:00:00. > :00:00.This is Business live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.
:00:00. > :00:10.The historic move by UK Parliament to pass the Brexit bill.
:00:11. > :00:12.Theresa May is now on track to trigger the formal process
:00:13. > :00:16.of taking Britain out of the EU in the last week of March.
:00:17. > :00:39.Live from London, that's our top story on Tuesday 14th March.
:00:40. > :00:48.historic vote last night? We look at historic vote last night? We look at
:00:49. > :00:50.this milestone moment that set the stage to unwinding 40 years of close
:00:51. > :00:54.cross-channel ties. Also in the programme,
:00:55. > :00:57.in Tokyo Toshiba shares plunge as it delays its results announcement
:00:58. > :01:08.for a second time. And in Europe markets are mixed as
:01:09. > :01:13.political risk is firmly back on the agenda. Plus, will a winter storm
:01:14. > :01:15.affect the meeting of the Federal reserve? We will tell you all you
:01:16. > :01:18.We will tell you all you need to know.
:01:19. > :01:22.Later in the programme we'll hear from one of the world's leading
:01:23. > :01:24.board game manufacturers about the threat from computer games
:01:25. > :01:29.And as Levi's launches a smart jacket that can
:01:30. > :01:32.control your smartphone we want to know is it one step too
:01:33. > :01:56.Get in touch with your thoughts about the smart jacket, Brexit,
:01:57. > :01:58.whatever we are discussing this morning. We love to hear from you.
:01:59. > :02:03.We begin with the historic move on the part of the UK Parliament.
:02:04. > :02:05.Late last night it passed the Brexit bill, paving the way
:02:06. > :02:08.for the Government to trigger Article 50 so the UK formally can
:02:09. > :02:12.We expect formal negotiations to begin before the end of March.
:02:13. > :02:15.And that brings with it a period of uncertainty
:02:16. > :02:25.Last year, despite the surprise outcome of the June referendum on EU
:02:26. > :02:29.membership, Britain recorded growth of 2%.
:02:30. > :02:36.According to the International Monetary Fund it will slow to 1.5%,
:02:37. > :02:38.though this is actually up from their previous
:02:39. > :02:48.And in 2018, growth is expected to come in at just 1.4%.
:02:49. > :02:55.The ongoing uncertainty has also impacted the currency.
:02:56. > :03:01.Since the referendum last June, the value of the pound has fallen
:03:02. > :03:14.Our economics editor, Kamal Ahmed, is with me.
:03:15. > :03:21.Nice to see you. Running through some of the economic growth
:03:22. > :03:28.forecasts. Let's start at the beginning. Where are we now? Where
:03:29. > :03:31.does it leave us this morning? The government has got through the
:03:32. > :03:37.legislation in the UK Parliament, that means they can now write the
:03:38. > :03:41.formal letter to the European Commission, triggering the exit
:03:42. > :03:46.process. From that moment, which is likely to be the end of this month
:03:47. > :03:53.they have two years to negotiate, not only Britain's exit from the
:03:54. > :03:57.European Union, which is the technical issue that needs to be
:03:58. > :04:00.done there, but for the British Government they also in parallel
:04:01. > :04:06.want to negotiate a new trade deal with the European Union. A lot of
:04:07. > :04:10.people say that is a big stretch in two years, but that is the way the
:04:11. > :04:14.government wants to approach it. It has made it clear Britain does not
:04:15. > :04:19.want to be in the single market and it is unlikely to be in the customs
:04:20. > :04:24.union. Whatever the trade deal is with the European Union, it will
:04:25. > :04:27.have to be reformulated. But this is different from Canada trying to
:04:28. > :04:32.negotiate free-trade deal with the European Union because there is a
:04:33. > :04:38.free trade deal in place which will be unpicked. The government's
:04:39. > :04:41.argument is we are starting from a position of no tariffs and it is a
:04:42. > :04:46.question of adding in tariffs and they believe that is an easy process
:04:47. > :04:48.than the eight or nine year process that Canada went through to get the
:04:49. > :04:54.free trade deal with the European Union. The next couple of years will
:04:55. > :05:00.be defined by certain landmark moments. Triggering Article 50 is
:05:01. > :05:03.the first one. That gives business uncertainty in some respects because
:05:04. > :05:08.we have got a timetable, but it raises so many other uncertainties.
:05:09. > :05:16.Economically what do we expect to happen? The most important thing
:05:17. > :05:20.will be what news flow do we get in that two-year period? We may not get
:05:21. > :05:25.much, but what we will get is news about the arguments and that is
:05:26. > :05:30.where the Treasury is concerned. You get the rows, the conflict over what
:05:31. > :05:34.tariffs might exist in the automotive sector, the
:05:35. > :05:38.pharmaceutical sector. That leads to pressure on sterling. Sterling has
:05:39. > :05:43.lost value and it goes down and it introduces inflation into the UK and
:05:44. > :05:48.that affects consumer confidence. The UK economy is driven by consumer
:05:49. > :05:54.confidence and that could dissipate. The UK economy could slow. That is
:05:55. > :05:58.the worry in the Treasury's mind. It is not that we will not get a good
:05:59. > :06:00.deal at the end of the process, but anyone dealing with Europe knows
:06:01. > :06:16.there is often a long period of negotiation and then an
:06:17. > :06:19.absolutely eye watering final five days when everyone stays up all
:06:20. > :06:21.night and they get a deal at the very end. In that situation that
:06:22. > :06:24.two-year process is devoid of real substance and that leads to economic
:06:25. > :06:31.uncertainty. It keeps us all in a job for a while!
:06:32. > :06:35.So much analysis and information on our website. We have not mentioned
:06:36. > :06:39.the Scottish curved ball as well which introduces even more
:06:40. > :06:46.uncertainties. Have a read and dig deep. We will keep you in touch with
:06:47. > :06:46.every twist and turn on the BBC you can guarantee.
:06:47. > :06:52.14 million could loose insurance coverage in 2018 under
:06:53. > :06:55.the new Republican health care plan, according to the
:06:56. > :06:59.The nonpartisan group of budget analysts and economists claims
:07:00. > :07:05.the added number uninsured would rise to 24 million by 2026
:07:06. > :07:12.and reduce federal deficits by $337bn over the ten-year period.
:07:13. > :07:16.Facebook has banned software developers from using its data
:07:17. > :07:18.to create surveillance tools, closing off a process that had been
:07:19. > :07:21.used by US police departments to track protesters.
:07:22. > :07:29.The social media network says the change will help build
:07:30. > :07:32.a community where people can feel safe making their voices heard.
:07:33. > :07:37.And the Brokerage, Charles Schwab, has becomes the latest company
:07:38. > :07:41.to launch a part human, part robot financial advice service.
:07:42. > :07:44.It's part of a wider shift among the big banks to offer digital
:07:45. > :07:46.products to customers on more routine transactions.
:07:47. > :07:48.The service combines its automated investment management technology
:07:49. > :08:04.We are all human here, but we are trying to get the technology to
:08:05. > :08:12.work. I think it knows very well we are human. We have got the situation
:08:13. > :08:15.regarding that decision in Parliament yesterday and that is
:08:16. > :08:20.dominating the business live page. But we have got the Fed beginning
:08:21. > :08:26.its closely watched meeting. Our next guest will talk about that. I
:08:27. > :08:29.was a bit concerned about the winter storm and the impact that would have
:08:30. > :08:35.on Janet Yellen and and her team gathering in Washington. Their snow
:08:36. > :08:39.boots will be on. They will trek through to talk about interest
:08:40. > :08:41.rates. Let's go to Singapore because we are talking about Toshiba and it
:08:42. > :08:42.has missed its earnings deadline. about Toshiba and it has
:08:43. > :08:44.missed its earnings deadline. First, Karishma Vaswani
:08:45. > :08:53.is in Singapore... Explain the significance of this. It
:08:54. > :08:59.is the second time it has delayed its earnings announcement and it is
:09:00. > :09:03.a major embarrassment for an already troubled firm. It asked for the
:09:04. > :09:08.extension, one month this time around, until April the 11th, to
:09:09. > :09:11.sort out what it says are auditing problems. We have heard this before
:09:12. > :09:18.and this was the reason it gave in the previous set of announcements
:09:19. > :09:22.when it was expected to make the announcement in March. In the last
:09:23. > :09:26.hour there has been a news conference that Toshiba has held and
:09:27. > :09:31.the president has repeatedly said it is planning to sell its stake in its
:09:32. > :09:35.troubled American nuclear business. Nuclear is a third of the company's
:09:36. > :09:42.revenues. That division has not made a profit for the last few years. The
:09:43. > :09:47.president has also said he is hoping the company will return to growth in
:09:48. > :09:51.2018 and 2019, but the market and investors are not holding up much
:09:52. > :09:59.hope and the shares fell by 7% with that news. That was one of the big
:10:00. > :10:03.movers in Japan today. You can see that the UK index is down slightly
:10:04. > :10:09.in anticipation of an interest rate hike coming from the Federal reserve
:10:10. > :10:14.the United States. In the Chinese economy on the whole growth is on a
:10:15. > :10:20.firm footing. Hong Kong was boosted a bit by that, although it closed
:10:21. > :10:24.flat, down by one point. Let's have a look at Europe which is trading at
:10:25. > :10:29.the moment to give you a sense of how things are going. Again Europe
:10:30. > :10:34.is fairly flat. Political risk is very much on the mind of Europeans
:10:35. > :10:39.because that Brexit boat went through. Also as well we have got
:10:40. > :10:43.voters going to the polls in the Netherlands tomorrow which kicks off
:10:44. > :10:47.a year of general elections in Europe. We cannot bring you the
:10:48. > :10:52.European numbers right now, but the main markets in Europe are slightly
:10:53. > :10:57.up and slightly down. I will hand you back to bed and hope the
:10:58. > :11:01.technology will catch up with us. The European numbers are here and
:11:02. > :11:06.Richard Fletcher is here with us. Let's pick up on what Sally was
:11:07. > :11:10.talking about. We have got some clarity on Brexit last night. It is
:11:11. > :11:15.going to happen. The markets are taking it in their stride. Yesterday
:11:16. > :11:21.the pound closed up on the day despite we had the Scottish
:11:22. > :11:27.referendum news and overnight it has given up those games and some. The
:11:28. > :11:31.pound is at an eight-week low at $1.21. It has been a bumpy morning
:11:32. > :11:37.and we will see how that goes throughout the day. Let's talk about
:11:38. > :11:41.the Federal reserve. There could be a snow day. We still expect them to
:11:42. > :11:48.me, but the snow could get in the way. We expect some numbers to dial
:11:49. > :11:53.in by a conference call. There was a storm in 2016 and they still managed
:11:54. > :11:58.to meet the next day. Only a few weeks ago everyone saw another rate
:11:59. > :12:04.rise as unlikely and yet now it is an odds-on certainty, and 90% chance
:12:05. > :12:10.of arise. What people are looking for now is the language from them.
:12:11. > :12:15.They have said they expect to raise rates three times this year and some
:12:16. > :12:19.people are forecasting it could be four times. It is really about the
:12:20. > :12:23.language of the rate rise and the markets believe it is odds-on. We
:12:24. > :12:29.should be clear on the snow. They are expecting a lot. Ten inches
:12:30. > :12:33.in Washington and 20 inches in New York. Thousands of flights are
:12:34. > :12:40.cancelled, schools have closed. If that happened in London, it would be
:12:41. > :12:44.a major disaster. Let's have a look at the G20 finance
:12:45. > :12:51.ministers meeting in Germany. There is a lot going on. This is the first
:12:52. > :12:57.post Donald Trump G20 meeting. In the draft communiques some of the
:12:58. > :13:01.language has changed. We have lost that we will resist protectionism on
:13:02. > :13:07.all fronts, that line has gone. That appears to be a change of tone. What
:13:08. > :13:14.happens in the two days of the meeting, we will have to wait and
:13:15. > :13:17.see, but they will be a change of tone. We have got the Bank of
:13:18. > :13:23.England as well, so there are lots of issues for the markets to face
:13:24. > :13:28.this week. We appreciate you coming in. It is a very packed week.
:13:29. > :13:38.Come on! Give us a demo. I cannot do it. I have got some playing cards.
:13:39. > :13:40.Still to come... Keep talking, it is live TV.
:13:41. > :13:45.Playing his cards right, we meet the man behind the firm that
:13:46. > :13:47.makes cards for some of our most popular board games -
:13:48. > :13:50.and tells us how new technology is changing the oldest of businesses.
:13:51. > :13:57.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:13:58. > :14:02.I was so impressed with that. There are so many things you do not know
:14:03. > :14:06.In the UK, Fashion retailer French Connection has
:14:07. > :14:16.Those losses narrowed to ?3.7 million,
:14:17. > :14:19.an improvement on the 4.7 million pounds it lost the year before.
:14:20. > :14:23.David Shaw is a business writer on Fashion Buying.
:14:24. > :14:31.Once it was the darling of the high street and it is now struggling.
:14:32. > :14:35.Everybody has been watching this and this once great British brand seems
:14:36. > :14:40.to have lost a great deal of traction with its original brand
:14:41. > :14:44.followers. Reading the results this morning it is on what appears to be
:14:45. > :14:53.a downward spiral which is a great shame because this brand has great
:14:54. > :15:00.potential. What is the outlook? How will it turn itself around? They are
:15:01. > :15:03.doing all the right things. I have had a look at the accounts and the
:15:04. > :15:07.statements and they are closing loss-making shops and they are doing
:15:08. > :15:11.quite well on Internet trading. They seem to be doing the right things,
:15:12. > :15:16.but they do not seem to be able to get people back in love with the
:15:17. > :15:21.brand. Whether they can pull the rabbit out of the hat as they did
:15:22. > :15:25.with the famous SC UK, we will have to wait and see. This business has
:15:26. > :15:26.been around for 50 years and everybody is hoping it will hold on
:15:27. > :15:40.and do something pretty quick. The issues to be a separation on the
:15:41. > :15:46.high street, the winners and losers are becoming clear.
:15:47. > :15:53.If you look at all fashion retailers they are rather limited. If you have
:15:54. > :15:56.a shock, you're competing with an intranet business with an infinite
:15:57. > :16:05.range. How can you hope to satisfy them? I think French Connection will
:16:06. > :16:15.have difficulty competing with this. The other issue is the problem of
:16:16. > :16:21.huge foreign investment, these people are on a massive scale so it
:16:22. > :16:35.is being pitched everywhere. That is another problem. People feel French
:16:36. > :16:43.Connection are overpriced. Top story, the UK Parliament has passed
:16:44. > :16:47.the Brexit Bill. Theresa May has the formal process of taking Britain out
:16:48. > :16:52.of the European Union. Let's have a look at how markets are faring. We
:16:53. > :16:58.have had problems with the graphics today for some reason but just to
:16:59. > :17:04.say the value of sterling went up slightly and then has been falling
:17:05. > :17:15.back today. The sheer markets are pretty flat. Treading water.
:17:16. > :17:23.Elections are expected to change this in the Netherlands tomorrow.
:17:24. > :17:27.You all probably owned some phone mood by next guess.
:17:28. > :17:29.Belgian-based Cartamundi is one of the worlds biggest manufacturers
:17:30. > :17:33.of playing cards and board games - making family favourites including
:17:34. > :17:48.and the firm has manufacturing facilities all over the world,
:17:49. > :18:07.including in Germany, Poland, Mexico, the US and India.
:18:08. > :18:26.That is where it all started. The ancestry of the company goes back to
:18:27. > :18:34.1765. It is the reason why they were so expensive, and why the cards
:18:35. > :18:47.still detect the kings and queens and Jackson jokers who used to play
:18:48. > :18:51.with cards. Tell us how you got from the humble playing card to this sort
:18:52. > :19:00.of stuff? The way that people play obviously progresses. To stay
:19:01. > :19:05.relevant we have to keep our factories busy with products that
:19:06. > :19:10.are relevant, great experiences for people to play with. The purpose of
:19:11. > :19:15.the company is to share the magic of playing together. Talk us through
:19:16. > :19:24.how the relationship works. You make the games we've all heard of. But
:19:25. > :19:31.you don't actually sell it in the stores. Other companies do that.
:19:32. > :19:43.Talk us through your competitors. The Lubbock we have games
:19:44. > :19:51.manufacturing services. We make electrical card games, that is the
:19:52. > :19:57.business of games manufacturing services. You have shifted where you
:19:58. > :20:03.make things from China to the United States because of your relationship
:20:04. > :20:12.with Hasbro, four example. When the game market grew by 15% last year.
:20:13. > :20:19.It has been growing exponentially in core markets, one of them being the
:20:20. > :20:27.United States. In order to capitalise, you need to manufacture
:20:28. > :20:34.the products closer. You would imagine something that is
:20:35. > :20:41.traditional is suffering from computer game. I want to show
:20:42. > :20:48.viewers this. Explain what this slightly high-tech thing inside the
:20:49. > :20:52.card is about. This is a printed intelligent near Field communication
:20:53. > :20:57.card. It is a new form of electronics which can be printed.
:20:58. > :21:04.Traditional electronics are silicone but that is metal oxide. It enables
:21:05. > :21:09.electronics to be able to integrate into everyday paper-based items. In
:21:10. > :21:15.the future your cards will be intranet enabled, your board game
:21:16. > :21:18.will be able to connect and give you a different game experience than
:21:19. > :21:25.before. Taking all technology and making it very new. Yes but still in
:21:26. > :21:31.a fast, fun and easy way. At the end of the day it is the game experience
:21:32. > :21:33.that matters. Thank you so much for coming in. I love playing with these
:21:34. > :21:45.cards. We like you to get in touch with the
:21:46. > :21:57.stories we are covering and one of them is about this smart jackets
:21:58. > :22:01.that tells you what's going on. It is a jacket attached to your
:22:02. > :22:21.smartphone and it can tell you the time, let you listen to music...
:22:22. > :22:29.The goal for Google is to provide access to their favourite services
:22:30. > :22:33.and information from everywhere and anywhere at any time. Whether they
:22:34. > :22:43.are biking walking or cycling, they should be able to access their
:22:44. > :22:49.favourite services. Tell us what is here. This is integrated into a
:22:50. > :22:55.portion of the cuff material. The thread that capture your gestures
:22:56. > :23:07.integrate and are transferred to the little tag. You have the destination
:23:08. > :23:09.and it tells us this. You can control the music from the cuff of
:23:10. > :23:27.this sleeve. That would drive me insane.
:23:28. > :23:35.Everybody else around you as well. Dominik is with us. That jacket,
:23:36. > :23:41.would you wear it? It would drive me insane. Imagine being on a train.
:23:42. > :23:52.What about when it malfunctions and you're in a meeting. One person
:23:53. > :24:01.says, not so smart, give the not so smart something new to play with.
:24:02. > :24:08.Jasper says I'm not convinced wireless signals are safe so I would
:24:09. > :24:16.not wear it. We've had quite a few people talking about it but nobody
:24:17. > :24:20.has said they want to wear it. Wearable tech was going to be the
:24:21. > :24:25.next big thing. It has not taken off. A lot of people are wearing it
:24:26. > :24:32.on their arrest. That is wearable tech. It is but it's not a jacket.
:24:33. > :24:44.Let's talk about oil prices. We thought they were going back up.
:24:45. > :24:50.They'd finally agreed production cuts but it has gone down. Last week
:24:51. > :24:58.it went down 9%. It was $55. Now it is down to 48 dollars. Not just
:24:59. > :25:05.because it is having difficulty maintaining this but also the second
:25:06. > :25:12.she'll revolution in the states. The biggest ever oilfield discovered.
:25:13. > :25:18.The numbers are out from the US Department of. They are on course to
:25:19. > :25:24.produce an extra million dollars -- million barrels of oil a year. It's
:25:25. > :25:39.an astonishing new source for production. That has a huge impact,
:25:40. > :25:43.economically. Oil is important for everything we buy. Transport costs,
:25:44. > :25:50.driving the world economy. It is going down. Most to see you. Thank
:25:51. > :25:54.you. Sally is going to teach me more card tricks. I am. Thanks to your
:25:55. > :26:13.company. Goodbye. For the next couple of days it looks
:26:14. > :26:14.pretty settled. Things