argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): It is not for me to speculate on what civil servants tell the Leader of the Opposition. I am not sure they would be having those discussions. The reality is that the Leader of the Opposition’s party was the first to offer an in/out referendum. His party should therefore respect the decision, as its then leader said it would. It was the biggest vote in our country’s history and that is why it is right that we avoid further divisiveness and ensure we leave as we said we would.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): First, may I endorse the comments by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) about the money side of things? It is not just that the backstop is not sufficient in itself. It is a vital issue, but it is not the whole story by any means. We have the European Court of Justice, the question of control over laws, the question of the extension of time under article 132, the issue of state aid and the incompatibility of the agreement with the repeal of the European Communities 1972 Act. So many aspects of the withdrawal agreement are, if I may say so to the Secretary of State, matters that go way beyond mere reassurances. Reassurances will get nowhere. They are certainly not going to convince anybody who is thinking hard about this when it comes to the vote next week.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend will know, the Prime Minister made clear that she has heard the concerns of the House in relation to the backstop and that is subject to the further discussions with European leaders. In terms of its scope, it is worth reminding the House that 80% of our economy is covered by services that would not be within the scope of the backstop. It is worth having some proportion with regard to that discussion. On the other issues, I was not sure whether he was saying he wants more freedom for state aid, which would be the Leader of the Opposition’s position. That is not, characteristically, what I would expect my hon. Friend to be calling for. The reality is that any deal we enter into with the EU will require a backstop. That is the substance of it. Whether that is a Canada option, a Canada-plus, a Canada-plus-plus or a Canada-plus-plus-plus, the reality is that, whatever the deal, it will require a backstop.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very mindful of what the Chair of the Exiting the European Union Committee says, and of the letter on this issue signed by a significant number of Members. The core point about ruling out no deal is that the House has to be for something rather than simply to agree what it is against. It is clear that the signatories to the letter suggesting that no deal should be ruled out support a whole spectrum of issues. The House has to decide what it is for, not simply what it is against.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Foreign Trade
Antoinette Geraldine Sherratt (Sandbach) (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Secretary of State agree with my constituent who runs a chemical business, who says a no deal would be a disaster for him? Can my right hon. Friend give a direct assurance that we will proceed to a vote on the deal next week?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I think we need to move away from some of the more inflammatory language around the consequences of no deal, but I do agree with my hon. Friend that there will be significant issues arising from no deal. I do not support the view expressed by some Members, including the Democratic Unionist party spokesman, who is supremely relaxed about the consequences of no deal. I think the consequences of no deal will be material, but I do not think they will be of the inflammatory sort that we sometimes hear and read about in the press.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I feel I must slightly correct the hon. Lady. It was the House that voted to trigger article 50—a clear majority of Members voted that we should send the article 50 letter. On her point about agents of uncertainty, the agents of uncertainty are those Members who are opposing the deal—the deal that will give us an implementation period and give businesses and citizens the certainty they need—while at the same time not coming forward with a proposal that can command the confidence of the House. It is those opposing the Prime Minister’s deal who are generating the uncertainty.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Law and Crime
Anne Margaret Main (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State mentioned legally binding agreements. Will the Attorney General be coming to the House to be challenged on how legally binding some of the agreements will be? Those of us who are sceptical about having agreements rather than things written in law would like to have some of the legal advice we have already explored explained to us in the House.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend has said that the withdrawal agreement, which we intend to recommence debating this week, represents the best deal and the only deal. Are we to infer from that that any legal assurances we may expect to receive from the European Union will stop short of a rewording of that agreement?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend, as an ex-Minister in this Department, will understand these issues extremely well. As I said in my opening remarks, we will update the House on the conversations the Prime Minister has had with European leaders in the debate starting later this week, and we will comment further on the nature of the assurances at that point.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with the hon. Lady that it is in no one’s interest to cause false alarm, but at the same time we should not give false comfort. There are material issues to be addressed in terms of a no deal, and we are working actively in government to mitigate them—I pay tribute to the work of many officials during the festive period who maintained their work in the preparation of those no-deal plans. Indeed, we are stepping up our communication—there will be a big communication campaign of radio and social media ads tomorrow and in the days ahead—but people cannot suggest that not honouring our legal obligations and not paying the financial settlement would allow us to enter some sort of managed no deal that allows us to cherry-pick the bits we want and avoid the bits we do not.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Gregory William Hands (Conservative, Centre-right): Did my right hon. Friend see the interview in the Augsburger Allgemeine on 11 December given by Martin Selmayr, secretary-general of the European Commission, in which he said about the Commission: "We have negotiated hard, and realised all our objectives" He says that the agreement "shows that leaving the EU…doesn’t work" Other Brussels officials have said that the UK is "locked in" and that "losing Northern Ireland is the price Britain has to pay for Brexit" Is my right hon. Friend really as enthusiastic as Martin Selmayr and the Commission about this agreement?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend brings to the House his specialist interest, understanding and engagement in German politics, but the Prime Minister has been clear throughout—the political declaration itself makes this clear—about the sovereign position on Northern Ireland. Its constitutional status is unequivocally guaranteed and the integrity of the UK’s internal market and Northern Ireland’s place within it are preserved. She has made that extremely clear, and the political declaration also makes it clear, but of course politicians in Germany, like those in the UK, will make a range of statements.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): The scope to exit from the backstop—which is really at the heart of my right hon. Friend’s question—was explored in the House at length on, I think, 3 or 4 December, when the Attorney General spoke about that specific issue in great detail. The crux of what he said was that it involved a balance of risk, and that, ultimately, these were political decisions in relation to the ability of a sovereign state to be bound in the future. I know that my right hon. Friend is an assiduous follower of the Attorney General and his legal advice, and I commend that earlier debate to him.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): The best way to avoid the uncertainty is to vote for this deal, but I do not accept the premise of the hon. Lady’s question. She said that there had been no progress, but the European Council’s conclusions in December showed progress in terms of its commitment—its "firm determination to work speedily on a subsequent agreement" It stated that it "stands ready to embark on preparations immediately", and so forth. Moreover, as I said in my opening remarks, the Prime Minister has been having ongoing discussions with European leaders The reality that Members in all parts of the House must confront is that unless the House is for an option, no deal then becomes the alternative. It is not a unilateral decision of the UK Government to extend, and the Court, in announcing its position on revocation, made clear that that would require a breach of the manifesto commitment on which the hon. Lady stood, and on which the vast majority of Members stood.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Julian Murray Lewis (Conservative, Centre-right): According to that excellent website TheyWorkForYou, the Prime Minister has assured the House on no fewer than 74 occasions that we will be leaving the EU on 29 March. Will the Secretary of State confirm that in no circumstances will that date be postponed?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Agriculture
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): What is deluded is on the one hand to say, "We want more control in Scotland", and on the other hand, when we reach a point at which the UK Government are gaining greater control over fisheries policy, to say, "Actually, no, we want to give it back to Brussels." It is that sort of incoherent policy making by the Opposition that has created this constantly revolving door. They call for referendums, then lose them, and then say that they want another one.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): While it is of course right for us to debate the manner of our leaving the EU, and right for us to have those negotiations, does my right hon. Friend agree that the fact that we are leaving the EU was set beyond any doubt by the British people in the 2016 referendum?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much agree with my hon. Friend. We were given a clear instruction to leave by the British people in the biggest vote in our democratic history. As the Prime Minister has said, now is the time for the country to come together after what has been a very divisive period in our public life, and to move forward from the referendum debate. That requires us to honour the referendum result, rather than replaying the division on a much more intense scale.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I know the hon. Gentleman looks at these issues in detail and very seriously and I very much respect that. I have looked at the report to which he refers and the work of my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) on this, but the reality is that there is an inherent contradiction in respecting the referendum result and suggesting that we can cherry pick from the four freedoms that the EU has always been clear cannot be divided. The reality is that the Norway option does not give us what is needed. There is Norway or Norway plus, but the reality is that Norway has a population of 5 million and much of what is done in terms of rule taking for Norway is not suitable for the UK in areas including financial services. There is also an inherent contradiction in what was committed to in the manifestos of the hon. Gentleman’s party and my own, and delivering on the referendum result.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown (Conservative, Centre-right): Mr Speaker, may I wish you and the House a constructive new year Given that neither the EU nor the UK wish to be in the backstop for any length of time, can my right hon. Friend explain to the House why it is so difficult to agree with our 27 EU partners a short protocol to the withdrawal agreement that would allow the UK to have a unilateral right to withdraw from the backstop in a relatively short period of time?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend knows, there has been some progress in this area, in terms of the commitments around best endeavours and the backstop being temporary. Indeed, article 50 requires that the backstop would be temporary. These issues have been raised across the House. The Prime Minister is discussing them with EU leaders and we will have more to say on this in the forthcoming days.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not think it will surprise the hon. Lady to learn that I do not agree with that estimate. That is because we start from a position of equivalence after 40-odd years of close co-operation, we are looking to put in place an agreement based on shared values, and we have a framework in the form of the political declaration that acts as an instruction for the next stage of the negotiation.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): As the Secretary of State will know, much of the debate in this House has focused on the Northern Ireland backstop and not on the principle of guaranteeing that there will be no return to the hard border of the past. Will he confirm that an essential part of the next week will involve the Government giving us a reassurance that the backstop will relate to keeping the border open and that the UK will not be held in that arrangement by extraneous matters such as fishing?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend; there is a very good reason why the backstop is there. It is a reflection of two things. First, it is a reflection of our firm commitments under the Belfast agreement, reflecting the difficult history of Northern Ireland and the violence that the people of Northern Ireland have suffered. Also, Northern Ireland is the one part of the United Kingdom that has a shared geography with Ireland. That is why there are special circumstances and it is why the backstop is required. The reality is that whatever deal is put forward—including any put forward by Labour, if the Leader of the Opposition were to work one out—it would still require a backstop.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): On the hon. Gentleman’s first point, I have obviously not seen the incidents outside, but anyone who stands at this Dispatch Box is mindful of the plaque commemorating Jo Cox, which I know is so dear to many Members, not only on the Opposition Benches but across the House. I am sure that we would all unite in believing that, wherever we stand in the Brexit debate, all of us in this House should be able to air our views with respect and proportion On the hon. Gentleman’s question on spending, the reality is that we do not want to spend money on no deal—[Interruption.] The amount of money for no deal has been set out by the Treasury—that is a matter of public record—but the fact is that those who criticise that spending, which any responsible Government need to allow for, need to explain why they are not backing the deal. It is the fact that people are not backing the deal that is requiring the Government to divert spending to no deal. The best way to avoid spending on no deal is to back the deal and give businesses and citizens the certainty that they need.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Foreign Trade
Jeremy John Elton Lefroy (Conservative, Centre-right): As one of the signatories to the letter about the consequences of no deal, particularly around manufacturing and particularly in the west midlands where my constituency is, I believe that the Secretary of State will appreciate my concerns. He has referred to the fact that 80% of our economy involves services. Will he please give us his assessment of the impact on services of no deal on 29 March?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Foreign Trade
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much recognise the point that my hon. Friend is making. I shall pick out one example from among many. It relates to data, which is extremely important within the service economy. Those who say that in the event of no deal we will go to WTO rules and that that will be completely benign have not, from what I have seen, addressed the question of what that would mean to service businesses in terms of data adequacy and how data would flow. There are many other examples, but that is one that would apply specifically to the service economy. I know from my discussions with my hon. Friend that he is well aware of what the impact would be on manufacturing in his own constituency as well.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State has already referred to the letter calling on the Government to rule out no deal. Does he agree that if we foolishly ruled out no deal, we would be left with one of two invidious choices: remaining in the European Union or accepting whatever deal the European Union saw fit to grant us? Were the Government to agree with the letter, that would fatally undermine our negotiating position, so they should categorically not do so.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend says, if the Government ruled out no deal, the only other option in the event of the Prime Minister’s deal being rejected would be to revoke article 50, which would be contrary to the manifesto commitments of both main parties and hugely damaging to democracy.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Government Operations
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): Given the hon. Lady’s Treasury experience, she will be familiar with chapter 3 of "Managing Public Money" and the requirements on civil servants during their appearances at the Public Accounts Committee relating to value for money. She will also know that letters of direction are not new and have been sought under successive Governments, including during her time as a Minister. They form part of the checks and balances within Government and are a perfectly proper process.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Simon James Hoare (Conservative, Centre-right): If we want to leave with a deal—the Leader of the Opposition is right that that is the majority view in the House—and if we want to end uncertainty for our farmers, businesses and citizens, is it not time to stop playing party politics and the ideological games, and vote for the deal? As national politicians, all of us should mean it when we say that we are here to act in the national interest.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The business community and citizens are clear that they want the certainty that the deal offers. They want the implementation period to allow investment to be made and planning to proceed. Given the risk of uncertainty that will result from the uncharted waters we will enter if the deal does not go ahead, it is time for Members to look again at the deal and at the complex set of terms within the withdrawal agreement and not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen James Metcalfe (Conservative, Centre-right): Whatever happens next, my right hon. Friend will agree that a second referendum would do nothing to move the debate forward and would create further division and confusion. We have had a people’s vote, so let us get on and prepare either to implement a heavily amended deal or no deal and to deliver Brexit on 29 March this year.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady should be much more candid with the electorate about the fact that she is actually calling for revocation. Extending article 50 is not a unilateral decision for the UK Government; it requires the agreement of all 27 member states. She is, in essence, calling on us to revoke article 50. That goes against the commitment in the Labour party’s manifesto, on which she stood, and goes against what people voted for. If that is her position, that is fine; she is entitled to it, but she should be clear with the electorate that that is what she is calling for. Members who voted to trigger article 50 also need to explain why they have changed their minds.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Changes — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): I am totally committed to delivering the Brexit that my constituents voted for, and I know that the Secretary of State is as well. In that context, does he agree that it is instructive to note that not a single one of the leave campaigns argued for a no-deal Brexit as their first choice? This deal is the way to avoid a no-deal Brexit.