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): I will not go too far down that route, but this Chancellor—in this sense and this sense only—has been saved by the Brexit vote. He was never going to meet his forecasts for getting the deficit down in the lifetime of this Parliament. He also completely failed when he forecast in the previous Parliament that the deficit would be down to zero by 2015. He then forecast that it would be down to zero by 2020. That was never going to happen. We predicted that and I am sad that it was the case Now, with the Brexit vote, as my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham) says, the forecast will be nowhere near right, but no doubt the Chancellor will then use the vote as an excuse. The Brexit vote has revealed some of the underlying problems in the British economy that just about every serious economist has been pointing out for the last five years. Cutting corporation tax in this circumstance is a bad idea, and I urge all hon. and right hon. Members to vote against clause 42
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): May I caution the hon. Gentleman? For some of those companies—not all of them—this is a classic sob story. Corporation tax in America is roughly twice the rate that it is here. People still invest in companies in America. Corporation tax is part of an overall picture, as he says. Yes, companies should pay tax. If we followed the logic of some of the things that he has said this afternoon, we would not tax companies. That may be his position; it is not the position of Labour party.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Labor
James Dolan Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): Coming back to something that the hon. Gentleman said earlier about the training levy, for want of a better term, employers and particularly small businesses in this country have traditionally been reluctant about that levy. What do businesses in Northern Ireland feel about the levy?
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2016-06-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Natascha Engel (Labour, Centre-left): With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 6 to 11 together Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Capital Gains Tax That the draft Double Taxation Relief and International Tax Enforcement (United Arab Emirates) Order 2016, which was laid before this House on 19 May, be approved Corporation Tax That the draft Double Taxation Relief (Isle of Man) Order 2016, which was laid before this House on 19 May, be approved That the draft Double Taxation Relief (Jersey) Order 2016, which was laid before this House on 19 May, be approved Capital Gains Tax That the draft Double Taxation Relief and International Tax Enforcement (Uruguay) Order 2016, which was laid before this House on 19 May, be approved Corporation Tax That the draft Double Taxation Relief (Guernsey) Order 2016, which was laid before this House on 19 May, be approved Electricity That the draft Electricity Capacity (Amendment) Regulations 2016, which were laid before this House on 12 May, in the last Session of Parliament, be approved.—(Mr Gauke.) Question agreed to.
West Bank — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What assessment he has made of trends in the number of demolitions by Israel of Palestinian homes and other structures in the west bank in 2016.
Richard Haines Burden (Labour, Centre-left): I associate myself with the Minister’s words about our former colleague and friend, Jo Cox. She was an exceptional Member of Parliament and an exceptional person as well. Perhaps the greatest tribute any of us can give to Jo is to continue her work to support human rights throughout the world One of the things Jo was passionate about was justice for the Palestinians. According to the UN, Israel has demolished 649 Palestinian structures this year, and 1,000 people—over 400 of them children—have been displaced. The situation is getting worse, not better. I know that the Minister condemns these things, but if Israel feels it can continue with a culture of impunity, why should it stop? What can the international community do to show Israel that it does not have impunity, and what specific actions would the UK Government support?
West Bank — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What assessment he has made of trends in the number of demolitions by Israel of Palestinian homes and other structures in the west bank in 2016.
Sarah Deborah Champion (Labour, Centre-left): As well as demolishing Palestinian homes on the West Bank, Israel continues to arrest and detain Palestinian children in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. G4S, which has provided services for Israeli military checkpoints and prisons, has been found by the UK national contact point for the OECD guidelines to be in breach of its fundamental human rights obligations. Will the Minister join me in calling for G4S to withdraw fully from its relevant contracts with the Israeli state agencies?
Departmental Trade Specialists — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Ann Clwyd (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Foreign Secretary agree with the assessment of a former permanent secretary of the Foreign Office that to deal with the legal and political complexities of leaving the EU the Foreign Office will need to double in size?
Human Rights: China — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Jeffrey Smith (Labour, Centre-left): Following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, we will need to develop a new set of trading relationships with China. What reassurances can the Minister give me that that process will not diminish our ability or our resolve to publicly condemn the Chinese Government for human rights abuses?
Human Rights: China — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: Can the Minister tell us exactly what action he is taking to question the Chinese Government about their brutal persecution of those who peacefully practise Falun Gong, particularly in relation to the live harvesting of organs?
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): I should like to associate myself with the Minister’s remarks about Jo Cox, the MP who tragically lost her life. She was a fellow colleague from the 2015 intake. She was an advocate for refugees and a fierce and passionate champion of the dispossessed. We miss her very much at FCO questions, and her memory inspires us all as parliamentarians to work selflessly for those whose voice is rarely heard In relation to the human rights situation in China, Amnesty International has stated that at least 248 human rights lawyers and activists have been targeted by the authorities over the past year. They include the prominent lawyer, Wang Yu. She and 12 others are now under formal arrest on charges of subverting state power. What is the Minister’s assessment of this targeting of human rights activists? Does he agree that, on occasion, the Government’s approach lacks assertiveness in relation to human rights in China?
EU Withdrawal Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: The highlands and islands currently benefit from an additional €192 million of transition funding. Given the incoming Prime Minister’s haste to get on with Brexit, will the Secretary of State confirm that the UK Government will guarantee that funding?; 20 . Scotland has benefited from access to EU research and a wealth of talented researchers and academics. The Guardian worryingly reported this morning:“Britain’s vote to leave the EU has unleashed a wave of discrimination against UK researchers”.Scottish universities and their staff are concerned. What is the Foreign Secretary’s message to the universities, research staff and workers that benefit from being part of the EU? How will he ensure that Scotland and its interests are protected?
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): May I begin by thanking the Foreign Secretary for welcoming me to this new job? It is right to say that we are compact team, but we have the advantage of being made up of two blessed difficult women, and so we are formidable and up for the task. If rumours of promotion are true, this may be my final session with him before he takes another job. It would seem that everyone is in flux. He has a reputation of being a formidable but approachable Minister to shadow, so I will be sorry if our acquaintance is so brief The Foreign Secretary rightly said that he has given assurances that he will consult Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London and Gibraltar on the Government’s negotiating strategy for Brexit prior to triggering article 50. Will those assurances also apply in respect of Her Majesty’s Opposition, to ensure that the needs and concerns of the communities we represent are reflected as the Government develop their negotiating strategy?
EU Withdrawal Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: The highlands and islands currently benefit from an additional €192 million of transition funding. Given the incoming Prime Minister’s haste to get on with Brexit, will the Secretary of State confirm that the UK Government will guarantee that funding?; 20 . Scotland has benefited from access to EU research and a wealth of talented researchers and academics. The Guardian worryingly reported this morning:“Britain’s vote to leave the EU has unleashed a wave of discrimination against UK researchers”.Scottish universities and their staff are concerned. What is the Foreign Secretary’s message to the universities, research staff and workers that benefit from being part of the EU? How will he ensure that Scotland and its interests are protected?
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State for that answer, but I was hoping that I would get greater assurance than that and that there would be formal consultation with Her Majesty’s Opposition prior to the start of negotiations. We must avoid the mistakes made by the outgoing Prime Minister before his resignation. He had no proper consultation with Opposition parties, no proper discussion took place and there was a totally artificial timetable. Had the Prime Minister done those things, perhaps he would have got a better and more inclusive deal, the country might not have voted for Brexit and he might not be stepping down tomorrow. Does the Foreign Secretary not accept that the Prime Minister made a mistake and can he guarantee that those mistakes will not be made by the new Prime Minister?
Bangladesh — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Fabian Hamilton (Labour, Centre-left): What specific representations has the Minister made to the Government of Sheikh Hasina following the brutal murders in the diplomatic enclave of Gulshan in Dhaka? The area should have been very secure, and yet those murderers and terrorists were allowed in to murder 20 people on 1 July.
Middle East Peace Talks — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pity that the Foreign Secretary could not attend that conference. Will he be attending or advising his successor to attend the main conference later this year, and will he join France and other European countries in recognising Palestine if Israel refuses to co-operate with the French initiative and continues building settlements?
Refugee Crisis — House of Commons, 2016-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What discussions he has had with his counterparts in the EU, Africa and the middle east on dealing with the refugee crisis in Europe and the middle east.
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): Is the Minister in close contact with the leading aid agencies—the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children and Médecins sans Frontières? They seem to have a different take from Governments on what is happening in camps and with movements. Is he keeping in touch with them?