Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC Business Live 20171204

Reform in the us, we will tell you all you need to know. Reform in the us, we will tell you all you need to know. Are you fed up with paying airlines extra to carry your luggage on their planes . Well meet the man who says his Company Provides a fast and simple solution. And the Twin Brothers who lost out to Mark Zuckerberg in the battle to control facebook have become bitcoin billionaires. So this morning we want to know, would you invest in Virtual Currencies would you put cash into bitcoin . Hello and welcome to business live. It isa it is a very important week for brexit. It is a very important week for brexit. It is a big day for brexit. In a few hours time britains Prime Minister theresa may will sit down for lunch with the Eu Commission president jean Claude Juncker. On the menu is the rather chewy issue of whether enough progress has been made to start talks on a post brexit trade deal. A weekend of diplomatic activity has brought the two sides closed brought the two sides closer together on the uks financial settlement and citizens rights. That comes after last weeks offer of more money from downing street , a sum the bbc understands could be as high as 60bn. But when it comes the issue of the land border between the irish republic and Northern Ireland nobody wants a hard border, and the republics foreign minister has told the bbc more credible answers are needed for talks to move on. That border is politically important. But the two sides economies and citizens also depend on goods flowing freely. In 2015, that trade was worth just over 4bn. But theres financial inter dependence across europe too. Last year, the uk exchanged about 730bn of goods and services with the other 27 eu countries. Joining me now from brussels is paul hofheinz, president of the think tank the lisbon council. Good to see you. Outlining some of theissues good to see you. Outlining some of the issues there as far as what is at stake and where agreement is needed before talks can progress, we believe there has been some sort of progress as far as the divorce bill is concerned but are we ready to move on to the nketiah stage . Next stage. All indications is there isa next stage. All indications is there is a deal, we wont know if there is is a deal, we wont know if there is isa is a deal, we wont know if there is is a pope or not until we see smoke you dont haul out of the machinery u nless you dont haul out of the machinery unless you think you are going to getten agreement. The Prime Minister is here, the Irish Government met in cabinet to talk over their part of the equation, everyone is being consulted and talked to, briefly, it is only a deal to start the next round of talks, which are going to be equally complex and possibly even more complicated and much more important, the trade deal is going to be the mother of all negotiations, here and hopefully we will be able to move on the that later today. We are just hearing on the News Agencies now, i mean we have a statement here from irelands European Affairs minister, saying that yes, we are hopeful a deal will be done, but there is no agreement yet. It is crucial that that agreement is done particularly on the irish border issue before these talks can progress. Yes, that is absolutely right. Burr the equally interesting thing to me is look at what is happening today. The Prime Minister is here in brussels, talking about what is going on in ireland while the Irish Government issues very important statements on it. This is a sign to come and in some ways of a sign where the work remains to be done. No one in the European Union is going to get ahead of the Irish Government on this. There are very important negotiations that will need to take place over the irish process, the result at the end of the day will have to be accept to believe the Irish Government. The eu wont force something on them. That will become a very important issue going forward. You see it today and hopefully we have enough of a deal to not stop all of the other important parts of the package. To not stop all of the other important parts of the packagem there a danger all of the talks get so bogged down in the two basic issues that we dont make any progress on the other stuff . Well, i would say yes there is danger, the good news is everyone seems to have a strong awareness of it. The problem with the irish issue is there is no easy solution, it is difficult to imagine what you could put on tb table that everyone would agree to, but i am telling you they are working hard on that and hopefully they come up with something that fits the bill. Paul it is good to talk to you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news. The biggest corporate takeover of the year looks likely to happen in the us. The retail chain cvs health says its buying the countrys third Biggest Health insurer aetna in a deal valued at 77bn. Its being seen as a pre emptive move to see off amazons impending entry into selling medicines. The white house could accept a slightly higher Corporate Tax rate in order to get the reforms through congress. Budget chief Mick Mulvaney implied it could agree to a 22 rate, despite the Senate Passing a 20 rate on saturday. The bill still needs to be reconciled with the house version before President Trump can sign the reforms into law. Greece is looking to a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in brussels later to approve the release of its latest bailout funds. An agreement was reached with the eu and imf over the weekend for the almost 6bn loan. Greece has been struggling for years to restructure around 350bn of public debt. You may have noticed bens voice is different. You need a hot toddy it isa different. You need a hot toddy it is a Good Opportunity for you to speak more. Let douse that now. Let us speak more. Let douse that now. Let us look what the is going on in business. We have the business live page as ever looking at all the stories breaking, we have facebook, you may remember some months ago facebook announcing it would have a brand new Building Full of new employees in london, well today is the day, they will open up this building, so it is announced today the new London Office creating 800 newjobs in the uk. By the end of next year 300,000 people will be working for facebook in the uk, so thatis working for facebook in the uk, so that is among the stories on the bliefz page. We will stay with that theme. We will stay with that theme. Australia has become the latest country to ask if google and facebook are too powerful in the advertising world. The competition regulator is going to look into whether they are damaging traditional media such as the countrys struggling newspaper industry. Leisha santorelli is in our Asia Business hub with the story. All print media round the world have the same issue, so what are the Australian Authorities hoping to achieve . Absolutely, i cant remember the last time i saw a young person pick up a newspaper, so as you mentioned it is a global problem but australia is particularly concentrated and so now they are looking at the Big Tech Companies like facebook and google. They are very powerful, so what they are looking to find out is whether there isa looking to find out is whether there is a dark side to their power and whether it has harmed the 3450ed Media Industry be it is consumer or publishers, this has to do with the future of journalism and publishers, this has to do with the future ofjournalism and the quality of news. In australia many of the newspaper, magazines and tv stations they have been struggling with years of falling advertising revenues and this has translated into big job cuts. The National Media union says round 2500 journalism jobs have been lost in the past five years so australias competition regulator will look into these firms and release a report by late next year. We will watch this space with great interest. Interesting to cover that story. January japan is having januaryjapan is having a january japan is having a flat day. Let us show you europe, they are having a bumper situation and this is all in how wall street will start trading. That is because basically, the Senate Passed tax cut legislation late saturday night early sunday morning, there is a bit more do in terms of the politics of this but it is another hurdle ove rco m e this but it is another hurdle overcome and there is great anticipation of what this means for corporate america, the worlds number one economy and therefore the Global Economy. We will talk about that in more detail in a moment but first let us hear from zoe thomas with more detail. Us law makers are expected to pass a short term spend businessman they to as the government runs out of money on friday. Both sides have express a desire to avoid a government shut down. Democrats want to see increases in immigration spending, republicans would like to see cuts to health care subsidy, the Senate Banking Committee Votes on the nomination ofjerome powell to be head of the organisation. He is expected to take a similar line as the churnet chairman. The Us Labour Department releases job fig yours for november. Analysts expect it to show an up take in retail hiring. Joining us isjeremy cook, chief economist at world first. That he are talking about 22 , that could be a boost for us figures. Trump wanted 15 so getting to 20 is isa trump wanted 15 so getting to 20 is is a give away from his original plan, 22 , i think he will deal on it. He wants tax reform given the fa ct it. He wants tax reform given the fact none of his plans round the wall or obamacare have to come to pass this the first thing gets over the line, the reason why european stocks are so high and obviously eve ryo ne stocks are so high and obviously everyone is watching to see the what the dough and snp doing a lot of the tax cut is focussed on corporate america, the executives who run the businesses and how much monday will be repatriated into the us as a result of tax cuts on profits elsewhere. We will talk about that later because there is interesting stuff in the press about whether that will feed through to the create jobs and prosper any the places that need it. What else are you watching in terms of news or this week in europe . , there is so such thing as a free lunch. This is an important lunch between the Prime Minister and obviouslyjean Claude Juncker in brussels, talking about the irish issue. It is front and centre of brexit now, and it is definitely the line that needs. Are we seeing the impact on the pound . It was very sensitive last week as different bits of so called breakthroughs were filtering through. Pound traders have got board of breakthrough, we need new, that the Eu Commission meeting where we can talk about trade is next thursday, friday, so it will remain volatile into that, but obviously, the weight of expectation is towards some form of resolution, any disappointment in the recent sterling strength will fall apart quickly. Thank you for now. We will talk later about some of the paper stories. See you soon. We will immediate meet the man who thinks he has found and alternative to paying badge fee, you pay him to ta ke to paying badge fee, you pay him to take them to your destination. Stay tuned. You are with business live. Britains biggest Business Group has warned that growth will be subdued for the next couple of years. Thats despite strong global growth. Joining us now is rain newton smith, chief economist at the confederation of british industry. Rain, talk us through this forecast, it isa rain, talk us through this forecast, it is a mixed picture isnt it . Yes, so what we see in the uk economy is steady but subdued growth over the next couple of years, with growth of round i. 5 , drifting down slowly to i. 3 round i. 5 , drifting down slowly to 1. 3 in 2019. Round 1. 5 , drifting down slowly to 1. 3 in 2019. And the story behind thatis 1. 3 in 2019. And the story behind that is we see high inflation of round 3 , a peak of about 3 this year, that is eating into household budgets, in real terms and making it, so what we are seeing as a slowing in Household Spending, on the high street, on going out and other consumer services. And at the same time, the fog of uncertainty round brexit is leading to more subdued growth in Business Investment over the next couple of yea rs. As you just said there, how hold spending is played an Important Role in the last year or so, but what about looking ahead, to what extent will Household Spending boost growth here . So it is important to remember that we still expect the economy to grow, we still expect households to spend but it is just at a softer pace than what we have seen over the past couple of years, so we expect to see consumption growth slowing to 196 to see consumption growth slowing to 1 per year, so that main engine of the uk economy, just has its foot off the gas at the minute. We are seeing that shifting down in gear, in growth across the uk. Some businesses have done well out of the weak pound . So, it is true, one of the things that will be boosting the economy over the next couple of years is net trade, so the wea ker couple of years is net trade, so the weaker sterling is supporting our manufacturers, it is making our exports more competitive and it is also really important to remember the Global Economy is doing really wet at the moment. That is providing a boost to our exports so that will be one of the engines of growth in the economy. But it is set against the economy. But it is set against the weaker picture on cost stick demand so Household Spending and Business Investment. Thank you very much. Lets mention a couple of movers on the ftse 100. Lets mention a couple of movers on the ftse100. Rio tinto shares doing well on the news of a new chairman, simon thompson. Skys shares up 2 as well. Youre watching business live. Our top story everyone is keeping a close eye on uk Prime Minister, theresa may, as she heads to brussels for crucial brexit negotiations. Talks over the border with ireland could be on the verge of a breakthrough. The talks cant progress until the issue of the irish border is resolved and the so called divorce bill from the European Union. A quick look at how markets are faring. The pound is in the spotlight as far as the negotiations are concerned. You get to the airport and your bags are heavier than they should be and they are tipping the scale and it is quite expensive. Or you have to pack them in the queue. Last year, us airlines alone collected 4. 2 billion in baggage fees. Thats 2. 5 of their revenue and the baggage fees were the highest area of profit growth, increasing 10 compared to 2015. Thats while ticket prices only went up by 1 . So, no wonder it may seem like a good idea to send your bags along separately, something our next guest has turned into a business. Adam ewart is founder of send my bag. Good morning. Good morning. So, adam tell us how this started. Your girlfriend was coming home from uni and had a lot of bags and you came up and had a lot of bags and you came up with a solution . Yes, just like yourself, i got hit with excess baggage fees. I had another business at the time where we were transporting Musical Instruments around the world. We got charged £50. After dragging them on and off the coach and getting to the airport, i thought it is ridiculous. I jotted down the airport, i thought it is ridiculous. Ijotted down the back of an airline napkina ijotted down the back of an airline napkin a couple of brand names that i thought could work if indeed, there want something already out there. I went home. I looked online to see if there was something. There wasnt. I set up send my bag. Com and started off for my girlfriend. Got a little bit of press around it. It only cost £100 to set up. The first website, i am only cost £100 to set up. The first website, iam not only cost £100 to set up. The first website, i am not a technical person, the first page was an e mail contact us page and it worked and the figures that you have quoted £4 billion in excess fee ins 2007, that was only £400 million. So, the airlines have been going for baggage over the last ten years as they have looked for new areas. So we have just gone with the market and launched new services and knew routes along the way. What do you charge . £16 within the uk. £25 to £30 within europe and services around the world, we have an American Service which is popular which is 99. How does the bag get there . Does it go on the same plane . No, a different plane. We will collect your bag before you travel and have it waiting for you when you get there. We work with major Logistics Partners so your bag is safe and secure with us. We delivered 200,000 bags last year, the airlines mishanded 22 million and lost 1 million. The airlines mishanded 22 million and lost1 million. How many do you lose . No, we give you a sturdy plastic holder so you loop through two cable ties and they dont come off. We will give you one of those, we are not using a sticky backed piece of paper that can peel away when 2 gets caught. You are talking about your costs of the bags, £25 in europe, isnt it less than if you put a bag in the hold with a low cost carrier, so therefore, why would i choose this extra log scale idea that could cause more headaches if it is not where i want it to be when i want to be. At least it is on the plane with me, you have got a sense that it will arrive when i arrive . That probably is more of a sense than a guarantee. If you are on the plane and you think my bag is safely under me, maybe, it is not, maybe it is whipping its way around the airport. So, with send my bag it was set up to solve a problem. So i didnt think this is a good idea, lets see if people want it. It was set up of the back of a problem. As the airlines increased their prices people go, i hate waiting for 55 minute in gatwick when you have got offa minute in gatwick when you have got off a plane with two small children is not fun. Maybe you are travelling from the middle east and emirates charge you 700, thats designed to not bring that second bag. It is a wide range of people that turned to the service. Who is your typical customer . It strikes me that it is only people sending two or three bags. If it is just one bag you might as well pay to put it on the plane, but if its might as well pay to put it on the plane, but if its two or three, people travelling with a lot of stuff might benefit . We started off for the student market. A lot of that was about the excess factor. Although you are travelling with one bag if you end up five kilos with ryanair, you end up paying them twice. If you are a student arriving in paris and you have to go to the paris metro with a large suitcase, thats not fun. When you move into our international routes, if you are travelling to new york, you would think, why would i pay for a bag when off free check bag with the airline, but it moves into the convenience factorfor airline, but it moves into the convenience factor for people. So you can sweep straight through check in and a major market for us is the south connecting market. There is 50 million flights where people book their own connections and if you have to get your bag and check it, re check it and look at the hassle that went on in the schengen zone during the summer if you have to check it to a legacy carrier to go to new york or wherever youre going, thats a lot of hassle. You are a great example of hassle. You are a great example of someone who encountered a problem and created a business to solve it. What advice would you have to someone who wants to do the same . Dont let anything set you back. Give it a go. Actually try to make money. Set up with as low costs as possible. Dont go asking everybody else for money. Do it yourself. I wouldnt want to invest in somebody u nless wouldnt want to invest in somebody unless they said, i have made money. Or acquired users. You have to go for it, there is a reliance on eve ryo ne to go for it, there is a reliance on everyone going, i have a start up. Lets pitch it. Do something yourself and if you need more funding, go and get it. Very interesting. And adam married the girlfriend too just a little bit of extra information. You see. It all worked out in the end in a moment well take a look through the business pages, but first heres a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. Stay up to date with the days Business News as it happens on the bbc business live page. And we want to hear from you, too. Get involved on the bbc business live web page, bbc. Com business, on twitter bbcbusiness and you can find us on facebook at bbc money. Business live on tv and online, whenever you need to know. Jeremy cookjoins us again. He will talk about the stories in the press. Weve mentioned brexit. We talked about it a lot already. Lets talk about the bitcoin billionaires. Yes. Jeremy, gritted, through gritted teeth, tell us what this story is about. Two people who maybe familiar to a fair few viewers around their investments or certain investment in facebook and they had a lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg. They put 11 million into bitcoin backin they put 11 million into bitcoin back in 2010, i think, it was and now according to the figures, the rise, they are now the first bitcoin billionaires. Hopefully. Multibillionaires. Hopefully they can buy themselves nicerjumpers. I am nota can buy themselves nicerjumpers. I am not a great fan of a button up cardigan. This is multibillionaires on paper unless they can realise it in real money, thats the question, isnt it . The reason bitcoin is volatile because it is so liquid. There is so little out there to be able it trade. You see big, big swings on it on a day by day basis hence why it is up 10,000 . If the confidence goes away, there is no reason why if it is worth 10,000 or 11,000 today for a single bitcoin why it cant be worth 10 or 11 in the next week and therefore their billionaire story evaporates. There isa billionaire story evaporates. There is a lot of excitement about the us tax reform. There is an article about how a Company Plans to spend its tax cut money . This is the thing about the trickle down as some people would call it around what happens with the tax cuts. They give it to the businesses, but how does the business spend it . Donchts they spend it on infrastructure or investing to as some pharmaceutical companies said, you know, what we are not going to pay our workers anymore. We will give it back to the shareholders and give it back in shareholders and give it back in share bite backs. That happened a lot through the Global Financial crisis and you know if this continues it wont help the economy at all. Jeremy, thank you very much. Thank you. You did well. I survived. I got through it. Without a croak in sight. We will see you again tomorrow. Bye bye. Good morning. Last night was pretty cloudy, but there were some breaks in the cloud to allow some of our weather watchers to capture the supermoon. Look at that. It appears brighter and closer to the earth through the supermoon phase. This week, weather wise it is quiet for the first couple of days. It will turn wet and windy by midweek. By the end of the week it will turn colder and with the risk of snow and ice. This morning, lots of cloud, but some breaks here and there. And its going to be a dry day for most of us. There will be rain affecting the Northern Isles, a bit of rain in western scotland and we could see rain down towards the South West England and west wales, but for most of the day, for most of the country, its going to be dry and while i said there will be a fair amount of cloud, a few breaks here and there. Pretty mild. Temperatures around about eight to ten or 11 celsius. Similar conditions towards Northern Areas of england and for Northern Ireland and scotland, mostly dry weather here as well. Just a bit more in the way of rain towards western scotland. Certainly the Northern Isles of scotland. There will be rain which is going to be more persistent here. Through this evening and tonight, not a great deal of change. Again, there will be a few breaks developing, but pretty dry conditions. It will stay mild and certainly frost free to take us into tuesday morning. These are the overnight lows, about five to eight celsius. So during tuesday, again, pretty quiet conditions. Pretty similarto pretty quiet conditions. Pretty similar to today really. Lots of cloud around, but some breaks developing to give us some sunshine at times especially towards southern areas of england into the afternoon. More in the way of rain across the far north west of scotland. The wind is starting to pick up as well and top temperatures on tuesday about eight to ten celsius. It is as we get to wednesday where the wind picks up and there will be gales around this irish sea coastal areas. With that, some heavy rain spreading from west to east throughout the day and temperatures up into double figures for many of us. That rain is associated with this area of low pressure and lots of weather fronts really spreading eastwards as we go through thursday and into friday. As that clears, the isobars come in from the north, that means we will see a northerly wind developing. Winter returning and with that cold, northerly wind, there is the risk of snow and ice. More details on the website. Thats it from me. Bye bye. Hello, its monday, its 9 oclock, im victoria derbyshire. Welcome to the programme. Our top story today britain and the European Union appear close to reaching a deal that will clear the way for the second phase of brexit talks. Well look at whether its possible to avoid a hard border between n ireland and ireland and why its so important. Also on the Programme Life with obsessive compulsive disorder. Domestic demand so Household Spending and Business Investment. Im nearly 24 so i say nearly 24 because i am 23, but i dont like odd numbers because they bring me bad luck so i have bipolar as well, and borderline personality disorder. It isa and borderline personality disorder. It is a long list of what