argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation Proposals — House of Lords, 2020-11-19
Topic: Immigration
Nicholas True (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, unfettered access from Northern Ireland to GB will be sustained and there will be no customs checks. So far as GB-NI is concerned, any control will be at a very minimal level, with risk assessment and administration undertaken by UK authorities.
Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation Proposals — House of Lords, 2020-11-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Nicholas True (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, to say that the Government are wholly committed to the future security and prosperity of business in Northern Ireland is not "warm waffle"; it is the truth of the matter. We are providing extensive support through the trader support service. I have referred to other measures, including the £150 million that has been put into IT systems, and we are working at pace to deliver all that is necessary. I hope that agreement can be reached in the joint committee and that any uncertainties there can be resolved.
Towns Fund — House of Lords, 2020-11-19
Topic: Mixed Topics
Stephen Greenhalgh (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am very happy to provide an outline of how the towns were selected. Officials ruled out 541 towns based on their lower levels of deprivation. The remaining towns were ranked as higher, medium or low priority based on an evidence-based methodology. The top 40 high-priority towns were chosen for town deals. Ministers used their local knowledge to conduct a qualitative assessment when picking the remaining 61 towns. This involved—
Towns Fund — House of Lords, 2020-11-19
Topic: Mixed Topics
Stephen Greenhalgh (Conservative, Centre-right): I want to make clear that the process was driven by officials using an evidence-based methodology. The top 40 high-priority towns were chosen for town deals. For the remaining 61 towns, there was ministerial involvement but using a process designed by officials in my department. I add that I am delighted that Dewsbury in the borough of Kirklees has been selected to develop proposals for a town deal. My department is looking forward to receiving its town investment plan early next year.
Towns Fund — House of Lords, 2020-11-19
Topic: Mixed Topics
Colin Moynihan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, in all the government guidance on the towns fund, there is the prospect of there being a major missed opportunity for prioritising co-investment with the private sector in sport, recreation and active-lifestyle facilities. I praise my noble friend the Minister for personally promoting the importance of sport as a catalyst for levelling up and inspiring communities, as we did in the deprived East End of London with the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. I hope my noble friend the Minister will agree that we urgently need to build regeneration, inspiration and legacy into our town fund initiatives, particularly in the north of England?
Towns Fund — House of Lords, 2020-11-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Stephen Greenhalgh (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, there is no greater champion of the role of sport, leisure and recreation in place-making. I point out that the towns fund guidance provides the envelope upon which towns can prioritise leisure facilities. As a department, we hope to see many towns come forward, building in leisure facilities, parks and green spaces, cycle lanes and a myriad of sports activities within their bids.
Customs Safety, Security and Economic Operators Registration and Identification (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-11-19
Topic: Mixed Topics
Patience Wheatcroft (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank the Minister for presenting these regulations in such a straightforward manner. In principle, I welcome them. A six-month delay in imposing new and costly obligations on business at this time is clearly a sensible step. I hope that it will help delay Kent turning from the garden of England into the toilet of England, as some fear it will be, as lorries queue up outside the ports. Does the Minister expect those delays to be imminent on the other side of the channel because these agreements are not reciprocal but are being waived only by the UK? We cannot expect the EU to reciprocate It seems utterly mad to propose imposing new burdens on our businesses at this stage. It is welcome that HMRC is prepared to spell out that these regulations will be costly and troublesome to business when they come into practice. Already our country has lost a fortune because of Covid. The automobile industry alone reckons that Covid has cost it £27.5 billion so far in lost sales and production. There is no doubt that Brexit will add to those costs when we finally come to the end of the transition period Therefore, rather than waiving these regulations for six months, will the Minister consider extending the transition period across the board? That would be a sensible move for the UK and the EU. It might allow time to rethink the way in which businesses are classified. I understand the need for traders to have a registration and identification number but, despite the imminence of our final departure from the EU, many still have not secured one Perhaps they struggle with the requirement first to classify their operations in line with the Government’s official classifications. There are numerous, different and, in some cases, somewhat obscure categories. Manufacturing of consumer electronics is a sensibly broad and easy to understand category but do we really need businesses to shoehorn themselves into such narrow classifications as "producing oleaginous fruits" or "manufacturing of knitted or crocheted hosiery"? Those categories seem unnecessarily narrow. Will the Minister undertake to consider simplifying classifications to help those applying for EORIs?
Arrangement of Business — House of Lords, 2020-11-27
Topic: Other
Michael John Brougham (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the Hybrid Sitting of the House will now begin. Some Members are here in the Chamber, respecting social distancing, others are participating remotely, but all Members will be treated equally. If the capacity of the Chamber is exceeded, I will immediately adjourn the House.
Communications Act (e-Commerce) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-11-27
Topic: Other
Diana Barran (Conservative, Centre-right): That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 24 September, 12 and 14 October be approved Relevant document: 32nd Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. Considered in Grand Committee on 10 November. Considered in Grand Committee on 10 and 16 November.
Audiovisual Media Services (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-11-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Colin Moynihan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register, particularly as an adviser to Station12, with its interests in content production These debates on EU exit regulations are important in their own right, but this one is all the more important because of the wide statutory and regulatory work that is under consideration in this fast-moving technology space, as noted by the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett. I welcome the regulations for what they are—confirmation that the European standard of regulation continues to apply after the end of the transition period—but what I am hoping for today is government recognition that, with technological advancement, with some countries banning some of the platforms, with online harm already a major and growing issue, and with serious crimes occurring, it is really important that the Minister and the Government provide us with absolute confirmation that the new legislation will not be sometime early in 2021 but as early as possible, for all the reasons given by the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett. I hope that consultation will take place with consumer and business groups, that it will be extensive and that, in the words of the Minister in another place, the Government intend to bring forward "a pioneering UK regime", which will be necessary I fully appreciate that these new rules ensure that platforms falling within UK jurisdiction have appropriate systems and processes in place to protect the public, but what will be the consequences of Ofcom licences no longer being recognised to regulate video-sharing platform services in non-ECTT member states when licences issued by non-ECTT member states will no longer be recognised in the UK? In practice, the largest VSPs work outside the UK’s regulatory scope and it is critical, in the context of sexual online threats, that the National Crime Agency will continue to co-ordinate activities closely with colleagues abroad to help the regulators with misinformation warnings and action against criminals. This is an international problem and one that, like Covid-19, pays scant regard to national boundaries. International co-operation, as well as effective domestic law, are essential components of success EU broadcast law has recently undergone a sea change, as the Minister said, principally as a result of the revised AVMSD, which has been transposed into UK law by the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations, including the brand-new regime for VSP services. Am I correct in my understanding that, in terms of the end of the transition period, this instrument, at Regulation 4(2), together with recent Ofcom guidance, clarifies that a VSPS will fall under UK jurisdiction where "it has the required connection with the United Kingdom"— a somewhat imprecise phrase which could benefit from clarification by the Minister today? In the meantime, I very much welcome these regulations.
Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (UK (NI) Indication) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-11-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Daniel Moylan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, good design and branding have been at the heart of commercial success at least since the Great Exhibition. For example, in 1913, Frank Pick, the legendary managing director of what became the London Underground, commissioned Edward Johnston to produce a typeface for that railway. That typeface is still in use to this day. It is a London icon—clean, simple, modern—and was the exclusive property of TfL until the copyright expired in 2015. It is used on signs, letterheads, the Tube map and everywhere you look If noble Lords turn to the sample of the form of the UKNI logo to be imposed on Northern Ireland businesses from the end of this year, they will find that it fails to meet that standard by a long way. To my mind, it is ugly, blockish and typographically illiterate, with its mixture of serif and san-serif letters, designed almost to hamper, rather than promote, the export of Northern Ireland goods and products. My question to my noble friend the Minister is who designed it. Did he have a hand in it himself, or was it produced by a committee? Was public money paid for it and, if so, can we get our money back? Is there anything that can be done, even at this late stage, to improve it My second question is more constitutional. Who is making this law? I understand, at a simple level, that this Parliament is clearly making this regulation, because it is in front of us for that purpose. But let us say that, a few months or some time down the road, the democratic leaders in Northern Ireland join together—as I am predicting they might—to say that this logo is not doing the job of marketing and branding, and they would like it changed. To whom would they write? Would it be to the UK Government, so that we could make that decision unfettered? Would they have to write to this strange and unaccountable joint committee that now appears to set many of the rules for the Northern Ireland protocol? Would they be reduced, as leaders in Northern Ireland—the DUP and Sinn Féin—were only a couple of weeks ago, to writing a begging letter to Brussels, in that case to ask if their supermarkets could still be supplied on the customary basis Given that Northern Ireland is the only part of Europe that I can think of that is, at the moment, being actively de-democratised, noble Lords would like to know the answers to those questions and have some assurance from my noble friend.
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Younger (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who spoke to Amendment 39 on Thursday and the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, today. As I mentioned last week as we debated Amendment 12, our continuity programme is fully compliant with environmental obligations, such as those found in the Paris Agreement on climate change. So, too, is it fully compliant with the UN sustainable development goals I welcome and support the objectives of the SDGs, and I assure your Lordships that the work of my department is always in alignment with important multilateral commitments. As our continuity programme seeks to replicate existing EU agreements, it follows that it is absolutely coherent with existing international obligations, including the UN sustainable development goals, and it will remain so. On that basis, I believe that this amendment is unnecessary Amendment 97 would oblige the Government to lay before Parliament a further assessment of the impact of our free trade agreements with the least developed countries and lower-middle-income countries before commencing the substantive provisions of the Trade Bill, and again every 12 months afterwards. I can assure noble Lords that the Government are determined to continue playing their role as an engaged partner to the developing world. We have signed continuity agreements with the CARIFORUM states, the Eastern and Southern African states, the Southern African Customs Union bloc and others. Discussions with further developing countries continue, and my department hopes to make good progress in delivering continuity before the end of the year In terms of questions that were raised on Thursday relating to communication and transparency, we are committed to providing Parliament with updates on our trade programmes with the developing world, which we are delivering through our parliamentary reports, where that is relevant, a regular and productive dialogue with parliamentary committees at ministerial and official levels, and a report which the DIT will make to Parliament. I remind your Lordships that we are seeking only to replicate the provisions of the EU’s agreements with developing countries Ultimately, we do not believe it is proportionate or sensible to provide reports every year, when our objective is continuity with the status quo. As our continuity agreements clearly safeguard such international commitments and the Government are wholly committed to the preservation and improvement of the environment, I ask for the amendments to be withdrawn.
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Other
James Younger (Conservative, Centre-right): I have taken note of a number of questions raised by the noble Lord and I think it best to address them in a letter, so I shall write to him, while liaising with my noble friend Lord Grimstone.
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Immigration
Sheila Masters (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I had initially intended to take part in the debate on this amendment solely for the purpose of probing whether study, which is mentioned in the amendment, can logically be regarded as necessary for trade in goods or services. I had not expected this debate to go into our border control policies, with yet more angst over not having the same rights to travel throughout the EU as exist even today I would just say to noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Fox, who seems to think that Conservatives might be upset at restrictions on movement, that we voted, both in the referendum and in the last general election, to take control of our borders—that is what the people voted for. That has consequences. Noble Lords who are trying to constantly recreate what we have had in the past as members of the EU do themselves no service. We have to change what we are doing going forward. That is not to say that we cannot have sensible arrangements with both the EU and other countries to facilitate the trade in goods and services, which I fully support. However, we should not be constantly harking back to life as it was when we were a member of the EU.
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Other
Janet Evelyn Fookes (Conservative, Centre-right): We now come to the group beginning with Amendment 54. I remind noble Lords again that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. Anyone wishing to press this amendment or the other amendment in this group to a Division should make that clear in the debate Amendment 54
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gerald Grimstone (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lord for his question. We will come to GSPs in a later debate; if the perceptive points he made are not answered then, I will perhaps write to him. Secondly, I always keep an open mind about the matters that we debate. We will reflect on the debate that happened in the other place last night.
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Sheila Masters (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I wish to speak only to Amendment 82 in this group. I generally try not to speak on matters about Northern Ireland, because life is too short I completely agree with what my noble friend Lord Lansley said on the trader support service. In particular, I am sure that, if there were a need for further support at the end of the two years, any responsible Government would ensure that such support was available. I remind noble Lords that it is a temporary facility in order to help traders become accustomed to the new arrangements, whatever they finally turn out to be. It includes training. It is not to take over from the traders handling the paperwork; it is to train them so that it becomes part of their everyday activities. In that context, two years may well still be enough, although I accept that there is uncertainty at the moment The amendment says that the service can be accessed at no cost—that is, of course, no cost to the trader, but there will be a cost to the public purse. I just say to noble Lords that, if they pass the amendment, they are walking straight into financial privilege.
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Other
Janet Evelyn Fookes (Conservative, Centre-right): We now come to the group beginning with Amendment 68. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. Anyone wishing to press this or any other amendment in the group to a Division should make that clear in debate Amendment 68
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
Andrew Lansley (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am glad to have the opportunity, in this group, to follow my noble friend Lady McIntosh. She will forgive me if I do not speak to her two amendments but instead confine myself to Amendment 93 in my name, which relates to free zones and free ports. These are essentially the same thing; they are called free zones in the legislation that establishes the procedure for making them I draw noble Lords’ attention to the debate on 4 February 2019 on the previous Bill that was brought forward. I had a debate whose purpose was to propose a consultation on the future designation of free zones; of course, there were and are no free zones. The Minister at the time, my noble friend Lord Bates, replied to me on that subject then. I was asking for a consultation, and he said that he was not able to offer one but that "The idea has been advocated"—[Official Report, 4/2/19; col. 1349.] by himself and a number of others in the north-east, including the local MP Rishi Sunak. I see that time has moved on I am raising the same subject but do not need to ask for a consultation on the part of the Government, because they have now had one and are readying themselves, I hope, to respond to the product of that consultation. Back in February 2019, my noble friend said at the end: "I am not able to be more helpful than that to my noble friend at this point, much as I may wish to be".—[Official Report, 4/2/19; col. 1349.] So I am looking to my noble friend on the Front Bench again today to be as helpful as he wishes to be.
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Younger (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord makes a very good point and I hope that he will not take this as being unempathetic; I am just making a point that focuses particularly on Brexit and the transition period. Putting aside the obvious huge problems that businesses are facing at the moment, there has been more than enough time—four years—for businesses to prepare. We have done our best to support them during this period.
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anne McIntosh (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I think my noble friend was doing quite well until that last remark. Saying "four years to prepare" when we have not even heard what the situation will be on the Northern Ireland border is not quite the approach I would have hoped for. My noble friend did not answer the question about the number of available vets. This is a source of great anxiety to many, particularly those with livestock as well as products crossing the border. I hope that my noble friend will be able to put my mind at rest on that at some point I agree entirely with what my noble friends Lady Noakes and Lady Neville-Rolfe said with regard to home-produced substitutions. To a certain extent, that should already be happening given that those involved in home-produced food have come into their own during Covid; other priorities are maintaining our existing markets and opening up third-country markets for trade in poultry, other meat and breeding stock I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Fox, who said that it is all very well to embrace change, but businesses need to know what that change is before they can do so. Certainly, all the evidence that we have heard as recently as this September, along with a letter that we have followed up with a different department, Defra, as regards the rules for the checks and controls on the borders, make it incumbent on us to get information out as best we can I am grateful for the opportunity to debate these issues. I have listened to what my noble friend Lord Lansley said. I just hope that we do not get to the situation that we can see in Luxembourg, which has almost more free zones than it has territory. If my memory is correct, Luxembourg has a very large number of free ports in comparison with the size of that state. However, I find it difficult to share in the enthusiasm of realising our destiny until such time as I am 100% sure of what our destiny will be. With those remarks, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment at this stage.
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Other
Patricia Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, we come now to the group commencing with Amendment 71. I remind noble Lords that anyone who wishes to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate and that anyone wishing to press this amendment or anything else in the group to a Division should make that clear in the debate Amendment 71
Trade Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
Patricia Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): We now come to the group beginning with Amendment 77. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate, and that anyone wishing to press this amendment or anything else in this group to a Division should make that clear in the debate Clause 6: Provision of advice, support and assistance by the TRA Amendment 77