22/06/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson

It's less than 24 hours until the UK votes

We'll assess the last minute campaigning and what markets make

Live from London, that's our top story

By this time tomorrow the first votes will have been cast

Both sides have been using the last day of campaigning

Pollution from millions of diesel cars increases when air temperatures

fall too low. In this is how markets look across

Europe ahead of the crucial vote on the UK's membership of the EU.

And is poor eyesight an economic problem?

We'll meet the man who says millions of people still lack access to basic

care to cure poor vision and it's costing the world

And - I quit - new figures show staff turnover

mean more of us are prepared to ditch our job on the spot

So we want to know, is a job for life a thing of the past?

Let us know, use the hashtag BBC Biz Live.

The UK's big vote on its future in Europe begins in less than 24 hours.

So that means less than 24 hours of last minute

Today, more than 1,000 business leaders have written to the UK's

Times newspaper to warn that leaving the EU would harm

Those who've signed include bosses of 51 FTSE 100 companies

and hundreds of smaller businesses which between them, employ

On the other side of the debate, the billionaire entrepreneur

and inventor Sir James Dyson has written a piece describing a Remain

victory as "an act of national self-harm."

He says the vote offers "the last opportunity to regain

Well, letters from bosses to their employees have also

The latest, a senior vice President at Tate and Lyle Sugar,

explaining to staff that, in his view, the EU has pushed

Gerald Mason has not advised the 800 staff how to vote, but did say jobs

And German newspaper Handelsblatt has published an interview

with the EU's Financial Services commissioner who says that Banks

could be forced to relocate jobs from London to Frankfurt or Paris

It's worth pointing out though that the commissioner -

Jonathan Hill - is a Brit and he was appointed

to the European Commission by Prime Minister David Cameron,

who wants the UK to remain in the EU.

With me now is our business editor Simon Jack.

Simon as we get closer to decision day, you really get a sense that

business leaders are feeling they need to do all they can to influence

those who work for them? Yes, this those who work for them? Yes, this

is the biggest display of force yet by the Remain business camp. It is a

better of 51 of the top FTSE 100 companies. There is hundreds of

smaller companies. I think that, you know, in the headlines as well, we

have got James Dyson and Tate Lyle, but it is wrong to suggest on

the one hand that we have got this and on the other hand we've got

that. I mean for every Dyson, we have people from Astra accident Ca-a

Yo! Sushi. Among larger employers they are overwhelmingly in favour of

remain. You could ask how effective they are as cheer lead tors get the

vote out? Businesses can't vote. They don't have a voice. In the

Scottish referendum big business came late to that party and come

people credited them with turning that vote around. Big business is

overwhelmingly in. Remain's lead is narrower. That could be to do with

the greater importance that big business place on the single market

which even Vote Leave admit we would have to leave. Has the voice of the

smaller businessman, woman, entrepreneur, sole trader been

drowned out by the big business leaders? It is an important point

because small businesses employ more people. 50% of the entire UK

workforce is employed by smaller businesses. There is an

inevitability, there are household names on this, you know, your

Vodafones, your Whitbreads and AstraZeneca and those are big names,

you won't have the same appeal if you're running a plumbing business,

there is a danger of that, I suppose. And like I say, the

Remain's lead amongst smaller business is much more evenly split.

But within the big business community definitely the bias is on

Remain. Have there been any surprises. Even will vote on their

personal circumstances. If you have trade with Europe, if you rely on t

you probably want to stay in. If you're not fussed, you probably want

to state out and that's the debate? There are a couple of people who

signed the letter. There was an earlier letter in February at the

beginning of the campaign, then they had 36 FTSE 100 bosses and 200

smaller businesses. This is lots more people have joined. For

example, the boss of, the Chairman of Barclay's didn't sign the last

letter, he signed this letter. As to your other point in the headlines

there, there is fear amongst the banks that at the moment if you are

in the EU and you are a bank, you can sell financial services anywhere

in world. Switzerland have got to put lots of people inside the EU and

that's why you see big groups of employees from places like UBS and

credit Suisse in London, people fear they might lose that. The FTSE 100

is not a British index, it is extremely international. Therefore,

half the views on there represent many, many countries? Only 51 signed

it. It is difficult to get Chief Executives or chairmen to sign it.

They have got to clear it with their board. The FTSE 100 is stuffed full

of mining companies who wouldn't feel appropriate to get involved in

this. It is not a UK Plc index, but they employ a lot of people here in

the UK. Simon, thank you. We will let gu. A busy day ahead for Simon

and for the rest of us for that matter.

New research seen by the BBC suggests pollution from many popular

diesel cars is much worse when air temperatures drop below 18 Celsius.

It's thought pollution control software, fitted

in millions of vehicles, is turned off for most

of the year in the UK, because of the cool weather here.

The UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says no

The US electric car-maker, Tesla, has made an offer to buy solar

The deal is thought to be worth $2.8 billion.

Tesla boss Elon Musk, is already the chairman

of Solar City and the largest shareholder in both companies.

He's described the deal as a "no brainer", creating a company that

would sell customers an electric car, a home battery and a solar

US plane-maker, Boeing, has reached a deal to sell

At list price, that's to say, without any discounts,

The agreement marks an important step in economic relations

between US and Iran after economic sanctions

If the deal is approved, it will be the largest business

transaction between a US firm and Iran since the 1979 revolution.

There is more on the Business Live page. It is dominated by the UK

referendum today. For good reason and many, many bosses have been

talking to the BBC including the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and

also, of course, Boris Johnson, who is leading the Leave campaign. So

you can get all their views and what they have been saying today on the

Business Live page. This is Tim Martin the Chairman of

Wetherspoon's. We spoke to him yesterday. He has been talking to

Fif Live and sterling is keeping hold of those gains it made earlier

this week. At the end of last week we saw falls. Down 2%. But then on

Monday, managing to win back some of those falls and ending up 1.5%. All

of that, could have, related to some uncertainty ahead of the EU

referendum, but lots concerns about a slowdown in China. Can I mention

Hornby? It is having a tough time. Difficult disappointing, extremely

challenging here for the model rail company. It has come out with its

latest numbers. So now you know! Business Live, it is all there.

Everything you need! A rare break from the referendum!

Let's talk about expensive city. There is a new poll.

Well, believe it or not, it used to be Luanda,

But, in the latest global survey, another city has emerged

Mariko Oi has the details for us, she's in Singapore.

Tell us more about the annual survey? Indeed, Sally. It wasn't

London. It wasn't New York. It was actually Hong Kong which was ranked

as the most expensive city for ex-pats. You can spend $8, $8 US

dollars for a cup of coffee, but living here in Singapore that

doesn't sound too outrageous, Singapore is expensive as well.

Coming in fourth and also Tokyo and Beijing, both ranked in the top ten

as well. London, in fact, has dropped to 17th. This is all

according to the survey done by Human Resources consultancy company,

Mercer, but there is another survey that comes out and that's done by

the Economist Intelligence Unit and that ranks the most expensive city

in general, not just for ex-pats, for that ranking Singapore comes at

the top ahead of London, or New York as an ex-pat living in Singapore, I

find the rankings rather depressing every time they come out. Good

stuff. Rather expensive place to live, but a nice place to live, I

think, it is fair to say. So paying the price there.

A look at the numbers for you. That's what happened in Asia. I want

to pick up on what happened in the US because yesterday more news from

Janet Yellen the chair of the US Federal Reserve talking about

considerable uncertainty in the economy. There is a surprise! She

pinned that clearly on the UK referendum, but warning that the

Senate Committee that interest interests in the world's largest

economy are in no rush to rise. I'm not sure if I can show you the board

for Europe. But it is an important day ahead of the EU referendum that

gets under way tomorrow. We will look at the numbers in a moment. But

that's the state of play overnight in Asia and we will have a look at

European numbers with Sally. Thank you, Ben. The FTSE 100 up

slightly. I've got Brenda Kelly with me.

It is interesting to see how Europe held on to the gains since the start

of this trading week when we saw great volatility last week? It is

certainly is. It does come to pass that a lot of polls have been very

close, but confusing as well. Why are the markets assuming they will

get the result that will be the result that they feel is the right

one ie, remain? Why are they begt on that? Why is the pound going up?

Markets exude a certain amount of hope and that's an element of it,

but I think an element of with the tail wagging the dog at the moment,

the markets are looking at what the betting markets and the betting

markets are looking at what the financial markets are doing and they

are in a vicious circle and there is no real clarity as to how the result

could go and we could see some up side and down side volatility.

Quickly, it is very, there is hardly any liquidity there at the moment

which makes everything more exaggerated? Exactly. When you get

low volume in terms of the trade, it will exaggerate the move BT the up

side and the down side. The pound is elevated against the US dollar and

against the euro, but there is still a certain amount of down side risk

there. Brenda, briefly, we were discussing this, I was down outside

the Bank of England on Monday talking about what the investors and

the City was thinking and one of my guests made the point, this is

computers doing the trading, it is not people, it is not real emotion?

A certain aspect is algor rism. There will be still people watching

it and putting those trades on and taking care of their risks. Still

real people involved, good to know! Still to come, we meet the man

trying to help the world to see. Poor eyesight is a hidden disability

and one that costs the world James Chen's foundation

is looking for the answer. You're with Business

Live from BBC News. Let's talk some more about the rise

and fall of sterling. Currency markets changing their mind with

every small shift in the EU referendum polls. Andrew Walker is

in our business unit. He has the figures to hand. How is it going?

Here we have sterling against the dollar over the last three days. A

cumulative rise of 2.3%. We have seen currency traders taking the

view that the probability of a remain vote increase with where we

were a week or so ago. There has been an element of what is called a

short-covering rally, that is to say, traders who have sold sterling

in the market which they borrowed in anticipation of a possible fall,

have been looking at this rise and thinking, Nabi we need to buy the

sterling back -- maybe we need to buy the sterling back. That process

has kind of run out of steam. This is yesterday. That process probably

came more or less to an end. We have also seen investors take the view

that although they do think a Remain vote is the most likely outcome,

which they see as essentially positive for the value of the

currency, it is still pretty much neck and neck. The short answer is

they do not know the answer of what the result will be any more than we

do. There is money to be made everywhere. It is being made by

those people providing currency transactions. It is a good time to

be one of them? Indeed. It seems a lot of tourists are becoming

currency speculators in a small way. The tourist office said yesterday it

had an enormous number of enquiries from people in the last couple of

days because they want to ensure they do not get caught out if we get

a Leave vote and sterling falls sharply. Thank you very much, Andrew

Walker, one of economic correspondence. It will be a busy

few days. As we try to digests what it means for business. Here is

another person who has been adding his voice to the campaign. It is

Michael O'Leary. He is in favour of remaining. The single market brings

enormous benefits, he says. Read more on the business life page.

-- Business Live. This morning more than 1200 bosses,

including directors from what than 50 FTSE companies, have signed the

letter backing the UK membership of the European Union.

Meanwhile, Tate Lyle Sugars, one of the UK's oldest firms,

has written a pro-Brexit letter to staff saying that leaving the EU

Also James Dyson adding his voice to the Leave campaign.

Let's get the inside track now on a Hong Kong philanthropist

and entrepreneur who believes he has a clear vision for the future -

James Chen, is chair of a third generation family run

Chinese manufacturing company the Wahum Group.

Not satisfied with just running a big company,

he has now set his sights on the problem of low

It aims to get the 2.65 billion people in the world who have poor

vision, seeing clearly within the next 30 years.

As well as the significant personal cost associated with bad eyesight,

it's estimated that it costs the global economy somewhere

in the region of $3 trillion each year in lost productivity.

Part of James Chen's solution is the Clearly Vision Prize,

which will award $250,000 in prize money to the best innovations

I can just about read that autocue. I am struggling a bit! Maybe you can

help me, James! Tell us more about this idea that you have had? It is a

huge problem and yet you have kind of grabbed it with both hands, you

are tackling it, and you are hoping you can solve it within 30 years?

Yes. We have had glasses for the last 700 years and yet today there

are still 2.5 billion people in the world with poor vision and no access

to vision correction. In Rwanda am I have helped to develop a programme

where we were able to provide citizens with vision correction when

they have a problem. About 80% of the 2.5, 2.65 billion, it is just

about glasses and screening. So now today, with technology like

smartphones, with drones, you can see how this could disrupt, why

people thought you could not solve this problem. We think we can do

that today. $3 trillion is the cost to the economy every year. Give us

some examples of how poor eyesight is holding people back. It sounds

obvious but there are very practical day-to-day things people cannot do?

Yes, we did a pilot in Ghana, people in an adult literacy programme. They

were rice farmers. They collected the rise, they beaded to get the

rice grains off. When they sweep it up, they get the gravel. The rice

they could sell was at a low price. But when they could see Clearly,

they could pick up the gravel and be able to sell the rice for a higher

price. That is a really good example of how, with vision, you can really

improve the economic benefit. To you it is a no-brainer. To us it is a

no-brainer. I would imagine for many viewers it is as well. But first

some communities who have never really had the money, the funding or

the access to services, it is something they live without. It is

not just about getting the money there, it is about cultural change,

getting government on board? Yes. With the Clearly campaign, what we

are trying to do, we have one very simple question. How can the whole

world see? With the campaign, what we are trying to do is uncover

answers to this question. We want to bring in people from the eye

community... There are lots of brilliant minds, people with great

ideas. They are not particularly applying it to the issue of vision,

but they can. Jeromes would be a good example. -- drones. You can

drop glasses. Right now, getting distribution into villages in the

developing world is a problem. Dare I say it is not an exciting problem

and when it comes to charitable cases, you want to pull on the

heartstrings, you want to get people involved. I would imagine among that

list of worthy causes and things that are competing for money, there

does not seem to be an end point. You cannot solve bad eyesight. It is

about helping people to see better. You cannot permanently make it

better. You cannot make the poor eyesight go away. How do you win

that support and that funding when it is an ongoing battle? I think

this is the first time in history, because of technology like

smartphones or drones, there are no apps you can use that can do

screening and diagnosis. That to me is a really exciting development.

For example, you have seen Elon mass who has the ambition to send people

to Mars within the next 20 years. What we want to do is to be able,

for when he does that, that people on earth, everyone unearthed can see

that. I think the technology exists today. We need people to be aware of

the issue and to be able to address it. James Chen, we see where you are

going! Thank you for coming in. Keep in touch with us and how it is

going. In a moment, the business pages.

But first, here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us.

The Business Live page is where you can stay ahead of the breaking

business news. We will keep you up-to-date with the latest details,

with insight and analysis from the team of editors around the world. We

want to hear from you. Get involved on the BBC Business Live web page.

We are on Twitter and Facebook. Business Live on TV and online.

Whenever you need to know. Brenda is back with us. This story

caught might eye this morning. Luxury hotels in Paris, and the

bosses they have got rid of because they cannot afford to pay them. What

is going on? This is certainly one of the offshoots of what has been

happening in Paris in recent months, and the terrorism attacks. It has

impacted tourism. We have seen a registered drop of 13.7% in visitors

this year compared to last year, and the effect is that business --

hotels are losing revenue, the top or tiles are losing customers. They

are the high end customers? Precisely. -- the top hotels. It

shows you the impact of terrorism on the tourism industry, particularly

in the luxury sector. You might say, that is the luxury sector. But there

are a lot of jobs to be dealed -- cleaned out of that sector. I felt a

bit sorry for these bosses. I thought, unprecedented times. When

you go to hotel management school, I doubt this is an issue they looked

at. Is it ever OK just to quit on the spot and leave a job? This is in

the Wall Street Journal. Apparently more of us are doing that today than

ever before in recent times. What is your take on this? It implies a

confidence in the economy and labour market if someone quits. Look at the

quit rate in economics. We assess that all the time. This piece is

quite interesting because it has seen a big rise in that. I would say

it is not necessarily a good idea to quit on the spot. I would say, sleep

on it, regional contract beforehand. Stuart Campbell said, no. And Pamela

Donaldson says, I did it on one occasion 12 years ago. It was the

most wonderful feeling. Well done, Pamela. Thank you, Brenda. We are

not quitting. We are here tomorrow. By bye-bye. -- bye-bye.