The Business Year Review

in Review 2017: The Business Year.

It was a year of crucial

negotiations.

No deal from Britain

is better than a bad deal from

Britain.

We would love to have

Europe a la cart...

And a year of

bold promises in the worlds largest

economy.

And I can think of no

better Christmas present for the

American people then giving you a

massive tax cuts.

It was a year

where some of the world 's most

influential companies hit a bump in

the road.

The taxi at Uber will not

have its licence renewed by

transport for London. It says the

firm is not fit and proper to

operate.

But others defied the

critics to post record-breaking

results.

Welcome to review 2017, a year in

business. We have all about to come

but we are starting here in

Westminster, the home of the British

government, where Big Ben isn't the

only thing under construction. What

about that Brexit deal? Back in

March the UK Prime Minister Theresa

May triggered Article 50, and

negotiations began. Shoulder to

shoulder, not Isaiah. Just toonie is

to negotiate --. I do I. Just two

years to negotiate written's

departure from the EU but rich --

Brussels would not even start

negotiations before sorting out

three key issues, the Irish border,

the divorce Bill and the right of EU

citizens living in the UK. This

woman is the chief lobbyist at the

economy group which represents

businesses here in Britain.

There

are serious questions about... It

has been challenging for business,

and led to confusion, we have not

had clear leadership across the

Cabinet. And in a sense I think it

was helpful to have the Florence

speech whether Prime Minister set

out what the government was hoping

to achieve, but sometimes we have

seen the Cabinet not always united

behind that position.

With no

clarity on the UK's future trading

relationship with the European

Union, some is started to trigger

their contingency plans.

The big

service sector that was unaffected

or thought it might be affected by

this Article 50 process was of

course financial services, Britain

has a big trade surplus with the

rest of the European Union on

financial services, so banking the

example, a huge amount of trade in

the European Union, a lot of trade

from the European Union into London,

London is the financial capital of

Europe. Those set is that our most

intertwined with Europe were those

that were most concerned.

Uncertainty was rife, but there were

further complications to come.

I

have just chaired a meeting with the

Cabinet, where we have agreed that

the government should call a general

election to be held on the eighth of

June.

The Conservative Party fought

this would give them a bigger

majority in Parliament, and a

stronger hand going into

negotiations with the EU. The gamble

didn't pay off.

BONG.

What we are

saying is the Conservatives are the

largest party, they don't have an

overall majority at this stage.

Last

half-hour, the Prime Minister has

apologised to colleagues for losing

a parliamentary majority and having

to rely on support from the

Democratic Unionist.

I wanted a

different result last night and I am

sorry for all those colleagues who

lost their seats, didn't deserve to

lose, and of course I reflect on

what happened.

It is a hung

parliament. So the Conservatives

have 309 seats, Labour 258, there is

no way the Conservatives can go to

320...

Stirling was significantly

down against the dollar following

the Brexit vote already, and in June

it took another hit after Theresa

May's government lost its majority.

The fall in sterling raise the cost

of imports and led to a steep rise

in prices. With inflation above

target, the UK's central bank was

forced to take an unprecedented

step.

First time in a decade, the

Bank of England raised rates. The

really extraordinary period we had

of cheap money started with the

financial crisis was coming to an

end. Raising rates after ten years

for a whole generation of borrowers

was quite significant, when you

think about the implications

critically on mortgage rates and

borrowers and things like that. A

small step in absolute terms, but

very much the first of a journey.

This year the big story has been

around two numbers, firstly that

inflation number which is 3.1%, and

the other important number for how

people experience the economy is the

increase in incomes, and they have

only been increasing at 2.3%. That

has created this living standards

qui is, real incomes are actually

falling. Inflation affects us all,

that means higher prices and our

wages go less far. -- living

standards squeeze.

Growth forecasts

were revised down by several

organisations, including the

International Monetary Fund and the

government 's own independent

economist. But in December, a

breakthrough. There would be no hard

board of the Northern Ireland,

Britain and the EU had come to

sufficient agreement on the three

separation issues, and talks could

move on to trade.

I think the

agreements that we came to in

December has increased confidence,

that at least progress is being

made, and it is probably giving

business a better understanding of

how we are going to leave the

European Union. At least there is

now a deal on the money that Britain

will pay to the European Union on

citizens rights, I think the one big

area where there is still concern is

over the Irish border. The only land

border between the United Kingdom

and Northern Ireland and the

Republic of Ireland. And the fact

is, the British government has said

they want that border to remain

open. How will we do that, if we are

going to leave the customs union and

the single market? That is the big

challenge now, what type of

relationship will we have with the

rest of the European Union? In order

to be able to keep that frictionless

trade going, which is what Theresa

May has said she wants.

What

businesses want to see as soon as

the bowling 2018 is a time-limited

-- as soon as possible in 2018 is a

time-limited transition agreement,

and clarity around what our final

relationship will be with the EU,

getting a good agreement on our

trading relationship with works

across all sectors and all regions

of the UK, and it is certainly about

the people and having clear

guarantees for EU citizens who are

here and contribute into our

economy, but also to UK citizens who

are working abroad, we have made

good progress on that in 2017 but we

need to go a lot further on that.

Brexit and a general election made a

pretty eventful byzantine here in

the UK, and in the US they have been

dealing with their own are expect

that political results. At the

beginning of the year Donald Trump

took control of the White House and

he had somebody bold ideas about the

future of the world's largest

economy. 2017 started off with a

major political shift in Washington.

The election of US President Donald

Trump took many by surprise,

including US markets. Jitters were

felt across the board, at the

prospect of a president with very

little political experience. But the

day after his election, stocks were

trading Heide, -- higher, because of

Mr Trump's campaign promises.

The

market has stormed base on tax

reform and infrastructure, so if we

can get those in place, maybe the

market can finally settle and

justify some of the valuations.

It

was the legislative promises of this

administration that brought some of

the euphoria on US markets. Breaking

records 70 times this year alone.

But in terms of actual laws on the

books, tax reform has only just made

it to the President 's desk,

squeaking in at the tail end of

2017.

We have created 2.2 million

jobs since the election,

unemployment is at a 17 year low,

the unemployment rate in a

manufacturing business is the lowest

in recorded history. Consumer

confidence is a 17 point hi,

pensions and retirement accounts are

soaring, as the stock market hits 85

new record highs since the election,

how are we doing, are we doing OK?

Not bad, right?

The US economy has

also had consecutive quarters of 3%

growth. But how much credit can the

President take for what has happened

this year? Some would argue, not

very much.

The current

administration has inherited a

rather strong economy. The economy

has been chugging along through 2017

and even 2016, and we think

President Trump is very lucky in

that he has been able to inherit

such a relatively nice economy.

How

does the President plan on keeping

the US economy on this path of

growth? One assumption is that given

corporations are big tax cut will

create jobs. But earlier this year

at an event with White House chief

economic adviser Gary Cohn, CEOs in

the audience were asked what they

would do with the money they would

no longer be putting towards taxes?

If the tax reform Bill goes through,

do you plan to increase investment,

your company's capital investment if

the tax reform goes through?

Why

aren't the other hand is up?

Well,

so much for the theory. And the tax

bill comes with other problems.

This

tax package is not that neutral. You

are looking at maybe $400 billion in

economic activity generated from the

package, but it will cost close to

1.5 billion. That means for every

dollar spent by the US government,

we are only getting 30 cents back.

If you are counting a column --

competence, the President has

inherited a healthy economy and has

just been now able to pass a tax

bill. But the President can take

credit for deregulation.

Within our

first 11 months, we cancelled or

delayed over 1500 planned regular

Tory actions, -- regular Tory

actions, more than any previous

president by far.

Under the Trump

administration, the environment

protection agency has rolled back

more than 60 rules. The US it's due

-- US security and exchange

commission has been enforcing rules

less, and incoming chair of the

Federal reserve has said some of the

banking rules in place after the

financial crisis should be pulled

back.

One, two, three.

All of this

has helped the economy in the short

term, but the long-term impact could

be unpleasant.

The pendulum swings

every eight years or so, and that is

a common thing. This wing is more

radical than it has been at any time

back to Reagan. There is more than

the traditional pendulum swing.

Now

the question is, what can we expect

from the economy going forward? The

financial markets seem like they

will say stronger now.

I would think

the first half of 2018 should be

pretty positive, this has room to

go. Is it going to be up 20% again

in 2018? Probably not.

Strong

markets mean Mr Trump will still

have one of his favourite economic

indicators to boast about. If

however some of his other economic

aspirations don't pan out, that

could pose problems for what could

already be a tricky mid-term

election.

Still to come, will 2018 be the year

of the electric revolution? Our

Gadget Guru gets a sneak peek at the

new Nissan Leaf as he gives us his

top tech predictions for the year

ahead. But first, it is the poster

child for the gig economy, the world

's biggest taxi provider, although

technically it doesn't actually

implore you any drivers. Ute has

transformed the way we move around

our cities. But in a year when the

chief executive was forced out,

three UK cities extended --

suspended licences, and a huge data

breach was revealed, I decided to

ask a driver for his story, and

guess who I found in my and Uber?

Simon Jack, what are you doing in my

Uber car?

James couldn't turn down

my application for his programme, so

here we are.

Gareth, you are in the

driver, thank you for picking us up.

How long have you been driving for?

The first journey are made in

either, I picked some kids up from

school, and I got chatting to the

drivers, I wanted to find something

I could fit in contracts and start

pursuing my passion, which was more

creative field, I want to do a bit

of acting.

Is Uber venue waiting

tables in Hollywood?

I think it is.

I tell people that. It beats waiting

tables because I don't have to go to

the bar manager and say, my

grandmother, she is ill, that type

of stuff.

The Flex ability of Uber

of Italy which were you, but not all

the drivers agree, we had that

tribunal in the UK where it was

recently upheld that Uber drivers

should be classified as workers, not

as self-employed. Let's listen to

one of the guys who brought that.

The gig economy model like Uber

relies on workers they can exploit,

in the case of Uber, I was working

due to desperation. Finance,

insurance, licence fees and the list

goes on. Workers feel exploited on

the streets of London and the UK.

Gareth, do you see yourself as

self-employed or as a worker?

I view

myself as self-employed because that

is what I signed up to. That is what

you are told. It is kind of extreme

that... That drivers are being

exploited. I mean, you could say, we

are all exploited when we do a job.

What thing I don't feel exploited

about is working 9-to-5.

It is that

desire for Flex ability that runs

this gig economy, and Uber is the

embodiment of gig economy?

Uber is

the poster child for the gig

economy. It is the biggest company

by far, last time someone bought a

share in it it was worth $68

billion. I think there is a wider

question here, which is, what does

the Buber I Seshan of the economy

mean? The Chancellor tried to future

proof the economy, against the

growth -- growth of the gig economy.

He tried to increase the national

insurance on self employed workers,

there was a massive revolt, he had

to climb down, it was embarrassing,

but it is a massive problem for

governments around the world, how do

they deal with changing nature of

work? Do you pick up any of the kind

of anger and fear that they have

been disrupted by black cab drivers

here in London? I talk to cab

drivers about Uber, they give a very

different opinion, what do you make

of that?

When people had

When people had tractors, they talk

to people who were pulling ploughs

and they were saying that people

were stealing their jobs.

I'd be

worried about self driving cars

then?

I was about to say that, I

have to accept that. Hopefully we

will rise against the machines and

people will say no, I need a human

person to speak to.

Luckily the

Gareth, driverless taxis are still

some way off but what other

developments can we look forward to

in 2018? Who better to ask than our

tech are, Richard Dylan Jones? A

commissary, turn on the Christmas

tree. -- Siri. Alexei, pleasant

Christmas carols. Hey, Google, what

are your tech predictions the 2018?

Sorry, I don't understand. Luckily I

have invited to top pundits to look

into our technology future. Men!

Gracey, go straight on through.

Rhiannon, where is social media

going in 2018? Is Snapchat finally

going to reach or people like me?

That is a good question. What are

you wearing? Snap spec Eccles, Rory,

so I can Snapchat on the go, take my

pictures and up to.

But proved

pretty unsuccessful.

Far as we know

they didn't sell half as many as

they were too, so I think they are

still making a really big play for a

more general audience, at the moment

it is still very much weighted

towards teenagers and the under 24th

of using Snapchat but on the reverse

side, Facebook's is a ship is going

up and up, one third of the world is

now on them.

Now, how good is it

animating us? I am sure this will

but maybe not with my demographic.

Stuart, how are we going to

entertain ourselves in 2018?

It is

an exciting time, lots of money is

being thrown into traditional and

future sensors, traditionally this

year with Netflix and Amazon crime

and even apple are getting into the

string of things, putting billions

of pounds into creating amazing

shows and trying to convince us of

that, and we have had a huge

explosions in the games market,

fresh release from Xbox and

PlayStation, the switch from

Nintendo has pretty much turned the

company around, there is Mario and

Zelda and evolution is happening now

of this sort of, the creation of the

art mixed reality and a art, so

virtual reality, mixed reality,

augmented reality.

So one

application of augmented reality I

can put furniture in my kitchen?

Let's have a go. I will buy the

stall. Would it look bad? Yeah, I

think that will work. I have bought

myself a new stall. Rhiannon, a kind

of noticed you brought a little

robot with you, but that say

something about your big seemed to

next year?

I seem to 2018 is going

to be robots and artificial

intelligence.

So what is an example

of this?

Kosovo have a little front

facing camera at the bottom of his

face which enables him to see

everybody and also have a his path.

Path. -- Cosmo. You can programme

him to remember you so have

programmed him to remember my name

so he can say Rhiannon and look at

you and several reasons look at you

and say Stuart would you can teach

him to recognise the family dog and

when he sees the dog he will go off.

Amazon Eco is already been a key

example of this sort of early stages

of AI that people are playing into

Etihad Google home, Google assistant

as well, apple will do it, with Siri

which we have seen in their phones

are they will work it into a home at

POD.

Help me to speak Russian. Good

morning my fellow technology

pundits. Good to have you here.

Speaks Russian.

You speak good

Russian, don't you? But seriously,

amazing technology, these things. We

are not very impressed with them

yet, though, are we, this kind of

device? It is incredible that 30

years ago, we dreamt of something

like the apple fish which could do

instant translation and it did.

Or

the universal translator from Star

Trek. -- Babelfish. I think it is

the double guessing, people don't

100% cost it and it is more of a

social thing that you don't want to

be in that situation and say

something and then start some new

global war kind of thing because you

have that something wrong.

My big

scene is about the way more and more

of us will get around next year. I

think you will like it.

I have a

surprise.

What is it? This is the

latest in electric motoring. It is

the new Nissan Leaf, it is going to

be out next year, so Tesla, look

out. Argue fans of electric

motoring?

Definitely.

Absolutely.

Here it is, parked in front of my

front lawn. While I run an extension

cord across the?

A lot of people

have driveways to park on.

I would

need lamppost with charging point,

streets, where do?

It is a part of

the budget proposal last month that

they wanted to create a nation of

charging point is that people will

get rid of the fear of electric cars

which is running out of gas when you

are halfway down the motorway and

you cannot charge it anyway so once

people are reassured that there will

be able to charge it at regular

intervals, it probably will be what

it needs for electric cars to truly

take off.

I think we will start to

see over the next 3-5 years a push

on electric and once you get a

charging system working either

through this amazing lamppost system

that we have almost streets or in

this sort of long-term future

charging pads within the tarmac of

the road, then it is the future, we

are getting there, it is just in the

final stage of mass adoption.

Your

chariot awaits. Happy Christmas and

enjoy the ride. Cheers, thanks.

Alexei, stop. That is all we have

time for in the year 2017 but we

will be sure to bring me all the

latest breaking news on Brexit,

Trump, who have and electric cars in

the new year. But for now, things

are watching.