argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his suggestion. I should point out that the people of this country have voted in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and what they want to see is this Parliament delivering on the mandate that they gave us, including him. I take no criticism of my election from the party whose leader, Nicola Sturgeon, replaced Alex Salmond without a vote, as far as I know. Did she not The right hon. Gentleman is completely wrong in his analysis and his defeatism and pessimism about our wonderful United Kingdom, which he seeks to break up, because if we can deliver a fantastic, sensible and progressive Brexit, which I believe we can, and the whole United Kingdom comes out, as I know that it will, what happens then to the arguments of the Scottish nationalist party? Will they seriously continue to say that Scotland must join the euro independently? Will they seriously suggest that Scotland must submit to the entire panoply of EU law? Will they join Schengen? Is it really their commitment to hand back control of Scottish fisheries to Brussels, just after this country—this great United Kingdom—has taken back that fantastic resource? Is that really the policy of the Scottish nationalist party? I respectfully suggest to the right hon. Gentleman that that is not the basis on which to seek election in Scotland. We will win on a manifesto for the whole United Kingdom.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): Our history is littered with Prime Ministers being dealt an extraordinarily difficult hand but, by pluck and determination, finally winning through in Europe. To make it possible, though, every MP has to realise that this is no longer a conscience issue. We have to learn to compromise and vote for something that may not be the perfect solution for us personally but is best for our nation.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Government Operations
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend very much for what she has done. She has worked tirelessly to promote good government and the restoration of the Government in Stormont, and she has a record of which she can be very proud indeed. If and when Stormont is restored, it will be largely thanks to her hard work, efforts and diplomacy. I thank her very much. She is right to insist on the proper way of sorting out some of these very difficult legacy issues. I think it is common ground across the House that it is not right that former soldiers should face unfair prosecution, with no new evidence, for crimes or for alleged crimes, when the charges were heard many years ago. I thank her for what she has done in that respect as well.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right hon. Gentleman very much for all the co-operation and support that has enabled the Government of this country to carry on and to protect the people of this country from the depredations of the Labour party, because, frankly, that is what we would face were it not for his encouragement and his support. He is, of course, right in what he says about the primacy of the Union. He and I share the same perspective that we can do that by coming out as a United Kingdom, whole and entire, getting rid of that divisive anti-democratic backstop that poses that appalling choice to the British Government and the British people—to the United Kingdom—of losing control of our trade, losing control of our regulation or else surrendering the Government of the United Kingdom. No democratic Government could conceivably accept that, and I am entirely at one with the right hon. Gentleman.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Agriculture
Owen William Paterson (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my right hon. Friend on getting off to a terrific start. His words yesterday outside No. 10 and again today will have brought real hope and inspiration to people and interests right across the United Kingdom. He touched on one of them just now. The common fisheries policy has been a biological, environmental, economic and social catastrophe that has ruined coastal communities and brought devastation to our marine environment. Some recent comments by Government Ministers have alarmed those fishermen that, perhaps, the negotiations will involve the CFP being used as a bargaining chip. Will the Prime Minister confirm to me that, on the day we leave, we will establish total sovereignty over the exclusive economic zone and all the resources within it, we will become a normal marine nation like Norway or Iceland, and, from then on, we will negotiate, on an annual basis, reciprocal deals with our neighbours?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Agriculture
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend. Valiant for truth in these matters, as he has been for so long, he is, of course, quite right that we have a fantastic opportunity now to take back control of our fisheries, and that is exactly what we will do. We will become an independent coastal state again, and we will, under no circumstances, make the mistake of the Government in the 1970s, who traded our fisheries away at the last moment in the talks. That was a reprehensible thing to do. We will take back our fisheries, and we will boost that extraordinary industry.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): What the right hon. Gentleman has said is redolent of the kind of defeatism and negativity that we have had over the past three years. Why begin by assuming that our EU friends will not wish to compromise? They have every reason to want to compromise, and that is what we will seek—a compromise. I respectfully say to him, and indeed to all hon. and right hon. Members, that it is now our collective responsibility to get this done. Both main parties in this House of Commons know full well the haemorrhage of support that we face if we continue to refuse to honour the mandate of the people. I think that, if he talks to his constituents in Chesterfield—
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Diolch yn fawr, Mr Speaker. My short answer to the right hon. Lady is that, of course, the people of the whole United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, and the people of Wales, to the best of my knowledge, voted emphatically to leave the EU, and that is what we will do.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Oliver Letwin (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend will be aware that he and I do not exactly see eye to eye on the question of the likely consequences of leaving without a deal, but may I ask him to maintain his optimism about the possibility of achieving a deal and to recognise that there lies within this House, I believe still, a possible majority in favour of almost any sensible arrangement? I personally will certainly vote for any arrangement he makes for an orderly exit from the EU.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend, who has been zealous in his pursuit of arrangements to prevent the no-deal option. I share his desire not to get to a no-deal outcome. I am delighted that he is willing to put his shoulder to the wheel and work to find a solution that will bring us together across the House and get this thing done, because that is what the people want us to do.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Foreign Trade
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, that is the very trap from which it is now absolutely vital that we escape. As the right hon. Gentleman says, that 8 December document effectively commits the UK to remaining in regulatory alignment in the customs union. We believe—and it is common ground in Dublin, Brussels and elsewhere—that there are facilitations available to enable frictionless trade not just at the Northern Irish border but at other borders too, in order for the UK to come out of the EU customs union while doing a free trade deal. That is what we are going to achieve.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend. He is totally right to focus on seaside towns and coastal communities because too often they have been forgotten, as has their infrastructure. This new Government’s programme is to unite this country with infrastructure, better education and technology to bring opportunity not just to cities around the country, but to rural and coastal communities as well.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): This Parliament has already voted several times to honour the mandate of the people to come out of the EU, and that is what we should do. I think that the right hon. Lady herself voted to trigger article 50, unless I am mistaken. I would encourage her to stick by the pledge she made.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Education
Anne Frances Milton (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that although money for schools is very welcome, further education and apprenticeships are probably the best enablers of social mobility, giving people a second or third chance? Will he ensure that apprenticeships and further education have the cash that they desperately need?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend for all the work that she has done in her career. She is absolutely right to raise the issue of further education and skills. Indeed, I had a long discussion on that very theme last night with the new Education Secretary, and that will be a priority of this Government. Yes, it is a great thing that 50% of kids should have the ambition to go to university, but it is equally important that other kids should acquire the skills that they need, which can be just as valuable and can lead to just as fantastic careers. It is vital that we invest now in further education and skills.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Environment
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, the bulldozers are some way off, but I am following the court cases with a lively interest because I share the hon. Lady’s concerns about air quality and pollution. However, I would point out parenthetically that NOx pollution has in fact fallen by 29% under this Conservative Government. The hon. Lady did not point that out. I will study the outcome of the court cases with a lively interest.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
James Philip Duddridge (Conservative, Centre-right): Angela Merkel has indicated that there might be some flexibility on the backstop. Does the Prime Minister believe, as I do, that the French and Germans are likely to put the EU under more pressure to be flexible?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): We should approach these talks in the spirit of maximum optimism, although optimism seems to be a quality that is deprecated on the Opposition Benches. It is a well-founded optimism because common sense dictates that now is the moment for seriousness and compromise, and I think that is what we are going to find.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Education
Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown (Conservative, Centre-right): May I warmly congratulate my right hon. Friend on lifting the mood of the nation? Will he look at the record amount of funds going into education, to address not only the funding going to further education but the distribution among the highest-funded and lowest-funded education authorities?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): That is of course what we are doing. That is the nature of the pledge and the undertaking that we are making with the £4.6 billion that we have announced. The objective, as I think Members will know by now, is to lift per capita per pupil funding to a minimum everywhere of £4,000 for primary school pupils and £5,000 for secondary school pupils.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Margaret Ann Throup (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend look at helping to make the work of the 20,000 more police officers more effective by implementing preventive measures such as restricting the number of properties being converted to houses in multiple occupation, which are undoubtedly a magnet for antisocial behaviour?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course it is vital that we look at prevention measures of all kinds. I am familiar with the problem that my hon. Friend raises and I will take it up with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Actually, the spending pledges I have made have been modest, so far. As the hon. Lady knows full well, they are well within the fiscal headroom that this country currently enjoys, and it is about time that that money was spent. If Labour Members are now opposing that spending—if they now think that we should not be putting another £1 billion into policing and another £4.6 billion into education—then now is the time to speak. But the Labour Front Benchers seem to have departed.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Transportation
Andrew Theakstone Percy (Conservative, Centre-right): Can I urge my right hon Friend the Prime Minister to continue all the efforts the Government have so far been engaged in to secure and save a future for the British steel industry, which is so important to the north of England? One way of doing that would be to commit quickly to HS3—Northern Powerhouse Rail.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Transportation
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his advice. Yes, I am a huge fan of Northern Powerhouse Rail. I went up to Manchester airport and saw the plan. It is a truly visionary and exciting plan, and I think we should definitely be doing it. If I might remind him, it is not just rails in this country that are built by British Steel in Scunthorpe; it may be to the advantage of the House and the pessimists of the Opposition to know that the TGV in France runs on rails made in Scunthorpe as well.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): I hope the Prime Minister agrees that having a general election might be something that the Leader of the Opposition wants but it is not what the country needs and it will not resolve the Brexit deadlock. Will he bring back any Brexit plan, put it to this House and then put it to the people, because that is the way we can finally break the Brexit deadlock, unite the country, move on, and get on to fixing the real problems that Britain faces, not least improving social mobility and achieving equality of opportunity?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend and I go back a long way and she and I agree on so many things, but on this I must, I am afraid, respectfully disagree. Having a second referendum, which is now Labour’s policy—it was not before, but it is now the party of return or revoke—would be catastrophic for our Union because it would of course undermine our most important case that when you have a referendum, that deeply divisive and toxic event should only take place once in every generation. That was what we said to the people of Scotland. How could we look at them and say we could not have a second referendum in Scotland if we had another referendum on the EU in the UK? It is simply the wrong thing to do.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Transportation
Mary Josephine Robinson (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to infrastructure. In addition to his support for Northern Powerhouse Rail, will he consider looking at ways that HS3 can be constructed from the north, thus maximising the jobs in our region?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Transportation
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I have asked Doug Oakervee, the former chairman of Crossrail, to conduct a brief six-week study of profiling of the spend on HS2, to discover whether such a proposal might have merit, and I will ensure that I revert to my hon. Friend as fast as possible on its conclusion.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my right hon. Friend, welcome him to his job and wish him the best of luck in achieving an amicable agreement with the EU. Violent crime concerns many of my constituents. In Essex, we are already seeing the impact of the extra 360 police who have been added to the force, so I thank him for promising 20,000 more across the country. Will Essex get its fair share?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend. I want to pay tribute to the work of Roger Hirst, the police and crime commissioner in Essex, who is helping to deliver the numbers achieved. It is good news that we will have even more—20,000 more—and my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is working on that.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Environment
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman asked that question because, as he knows, it is this party and this Government who are leading the world in setting a net zero target by 2050. There are people who do not think it can be done. There are all sorts of sceptics, pessimists and Britosceptics who think that this country cannot pull it off, but actually we can. We have cut carbon emissions in this country massively since 2010, and we will continue to do so. [Interruption.] The right hon. Gentleman says that it was his achievement. I remind him that, even though the population of London expanded by 200,000 during my tenure as Mayor of London, we cut carbon dioxide emissions by 14% with new technology, and that is the approach we will adopt.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Transportation
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. It is vital that we give business in Kent and hauliers of all kinds the logistical support they need, and as she knows, a huge amount of work is already being done.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, because that is the most sensible way forward. As the House will have heard several times, this Government will under no circumstances institute checks at the border in Northern Ireland. As for a smooth and orderly departure from the EU, that is now in the hands of our friends and partners, and I hope that they will see sense and compromise.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Shailesh Lakhman Vara (Conservative, Centre-right): For decades, Members in this House across the political divide have been critical of other countries’ democratic processes. Does my right hon. Friend agree that failure to deliver on the public mandate to leave the EU would ensure that our credibility on the international stage was irreparably damaged?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is a sad irony that the Labour party, which purports to be the party of the people, is now the party that seeks to thwart the will of the people, and it sends a terrible message around the world.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman, I am sure, knows that people can get a 100% advance on universal credit on day one, and as he knows—[Interruption.] Labour Members want to scrap universal credit, and I hear what they say, but the old welfare system kept people trapped in benefits. Two hundred thousand people are going to be lifted out of benefits and into work thanks to universal credit, and it has added massively to the incomes of 700,000 families across this country.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Energy
Trudy Lynne Harrison (Conservative, Centre-right): On the hottest day on record and with escalating tensions in Iran, does my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister agree that now is the time for a UK nuclear renaissance, and may I add that Copeland is the centre of nuclear excellence?
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Energy
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend, and she is entirely right: it is time for a nuclear renaissance. I believe passionately that nuclear must be part of our energy mix, and she is right to campaign for it. It will help us, by the way, to meet the carbon targets that the pessimists on the other side think are too ambitious.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Agriculture
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend very much. He has been a doughty champion of food and farming in this country for many years, and he is quite right to be filled—suffused, as he is—with optimism about it.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady, and I will of course make sure that I study the suggestions she has made in her reports. They will of course be taken into account as we come forward with a solution—a plan—for social care.
Priorities for Government — House of Commons, 2019-07-25
Topic: International Affairs
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): Given the busyness of the last few days, the Prime Minister may have missed the new leader of the Liberal Democrats saying that she would ignore a leave vote in a second referendum. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that campaigning for a referendum you intend to ignore is pretty pointless?