tv World Business Report BBC News March 19, 2024 2:30pm-2:46pm GMT
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plus — power surge! a £58 billion revamp for the uk's national grid — but it will mean higher bills and more pylons? welcome to world business report. we start with the uk economy, because the woman who wants to be running it after the next election — labour's shadow chancellor, rachel reeves — will be outlining her plans in the next few hours. in a speech to business and finance chiefs in the city of london — ms reeves will promise a "new chapter in britain's economic history". we don't have many of the details yet — but it's thought she'll outline a new industrial strategy for the uk — including a "national wealth fund" to invest in growth industries — that would in turn create half a million newjobs. she's also expected to announce reforms to the treasury —
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the government's finance department — to make it support economic growth. but the government's chief secretary to the treasury — laura trott — says labour are offering "no plan — just more borrowing and more taxes". so what are the priorities for british businesses? joining me now live is the chief economist of the confederation for british industry. what does the cbi and its members need to hear from a prospective chancellor back? often the criticism of not enough detail. what would you like to hear? what businesses would like to hear? what businesses would
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like to hear is a long—term vision and strategy for how to deliver economic growth in the uk, and we know our challenges of growth in the last couple of years has been lacklustre and in terms of living standards we have not seen the growth and productivity that we need so what is the answer to that? it is absolutely how business works with government to make sure we have a business investment going across all sectors and regions in our economy. business investment, and the private sector which essentially is the lifeblood of the uk economy, cbi forecast that business investment is set to fall by 5% as costs increase, this is in the last survey that you issued. what sort of smart measures would a government have to put in place to create a sound business
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environment, a trusted business environment, a trusted business environment in the uk? firm; environment, a trusted business environment in the uk? any plans that are set _ environment in the uk? any plans that are set out _ environment in the uk? any plans that are set out need _ environment in the uk? any plans that are set out need to _ environment in the uk? any plans that are set out need to be - environment in the uk? any plans that are set out need to be set - environment in the uk? any plans| that are set out need to be set out with a sustainable fiscal framework so that is the bedrock that businesses need to see and one of the things we need to see is more transition to the green economy, and what many members have talked about, having a net zero investment plan, so we set out across different sectors, what is the amount we need to decarbonise the economy and what are the ways in which we cannot necessarily outspend some of the incentives that the us economy is providing to incentivise the green economy but we can outsmart them about the ways in which we can unlock private investment at home.
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and we need to think about how we invest in our people and lifelong learning and think about a flexible way to deliver the skills we need whether that is about how we adopt ai across different sectors. investment is nearly need to develop this in order to make sure of a greener future and £60 billion, whereas the government likely to get the source of investment?— likely to get the source of investment? , , ., ., ~' likely to get the source of investment? , , ., ., ~ ., investment? they will be looking to the rivate investment? they will be looking to the private sector— investment? they will be looking to the private sector but _ investment? they will be looking to the private sector but that - investment? they will be looking to the private sector but that goes - investment? they will be looking to the private sector but that goes in l the private sector but that goes in hand with private —— government spending and we need to look at the amount we are spending, around £10
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billion per year, up to £50 billion per year, and we know that our electricity system is at the heart of that, so having a grid system that can really help in that transition, we know it's important, one of the things business leaders talk about is the fact that they may have a really good investment they want to make to decarbonise the manufacturing process but they have to wait before they can get the grid connections and so it has been good to see both parties in the uk talking about how we can move away and to prioritise the grid connections we really need. i apologise for interrupting that we have run out of time. thanks for joining us. we are going to stay with the theme of energy. because the uk needs investment of almost £60 billion to upgrade its power network for a greenerfuture,
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according to the body that runs it. that will mean thousands of miles of new undersea cables, and controversially, more electricity pylons across the countryside, as well as higher bills for households. our business editor simonjack reports. green, cheap, home—grown. offshore wind power has been a massive british success story, and there are plans for more huge wind farms like this one, but you need to get the electricity from where it's produced out at sea to the homes and businesses where it's used, and that will mean more of these. today's grid upgrade involves 1,000 miles of new onshore power lines — mostly overhead pylons — 4,000 miles of undersea cables at a cost of £58 billion, which means an extra £20 to £30 on annual bills for the next decade. the system planners insist they've kept as many cables out at sea as possible, but new pylons through scotland, west wales, the north west, east anglia and essex are inevitable. we've tried to balance cost, environmental impacts,
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impacts on communities and the security of the electricity system. and what that's meant is that we've got in the plan four times as much offshore infrastructure, new offshore infrastructure, as onshore. but inevitably that does mean, in balancing those four factors, that there is still going to be some infrastructure onshore. so that inevitably means more pylons? yes, it does for some communities. no! opponents say they're not anti—windpower, but more of the network should be at sea and power lines can and should be buried underground. |you cannot keep offering each wind| fibre connection one by one onshore and then have it trenchingl across miles of countryside to get to a substation. that'sjust plain bonkersl and it's really expensive. so the problem we've got in this country is when everyone - thinks great grid upgrade, - they think pylons and the whole rhetoric is around pylons and no—one thinks about these other better waysj of doing things. so that's what upsets people - who are told they can have a pylon outside their garden. but burying cables underground can be up to four times more expensive, according to national grid.
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the government said these were preliminary plans that would have to go through a robust planning process — a stage at which many infrastructure plans have failed. but without a grid upgrade, the uk's wind power risks going to waste. simon jack, bbc news. tojapan now — and the end of an era because the central bank there has raised interest rates for the first time since 2007, making an historic shift away from decades of massive monetary stimulus. the widely expected move comes as workers at some of japan's largest companies secured their biggest pay rise since 1991, giving the central bank the confidence to make its move, one that puts decades of deflation in the rear view mirror. we spoke to janet mui from stockbrokers rbc brewin dolphin and asked her whether the rate rise will have the desired effect onjapan�*s economy.
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the hope is that it will. because japan has been trapped in decades of deflation and low interest rate environment. and finally, there is confidence coming from the bank ofjapan that we are actually seeing normalisation back to, you know, rising interest rate, rising wages and inflationary environment. so i think this could give businesses the confidence to invest if we're in a more normal kind of environment. and hopefully the higher wages, which is now outpacing inflation, would help to support consumer spending. but of course, concerns as well because this is just a baby step and there's no clarity on the further monetary policy outlook. to the uk now, where a new report reveals the availability of childcare places has worsened across all age groups. fewer than one in three councils have enough spaces for children under two at nurseries and childminders.
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costs have also risen, by 6% this year — that's according to the charity coram family and childcare. parents say they are having to travel longer distances and even borrow money to meet childcare costs. the uk is one of the most expensive countries for childcare in europe. ellen broome, managing director of the charity, told me some of the key findings of her orgasnisation�*s report. i think our report paints quite a bleak picture for parents. they're facing a double whammy of both dramatic drops in the availability of childcare places this year, and also above inflation rises in childcare costs. so i think a lot of parents, i'm sure you will be familiar with this, i think are quite worried about how to pay for childcare and whether they'll be able to access it as well. and i would say the extra childcare funding that's been announced by the chancellor last year in the spring budget has the potential to be a bit of a game changer for parents up and down the country who are facing those really high bills. but it's an addition to a really complex system that is already
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buckling a little bit under the strain and we can sort of see growing shortages, higher prices. and i think ourfindings raise some really clear questions about the ability of that current system to deliver the extra childcare that children and families really need. yeah, i think it's accepted, isn't it, that childcare in the uk is effectively, the system is effectively broken and yet there are estimates that if it could be fixed, it could be worth £11 billion to the uk economy. how do you reform the entire system or is itjust a case of money? no, i think it is definitely about reform. first of all, though, in the short term, in the next few months, we need the government to work really closely with both local authorities and childcare providers to make sure that they are supported to deliverforfamilies. so that's what we need right now. otherwise, there's some very real risks around this policy, not living up to parents' expectations. but in this general election year, i think it is really important that political parties, all of them,
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commit to genuine reform of the childcare system so we can have the affordable and accessible, high quality childcare system that we know we need. and that addresses some of those really systemic challenges of, you know, year on year rises of prices and these drops in availability and concerns around quality. so i think we do need genuine reform alongside it. and that is the business news.
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hello from the bbc sport centre. the international olympic committee has called the russian—organised friendship games "a cynical attempt to politicise sport", describing the event as a "purely politically motivated sports event". the inaugural summer friendship games are reported to be scheduled to take place in september.
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in a strongly worded statement, the ioc has said... "for all these reasons: the blatant violation of the olympic "charter, the infringement of the respective un "resolutions and the disrespect for the athletes and "for the integrity of sports competitions, the olympic "movement strongly condemns any initiative to fully politicise "sport, in particular the establishment of fully "politicised sports events by the russian government. "the ioc strongly urges all stakeholders "of the olympic movement and all governments to reject any "participation in, and support of, any initiative that intends to "fully politicise international sport." more detail on that story on the bbc sport website. britain's emma raducanu has withdrawn from the miami open with a lower back injury — but her management company say the issue is "nothing serious". the 21—year—old was was due to face china's wang xiyu in the first round on tuesday. however, she does not want to risk
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