argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
House Business during the Pandemic — House of Commons, 2020-06-08
Topic: Government Operations
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): I have some sympathy with the comments of a couple of Conservative Members about the fact that at a moment of such importance in the nation we are once again here discussing our own affairs and our own matters. None of us enters this place in order to spend many hours having these kinds of debates, and I do not intend to spend the whole of my five minutes talking about it, but it is an important matter: we all know what these changes are about. The Government were very concerned that the Prime Minister was being exposed every Wednesday because he had not got those public schoolboys barracking behind him when he was being asked questions, and so the order went out, "We need people back in the Chamber so that this scrutiny—this forensic approach that the Leader of the Opposition is bringing forward—can be barracked at and shouted down; we must change the way that Parliament sits." That is a tremendous shame I have some sympathy with the argument that we need to be here in order to do our job. Frankly, I would probably be coming here for these debates myself anyway, although I recognise that there are colleagues who are excluded. However, there is a question about the message that we are sending. The right hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper) said that we need to set an example to people out there. At the same time, as my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Nadia Whittome) pointed out, the Government’s own advice is, "You should work from home if you can", and we had clearly found a way in which parliamentarians were able to make representations from home. We should have encouraged Members to come back and speak from the Chamber where possible, but allowed those Members who were excluded to continue making their contributions from home We should also have kept virtual voting, which is much simpler than the charade that we saw last week. I was very sad that people who had put in a tremendous amount of work to implement that system were unfairly criticised, because if we are going to have physical voting and we are going to have social distancing, then what we went through last week was probably about the best way that we were going to be able to achieve that. I do not blame those people for putting in place that great long queue that we had, but it was a ludicrous spectacle when we were walking up and down the steps of St Stephen’s Hall like marathon runners, going up one road and running back down the other, with people pushing in in front of each other because they thought they saw a chance to jump the queue. It really did not show this place in a good light. We could achieve the Leader the House’s desire to see Parliament represented and to have interventions that are only possible in this kind of Chamber while retaining online voting, so that we will not have to go through the sort of performance that we saw last week. I will leave it there.
Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-08
Topic: Law and Crime
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): I congratulate the Secretary of State on what he has said so far. This is an important Bill that we look forward to supporting. Does he agree that this legislation is needed all the more because of the huge backlog in the court system right now, and that, alongside the important measures that he is introducing, we really need some Government heft to support our legal system and clear away that backlog?
Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-08
Topic: Law and Crime
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): I very much enjoyed the speech by the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous), who gave us all food for thought, and I welcome entirely the spirit in which this debate has taken place so far. I do not know whether I ought to declare an interest, because after 21 years of marriage, I am sadly in the process of going through a divorce The primary concern of everyone who has children and is going through such an unhappy incident is the impact that it will have on their children. I think that the current legislation does lead to unnecessary additional conflict and blame, so the Government are right to pursue this important legislation at a time when they are extremely busy. In speaking in this debate, I am carrying on in the family way, because my great-grandfather, A. P. Herbert, was the original author of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1937. Some unkind remarks may be made to the Minister in Committee, but A. P. Herbert would have thought of that as a very easy ride, compared with what was said in 1937 when he brought that legislation through. The Secretary of State was right to stress that wanting to assist couples to split in as amicable and blame-free a fashion as possible does not in any way undermine what marriage is all about, or fail to recognise the crucial role that that institution plays in our society It is important to recognise what the current process does. It not only moves couples down the route of having to find blame and conflict, but includes the role of the court—the state—in deciding whether or not people should be married. The state does not consider that it has anything like the same level of responsibility for deciding whether a couple get married in the first place—if they meet at 4 o’clock and decide at 8 o’clock that night that they want to be married, the state considers that none of its business. So why, if a couple come to the conclusion that they should no longer be together, should the state consider that it is its business to investigate whether they are right I will leave it there, but I welcome what the Government and my right hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy) said and the spirit in which this debate is taking place. I hope that we will all keep in mind the need to ensure that couples who sadly reach the conclusion that they must separate are able to do so in as amicable a fashion as possible.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2020-06-08
Topic: Agriculture
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 6 and 7 together Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Weights and Measures That the draft Weights and Measures Act 1985 (Definitions of "Metre" and "Kilogram") (Amendment) Order 2020, which was laid before this House on 16 March, be approved Agriculture That the Direct Payments to Farmers (Crop Diversification Derogation) (England) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020 No. 475), dated 30 April 2020, a copy of which was laid before this House on 30 April, be approved.—(Leo Docherty.) Question agreed to. Committees
Veterans Charities: Covid-19 Support — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Gerald Jones (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister will know about the recent announcements of job losses at Help for Heroes, in addition to the closure of all but one of its recovery centres because of a reduction in funding as a result of covid-19. As that is the case for one of the UK’s biggest household names, which is under huge financial pressure and having to make such difficult decisions, what further support will the Government give to service and welfare charities to fill the gaps in the coming months? We know that the demand is there.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Environment
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): With almost 400,000 acres in England, the Ministry of Defence is one of the biggest landowners in this country. What is it doing to ensure that it is environmentally sustainable and helping the Government to meet their target to plant many more trees?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Macroeconomics
Patrick Bosco McFadden (Labour, Centre-left): What is the Prime Minister and the Chancellor’s estimate of the additional economic cost of implementing this second lockdown now, for four weeks or possibly more in the run-up to Christmas, compared with implementing it for two weeks when the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies first recommended it back on 21 September?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister rightly spoke of the importance of strong local action and strong local leadership, but he needs to acknowledge that his dithering and delay, and the lack of communication, has made local leaders’ jobs far more difficult. Will he and the Chancellor commit today to talk to the core cities to assess the economic impact of lockdown on them and, in the first instance, the need for a winter support package to tackle issues such as rough sleeping, food poverty and mental health, as the right hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom) said?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Labor
Mohammed Afzal Khan (Labour, Centre-left): When local leaders asked the Government to maintain the furlough scheme at 80% when tier 3 restrictions were imposed across much of the north-west, north-east and west midlands, they refused. Instead, the lowest-paid northerners were told that a 67% wage subsidy was sufficient for them. When similar restrictions were extended to the rest of England over the weekend, the Chancellor appears to have changed his mind, shaken the magic money tree and returned to 80%. Does the Prime Minister understand why the north believes it is being treated with utter contempt? Can he now confirm that the Government will maintain an 80% wage subsidy for any ongoing tier 3 restrictions after the national lockdown is lifted?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Labor
Alexandra Mary Davies-Jones (Labour, Centre-left): We are now halfway through our firebreak lockdown in Wales, and much of the north-west, the north-east and the west midlands has faced significant local restrictions for months now. When devolved Administrations and local government argued that the 67% furlough scheme was insufficient, the UK Government said that it was the best they could do. Yet when similar restrictions were extended to England, including large swathes of the south, they then changed their minds and have gone back to 80%. Why do this Government have one rule for the south of England and another one for the rest of the United Kingdom?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Labor
Christopher Philip James Elmore (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister could possibly be a bit confused. In his answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), he said that the furlough scheme is available "throughout the UK". On 16 October, the Welsh First Minister asked the Chancellor to extend the furlough scheme from 67% of pay to 80%. On 19 October, the Chancellor told the First Minister that that could not be done for "technical reasons". What are those technical reasons? Or is this more about the fact that when it suits the Prime Minister, furlough applies to the whole UK, and when it does not suit him for party political reasons, it does not?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Labor
Charlotte Louise Nichols (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Prime Minister please tell the House how many people he estimates were laid off in anticipation of the furlough scheme ending before its last-minute extension, and whether he will make an apology to them?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Labor
Stella Judith Creasy (Labour, Centre-left): A local mum, Mel, texted me this morning. She is terrified because she works in a supermarket and has only recently returned to work after shielding because she has a serious medical condition. As lockdown returns, she is worried that if she shields again, she will lose her job, but if she does not, she will lose her life. What employment protection will the Prime Minister offer those who are clinically vulnerable in jobs that cannot be furloughed, so that people like Mel do not have to choose between their lives and their livelihoods?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Labor
Maria Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Prime Minister understand that extending the furlough scheme on the very day it was supposed to end, and doing so for just a month, means that in reality many of my constituents whose jobs were furloughed have already been made redundant by their employers in anticipation of its non-availability after 31 October? Can those people be re-employed and furloughed until the scheme’s new endpoint? Can he tell me whether people who have changed jobs since the original furlough scheme was closed to new applicants are eligible to be furloughed by their new employers, who might not have registered for the scheme by the time it closed to new applicants a few months ago?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Labor
Jessica Elizabeth Morden (Labour, Centre-left): May I echo the frustration expressed by hon. Friends representing Welsh constituencies that the Prime Minister acted on furlough only when setting out England-wide action? As he has not explicitly said this, will he confirm that furlough support will be backdated in Wales? What funding will come to Wales as a result of the business grant support announced on Saturday?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): This pandemic has made the problems with our social care system clear. High staff vacancy rates and a reliance on agency staff contributed to the spread of the virus. Lack of funding meant a struggle to afford inflated prices for PPE. The weakness of our social care system ended up costing lives During the first wave, social care was an afterthought for the Government. To ensure that it is better supported in the second wave, will the Prime Minister confirm that the Government will consider investing the £3.9 billion in social care recommended by the Health and Social Care Committee, as a starting point for reform?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Macroeconomics
Angela Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): Did the Chancellor veto an earlier, shorter circuit breaker lockdown, or can the 40 days of dither and delay that are likely to cost thousands of extra lives lost and billions in damage to our economy all be laid at the door of the Prime Minister?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): Whether it is the self-employed, small business owners who pay themselves via dividends, or people who were timed out last time, there are still 3 million people excluded in the UK. Will the Prime Minister resist the temptation to simply roll over the current arrangements, and address those 3 million excluded? I have to say to the Prime Minister that these measures are unpopular but they are necessary, and people will buy into them if they feel supported, but they will not buy into them if they feel they are continuing to be excluded by this Government, nor will their friends and family.
UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State has repeatedly claimed that the deal that she signed with Japan goes far beyond the original EU-Japan deal, so I return to the question that I asked her two months ago: will she tell us, in billions of pounds and percentages of growth, what the forecast benefits are for UK exports in GDP from her deal, compared with the forecast benefits of retaining the existing EU-Japan deal?
UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): What is going on? The Secretary of State claims that the UK-Japan deal goes far beyond the EU-Japan deal but will not quantify the difference. Why not? If she will not publish the exact figures at this point, will she at least do one basic thing and simply state on the parliamentary record whether the growth in our exports and GDP is forecast to be higher as a result of the UK-Japan deal than it was under the EU-Japan deal?
Free Trade Agreement: Canada — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Gareth Thomas (Labour, Centre-left): With just days to go, and with not just this continuity agreement still to be completed, British exporters such as our car manufacturers simply do not know whether they will face tariffs potentially as high as 20% in markets as diverse as Mexico and Vietnam and beyond. Is it not the truth that the Secretary of State has focused too much of her time chasing new deals with the Trump Administration and others and taken her eye off protecting the free trade that we already have?
UK Trade Policy: US Presidential Election — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): But if the Secretary of State’s global Britain is to mean anything, we must not put all our eggs in one basket. I think it fair to say that, in recent times, the Secretary of State has bet everything on securing a trade deal with the Trump Administration. She might want to conclude a deal with Canada, but the Prime Minister there said that the Secretary of State had lacked the "bandwidth" to focus on getting a deal with his country. Does she intend to ignore that criticism and continue making a deal with the US her dominant priority? If so, what confidence does she have that the Biden Administration will feel the same way in terms of their own priorities for trade?
UK Trade Policy: US Presidential Election — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Mark Phillip Hendrick (Labour, Centre-left): A new US President and Congress will not ratify a trade deal if we scupper the Good Friday agreement; our banning of Huawei infrastructure has angered China, and now this Government are prepared to break international law in the way we leave the European Union. How many major global trading partners are this Government prepared to upset before they do more harm to our economy than covid-19 has done already?
UK Trade Policy: US Presidential Election — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Energy
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): As one of the MPs for the Humber energy estuary, where we are doing pioneering work in areas such as carbon capture, it is heartwarming to hear American President-elect Biden talking about the global climate crisis and the action needed to address it, and seeing this as a way of generating the jobs of the future. Will the Secretary of State expand a little on what she thinks can be put into any trade deals in terms of this country’s green technology and making sure this creates the jobs needed on both this side of the Atlantic and the other?
UK Trade Policy: US Presidential Election — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): Although we would all want a successful outcome to any trade negotiations with the US, will the Secretary of State confirm that, according to the Government’s own best-case scenario, any US deal with the UK will account for growth of only 0.16% over 15 years? Will she confirm what this will translate into if we do not get a deal with the EU? What loss in growth will we sustain?
UK Trade Policy: US Presidential Election — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: International Affairs
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): President-elect Biden has spoken powerfully about the need to end support for the war in Yemen and to stop selling arms that Saudi uses, in his words, for "murdering children". Will the Secretary of State revisit her policy on arms sales in the light of the new President’s statement or will she choose to remain in lockstep with the blood prince bin Salman instead?
EU Trade Agreements: Rollover with non-EU Countries — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: International Affairs
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour, Centre-left): We learn from The Telegraph that the Minister has rejected the Ghana deal because it was a "a substantial departure" from the EU deal, but she says that the Japan deal goes far beyond the EU deal. What is it? Are the Government exercising new British sovereignty to produce far-reaching new deals, or are they just rolling over and accepting the same deals that we already had?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Paul Christopher Blomfield (Labour, Centre-left): From 1 January, the Secretary of State will be responsible for our trading relationship with other European countries. With or without a deal, the services sector is concerned that its interests have been marginalised throughout the negotiations with the EU. This does not just affect financial and legal services, but engineers, technicians and others. Will the Secretary of State commit to securing—as a start—mutual recognition of qualifications to enable all these crucial sectors to work across Europe?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Agriculture
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): The average sheep pregnancy lasts 152 days, so tupping for next spring’s flocks in Wales has already happened in the autumn. The Minister referred earlier to Welsh lamb being protected in Japan, but 50% of Welsh lamb goes to the European Union, so the big issue is knowing what will happen on 1 January for Welsh lamb. I do not want to have a go at the Government, but I do just want them to get a deal so that Welsh lamb will not be priced out of its single biggest market across the whole of the European Union.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): There are reports that the Government plan to remove anti-dumping duties on imported bicycles at the end of transition, leading to a flood of cheap imports from China, which would be devastating for UK bike manufacturers. Can the Minister tell me what proportion of the domestic market consists of bikes made in the UK and confirm that if it is more than 1%, anti-dumping duties should remain?