20/12/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live

from BBC News with

Victoria Fritz and Ben Thompson.

President Trump gets the Christmas

present he's been waiting

for as the US Congress finally

passes sweeping tax reforms.

Live from London, that's our top

story on Wednesday, 20th December.

The US Senate approved

the changes after midnight,

but will the reforms to the world's

biggest economy help

the rest of us too?

Also in the programme -

Uber prepares for a hugely important

court ruling that could change

the way it works across Europe.

We have the latest from the markets.

Asian shares bobbed lower

in a choppy session on Wednesday.

European markets have opened higher.

And bringing electricity

to 20 million people.

We'll get the inside track on one

firm's plans to use solar energy

to power millions of homes in Africa

- without installing expensive

networks and cables.

And as the work week eases

into Christmas, we want to know -

what is suitable office attire?

Is it your Christmas jumper?

Or your glittery shoes?

Let us know - with pictures -

what you're wearing

to work this week.

Just use the hashtag BBC Biz Live.

Hello and welcome to Business Live.

Let's start in the United States

because the world's biggest economy

is on the brink of its most sweeping

tax changes in a generation.

The Senate passed the reforms just

before 1am Washington time.

Congress just needs to hold one more

procedural vote before

President Trump can claim his first,

big, legislative win.

This entire package is likely

to cost $1.4 trillion

over the next ten years.

Most of that will be added

to the national debt

which is already over $20 trillion.

The biggest tax cut in the final

version drops the corporation

tax from 35% to 21%.

Something President Trump says

will help economic growth.

On an individual level,

the top tax rate will fall,

for the highest and lowest earners,

with a top rate of 37%.

David Wills in Washington

and has the details.

The ayes are 51.

They voted along

party lines in the Senate to approve

the most sweeping overhaul of the

American tax system in 30 years.

The

tax cuts and jobs Act is passed.

A

Bill barely six weeks old and still

clearly a little rough around the

edges.

The motion to reconsider is

laid upon the table.

The House

Speaker's jubilation proving

premature after it emerged certain

provisions didn't confirm with the

rules of the Senate. The House will

vote on a tweaked version of the

Bill later today, but that doesn't

change the essence of the

legislation or the opposition to it.

The worst Bill in history because

the number of people that it

affects, the amount of money it

sucks up to the higher income and

the impact on our future deficits.

Today we are giving the people of

this country their money back. This

is their money after all.

You're lying.

Opponents point out

the Bill will add $1 trillion to the

national debt.

They're putting it on

the credit card.

But Republicans

argue it will strengthen the economy

and boost jobs.

Merry Christmas.

This is a good day for America. This

is a good day for workers. This is a

great day for growth and we're very

excited about this moment.

The Bill includes permanent tax cuts

for American corporations which the

Trump administration says will make

those corporations more competitive

and temporary tax cuts for around

80% of the American population. The

amount varying according to their

level of income. Before it emerged

that there was to be another vote in

the House, President Trump tweeted

his congratulations to the great

House Republicans who enforced the

Bill, but the president's claim that

the tax plan will cost him and his

family a fortune is being questioned

in the light of his continued

reluctance to release his tax

returns.

In some ways particularly

on the personal side, the president

will likely take a big hit, but on

the business side he could benefit.

President Trump could sign the tax

Bill into law as early as today.

It's the first major legislative

victory since he took office in

January.

Joining us is Trevor Greetham,

Head of multi asset,

Royal London Asset Management.

Nice to see you, Trevor. Look, it's

interesting. We have said it is a

Christmas present for Donald Trump.

He has been pushing this for quite a

while. Seen a big achievement of his

administration. Is it quite a done

deal?

I think it is. There is a

procedural difficulty which means it

has to go back to the House for a

vote, but everyone is lining up

their press conferences and it is

pretty clear that it's going to go

through.

The market seems to like

this. We have seen a rally, but do

the economics behind this work? Is

it a tax cut for all or just the

high earners, the millionaires and

the billionaires as the Democrats

would say?

In terms of the tax cut,

most of it, the lasting tax cut will

be for the top 1% or 0.1% of earners

who don't necessarily spend this

extra money, they just keep it. The

corporate tax cut is substantial as

you said, 21% makes the US quite

competitive. There are incentives to

do more capital spending and there

are tax breaks and to take money

back to America that's parked

overseas. So it should boost the US

economy, but people have been

talking about this tax cut for a

long time. We've had strong stock

markets in December as the news

came, that it was actually going to

happen and sometimes it is better to

travel than arrive. I think next

year the markets will be thinking

about other things like China, is

China slowing down in

The markets

like this because they have been

factoring this in already, the

question is whether it filters back

through? We have seen record highs

for the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones?

The US economy is growing rapidly,

about 4% growth. We are seeing the

same in Europe so we've got strong

growth with low interest rates and

stock markets like that. The

question next year will be is there

a new theme? Is it China slowing? Is

it interest rates going up? We are

late in the business psyche toll do

a big stimulus like this. If you

boost growth and unemployment is

low, people will be watching wage

inflation. It maybe what you gain

from a tax cut you lose from

interest rate rises.

I suspect we

may talk about this again, it will

run and run! Trevor, thank you.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news.

Supermarket giant Tesco can take

over food wholesaler Booker

in a deal worth £3.7 billion,

that's nearly $5 billion.

The deal was under scrutiny

from Britain's competition regulator

over fears it could stifle

competition in the grocery market.

Critics had expected the regulator

to insist that Tesco

sell off some stores,

but the deal has been

given the green light.

YouTube has signed a second global

deal with a major music label, as it

expands its subscription businesses.

After signing a deal

with Warner Music in May,

the online platform has now added

Universal Music Group

which represents artists including

Taylor Swift and Jay Z

in a deal it says would

provide artists with more

flexibility and pay.

The auto-maker, Subaru, is

investigating whether its inspectors

may have faked data on vehicle

mileage readings during inspections

conducted on cars sold in Japan.

The Japanese firm says uncertified

staff were carrying out tests

on new cars sold on the domestic

market for decades.

The news prompted shares

in the firm to fall 8.5%,

making them the most heavily traded

stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Is Uber a taxi firm or not?

The European Court of

Justice is due to give

us its opinion any minute now.

It has decided it is a transport

company. There was a question about

whether it is a transport company or

indeed whether it would be a ride

hailing app.

Anna McCaffrey is an Employment

lawyer at Taylor Wessing.

The right decision, do you think?

It

is consistent with the line of case

law and litigation in various

countries that Uber have been up

against. And I suppose it's what we

expected given that the original

advisor to the court, the advocate

general had come to the same

decision as well.

Talk us through

the two different options the court

had here. It was about how you

define what Uber does and the legal

implications?

At its most basic

level the court was asked to decide

if Uber was a digital company and if

it was a digital company there are

certain EU rules about not imposing

undue restrictions on online

companies. If it is a transport

company, EU law has less influence

and it is up to each country to

decide how they regulate transport

services. So that nens there is more

scope for each country to decide how

to regulate and so therefore, things

like taxi licensing rules, and

regulation of taxis in each country

mean that they come into play which

means Uber that is a lot more rules

it has to comply with than if it was

a digital company.

This has gone to

expose the vast casmed in regulation

when it comes to what is happening

in the real economy and businesses

that are developing now and the

companies that exist on paper that

they have rules for. They always

seem, at least a few steps behind?

Yes. I think it is a challenge for a

MP like Uber that operates in so

many countries if they have to

comply with different sets of

regulation, which are not the same

country to country, it has a

potential impact on their business

model. And you know, we do come back

up against this question of is, are

the legal rules fit for developing a

new type of company in the gig

economy?

What difference would this

make for people that are using the

service? Will it really change

anything?

It shouldn't do. It is

fair to point out that in many cases

Uber already have to comply with

transport regulation for example in

the UK and France and Germany. Uber

has said that they don't think there

are ruling a transport company will

make a difference to where they are

operating.

The legal repercussions

run and run. Anna McCaffrey there.

Uber is indeed a transport company

and not a digital so it has to abide

by the rules relating to transport.

When it comes to Brexit the status

of London as a global financial

centre is one of the most pressing

concerns for the UK Government.

And the BBC has learnt that EU banks

are to be allowed to continue

operating in the United Kingdom

after Brexit without

additional regulation.

Our Business Editor Simon

Jack has the story.

Simon explain this for us.

If you

look at some of the big EU banks

which have very significant

presences in the UK and particularly

in London, take Deutsche Bank. It

does billions in business. In a post

Brexit scenario the Bank of England

has been trying to make up its mind

do we allow that to continue to be a

branch which it is at the moment, it

is offshoot of its Frankfurt

headquarters, but all the decisions

happen in Frankfurt, or do we say we

would feel more comfortable if you

would become a subsidiary and become

a UK entity. That's what they could

have done. I understand that the

Bank of England today will say we're

comfortable with the current

situation. Those branches which can

remain branches without having to

sub sidrise. So it will be seen as

an act of goodwill to those European

operators there. Also in London's

interest, you don't want to boot out

a bank that has 9,000 people all

paying a lot of tax. Self interest,

but hopefully some positive mood

music towards what is sometimes a

fractious conversation about the

future of banking in the eurozone.

Thank you very much. That was Simon

Jack our business editor. It will be

fascinating to see what happens to

the bank stocks in Europe as a

result.

Asian stocks have had a mixed

session - waiting on US

legislators to rubber stamp

the tax-cut package.

The idea is that the money released

into the real economy would

help to accelerate economic growth.

Whether that'll happen

or not remains to be seen.

But regardless, we've seen

global equity gauges

move to historic highs.

Over in Europe, markets have opened.

The food retailers are in focus

after Britain's competition

regulator gave final clearance

to Tesco to buy the wholesaler

Booker for just shy of $5 billion.

It's a big day in Washington today.

Yogita Limaye has the latest on how

this will move Wall Street.

Investors in the US will still be

watching the painfully drawn out

process of the Republicans'

attempts to pass tax reform.

But they will also have a few

items of economic and

corporate news to watch out for.

The National Association

of Realtors will

be releasing the latest figures

for existing home sales in the US.

It is assumed that

over all the American

housing market is

still ticking over.

Forecasts are for over 5.5 million

home sales having taken

place in the month of November,

nearly 1% more than in the

previous month.

On the corporate front, food giant

General Mills releases second

quarter earnings.

They're expected to

show increased sales.

And Blackberry, long

ago the giant of

the smart phone market, now much

reduced, and expected to post

another quarter of falling revenue.

Still to come:

How do you get power

to remote parts of Africa?

Solar energy is an obvious choice

and now one firm says it can do it

more cheaply and more easily

than ever before.

We'll meet the boss later.

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

Let's talk about house prices.

We've had the latest forecast and it

doesn't make for great

reading if you're thinking

about selling your home next year.

In short, things just aren't moving.

Let's speak to Simon Rubinsohn,

chief economist at the Royal

Institution of Chartered Surveyors -

the group that carried

out the study.

Morning, if you're trying to sell or

buy, is not looking great.

The issue

about transaction volume, the amount

of activity is a big issue and one

that has been building. There is not

really the momentum in the market at

the moment that you know one would

perhaps expect given the state of

the economy and a lot of people are

in jobs and employment is rising. It

is not creating a dynamic market.

But I would add that while that is

true at a headline level the

regional picture is quite divergent

and London and the south-east in

particular seems to be where the

lack of momentum is greatest. If

you're looking to buy or sell in the

Midlands, in north, Scotland,

Northern Ireland, Wales, the picture

is different and many of your

viewers will be living in those

parts.

Does the level of transaction

volume tally with what is happening

with prices and we may see a fall in

the south-east and rising in other

places? Is that the right sort of

take from this?

I think it is. Both

prices and activity will be more

upbeat and more positive the further

you are away from London.

Thank you

we have a few great stories on the

web page.

This is related to the

access to superfast broadband and

the Government rejected an offer

from BT to connect homes. The

regulator wants it enshrined in

legal rights and says everyone

should have access to it by 2020, a

legal right to at least 10 megabits.

The details are on the web-site.

Our top story, President Trump is

expected to sign sweeping tax

reforms into law after they were

approved by a vote in the Senate at

1am Washington time.

Another story,

Uber has suffered a set back in the

European court of justice, it has

been decided they will be treated as

a transport company, rather than a

digital service. Uber tried to

suggest all it does is connect

passengers with drivers. But they

are now a transport company.

Access to affordable energy is seen

as a crucial step in helping

to boost economic prosperity

in developing countries.

While the situation has

improved dramatically,

the International Energy Agency says

about 1.1 billion people worldwide

are still without electricity.

Well one UK company called Bboxx

is connecting hundreds of thousands

of households using solar

panels and batteries -

which can power lighting,

charge smartphones and even run TVs.

It's aiming to deliver solar energy

to 20 million people

in just the next two years.

Mansoor Hamayun is the co-founder

and CEO of BBOXX.

Nice to see you. Explain how it

works. I said that this is about not

really having that big

infrastructure and not relying on

big networks of cables, how does it

work?

Sure, you described over a

billion people have no access to

electricity and the sad fact is

they're spending between five and 20

dollars a month on kerosene and

other things. We can put solar

panels in a range of appliances and

get a price point lower than the

existing expenditure. The way our

customers pay is using mobile money.

One of the big revolutions that is

happening is the spread of mobile

phones, that allows us to create the

next generation utility that is

connected through data rather than

wires. That allows massive amounts

of affordability and that is what we

are seeing that can add 100 to 500

new homes a day. We have reached

150,000 households so far. This is

the leapfrog we think will happen in

23 same that happened with the

traditional centralised

infrastructure.

The leapfrogging

technology is about scale, how do

you manage that, that will be the

big challenge for your business?

Yes, cloud-based solutions is an

important part of this. The fact we

can generate data per household and

predict problems before it happens.

So that means we can run a proactive

business model. The other parties

human capital, to electricity the

developing word, we need to create a

massive energy service company and

that means training people. Today we

employ over 500 people directly with

over a thousand agents. This is not

just about technology, but investing

in the human capital to service the

utility of the future.

You touched

it on being cheaper than gas and

kerosene, how do you make money out

of this?

We finance customers and we

make money on the financing and we

make money by producing the

equipment. We are producing the

battery boxes and appliances and so

we have an integrated business model

so make money on the hard ware and

the finance. The exciting point is

that we have a business model that

allows us to reach the most rural

poor and yet be able to create an

economically viable money that has

attracted venture capital money from

big firms. That is why I I believe

there is a possibility to see the

world getting electrified within my

own lifetime.

Good to talk to you.

Thank you. A South Korean start up

has revealed a new robot.

It is from

The Institute of Science lab. Take a

look.

The robot can be used for carrying

person from a point to B without his

or her physical effort. That means

he can help for the disabled person

and also his arm is very powerful

and can be used for carrying heavier

chairs. We are thinking of these

personal applications in the future.

Oh, just having my coffee! We were

asking about wearing Christmas

jumpers. Can I show you Victoria's

shoes? She is wearing these to get

her in the festive mood. They're a

bit glittery. That is my Christmas

tie, with Rudolf. You can't see it

from afar. Thank you for all your

messages. James who works here

sending us a picture of his

Christmas ear rings. Neil sent us

his Christmas tie.

There we go.

Thank you. Glittery snow flakes as

well. Trevor, are you wearing

anything Christmassy?

I haven't

started.

You missed the memo?

I'm

quite behind as well.

I don't know

when it officially starts. Now the

papers. Where do you want to start?

Bit coin billionaires.

These are the

twins. And they have become bit coin

millionaires.

They started at $10.

Now it is 20,000. It is a 200,000%

increase. We talk about stock

markets up 20%.

It is a paper

profit. Unless you sell.

The

web-site seems to work better when

you're trying to buy. It doesn't

stack up to me. Because as a medium

of exchange you want something to be

stable. And if it goes up 2,000

times it could be going down 2,000

times. People are buying, because

other people are buying. It feels

like it will go badly long. So we

will watch their fortunes rising and

falling.

Thank you. Good to see you.

We will see you very soon. Thanks

for your company today. Goodbye.