this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and ben thompson. let the brexit battle begin. a $600 billion trade relationship must be re—drawn. but who has the upper hand? we weigh up the numbers. live from london, that's our top story on thursday 30th march. with article 50 now finally triggered, we'll be looking at what the options are for the trade negotiators from the uk and europe. plus lloyds of london. and brussels! the world's biggest insurance market confirms it's moving some of its business to the continent in response to brexit. we hear from the boss. and can a tech firm that makes lists really be a multi—million dollar business? we meet the man behind listable —

the firm that promises to make employing people easier. he'll explain how. today we want to know, what are your questions about brexit? we'll be answering your questions on this friday's edition of business live. let us know. just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. welcome to the programme. we start of course with brexit — as the massive task now begins of agreeing the terms of britain's departure from the european union. there's a huge amount at stake for businesses here in the uk — and across the remaining 27 eu countries in the form of a trading

relationship worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year. a failure to strike a trade deal would be damaging to all sides. but who really has the upper hand? let's look at the numbers. in 2015 the uk exported $274 billion worth of goods and services to the eu. that's 44% of all the uk's exports and represents 13 percent of the entire british economy. let's look at it the other way. the eu exports far more to the uk than vice versa — $360 billion worth in the same year. so it runs a large trade surplus over $80 billion with the uk. so you can argue it has more to lose in negotiations. but the eu as a whole is far less reliant on britain than the other way around.

just 16% of all eu exports come here and they account for barely more than 3% of the bloc‘s economy. of course different countries and industries are more reliant on the relationship with uk. germany's car industry is one that has a huge amount to lose as does the uk's financial industry. anne marie martin is chief executive of the council of british chambers good morning. welcome. sally running through the numbers and this is the start of the long process when it sta rts start of the long process when it starts coming down to who says what and who is prepared to give what. what happens next, in simple terms? 0oh! what happens next, in simple terms? ooh! ifi what happens next, in simple terms? 0oh! if i had my crystal ball, that would be very helpful. it's difficult to know. i think the process of what happens next is obvious. i think what's more

important is to ensure from our point of view as a business organisation, a business organisation, a business organisation that is whose members are primarily based outside the uk, what we can do to assist and to help is to bring the european business perspective to the table. i think it's really important to understand that this is just as challenging for european or eu—based businesses as it is for uk businesses, they face exactly the same sort of challenges. i wanted to touch on that because, there is an element really about who has the upper hand, who needs the other one more than each other — when we talk about that, does europe need the uk as much as the uk needs europe? i think it's the same, it's complicated, it's not as easy as one needs the other more. we live in a world where businesses operate in complex environments and networks. it's not so much about the trade

figures. that's obviously important, but the point is that the uk's exit from those supply chains, those european supply chains are potentially very disruptive to those businesses. so a lot of the work that we are involved in at the moment is to try and analyse some of that impact and to ensure that that is represented both to the uk government but also to the national governments across the el 27 —— eu 27. your focus is on europe and businesses outside of the uk that are working with the uk. speak to anyone who is in favour of brexit, they'll say this is the best opportunity for uk business to draw new trade deals elsewhere outside of europe, with the us, canada, india, china, that sort of thing, but also to redraw our relationship with europe. is there any truth in that, that actually this is a good opportunity to start again? potentially i think in any challenge

there is an opportunity and i think if it helps businesses to review the way they do business, then that's a very positive thing. if it also helps reinvigoration or invigorate export behaviour in the uk, that's also excellent but we mustn't forget the uk's always had access to the markets anyway, that hasn't necessarily made a huge impact on the export activity of the uk. if this is going to be an opportunity for that to increase, then fantastic. here begins a lot of hard work. ann—marie, good to see you, chief executive of the council of british chamber of commerce. thank you very much. let's stay with brexit because the world's biggest insurance market, lloyd's of london, has confirmed it will establish a new european base in brussels to avoid losing business when the uk leaves the eu. it will be up and running by january 2019. lloyds has warned that without the move, brexit could have a significant impact on its continental business —

which generates $3.7 billion a year— that's 11% of its business. lloyds also says it made pre—tax profits of about $2.6 billion. earlier i spoke to the chief executive of lloyds of london, inga beale. she explained why they chose brussels as their new european base. we wa nted we wanted to have a really top quality robust regulator, brussels oi’ quality robust regulator, brussels or belgium regulator fits that bill. we also wanted great access to talent. so we need to hire some really good people. we felt it was an excellent place to go. we have to think about accessibility, how easy is it to get from london to somewhere on the continent, how easy is it from elsewhere on the continent to be able to get to that place. we also though wanted to consider the likelihood of the countries staying within the eu in the future because that's an

important factor as well. we were just hearing from the uk prime minister, theresa may, what she was saying yesterday following the delivery of the letter which triggered article 50. what do you make of her tack as it were, the way she's going about this?” make of her tack as it were, the way she's going about this? i think it's an extremely difficult negotiation to be having. you wouldn't want to be in her shoes? not at all. the world's eyes are upon this whole thing and it's seldom that you would have such a public negotiation going on and it will happen for a couple of years, despite the actual brexit happening in two years, it will be ongoing for years after that. do you think we can kiss goodbye the so—called passporting rights that are critical for financial services in the city of london? that's something you have been wanting to keep? we were lobbying but we felt the chances are lower than they were. therefore we have set up our

subsidiary or will be setting that up subsidiary or will be setting that up in brussels. it would be fantastic if that happened and the thing is, the essence of what we are trying to get out of that is actually mutual market access because of course a lot of continental european firms also benefit from that and are able to participate in the london insurance market alone. so it's actually a two—way thing. market alone. so it's actually a two-way thing. so what you have announced today is your plan b as it were, your contingency plan, if the outcome i assume is a hard brexit, this is your plan if we have the worst case scenario? yes. we want to make sure everything is up and running and it takes a while to establish a new company. therefore we are starting to execute our plan. we'll be up and running by mid next year, but something else gets negotiated. we can pull back those plans at that point. inga beale there who i spoke to earlier. interesting how businesses are coming up with their plans and arrangement. let eats tell you how to be in touch with your questions

about this whole process. tomorrow we'll have some guests on to a nswer tomorrow we'll have some guests on to answer your questions. 0ne viewer asking about students working overseas already, health insurance cards, are they still valid is another question. we'll put your questions to the ex—pers tomorrow. ajudge in hawaii has indefinitely extended the suspension of president trump's new travel ban. it means people from six mostly muslim states can enter the country while it is contested in court. many of the united states' biggest companies have spoken out against the measure and it's impact on their workforces. mr trump has argued the ban will stop terrorists entering the country and has previously pledged to take the case "as far as it needs to go". toshiba shareholders have approved a proposal to split off the japanese compa ny‘s prized nand

flash memory unit. it paves the way for a sale of a majority stake or even all of the hugely profitable business. the company needs to raise money because of billions of dollars of losses at its us nuclear arm westinghouse electric, which filed for bankruptcy protection on wednesday. let us show you the markets in asia. we saw a shift yesterday. they were all in the green in asia and in wall street the night before. we have seen sentiment change. we'll discuss the key issues as far as the us is concerned, it's an important day for the us, we'll get growth figures out today and that could mean what the federal reserve will think about and decide to do next. so we'll talk about that in a second. a look at europe first, slightly different

picture in europe, very, very flat, to be honest, very marginal aboves in the markets. we'll talk you through the reasons why. here is samira with a look ahead to wall street's day. how did america's economy fare during the first quarter? we'll tell you when the department releases the estimate of the gdp. it's expected to show that the gdp. it's expected to show that the economy grew at 2% instead of the economy grew at 2% instead of the previously reported i.9%. lots happening on thursday, spacex plans to land its first used rocket. it's a critical test for e—london must have beening. they made —— elon musk. new york fed president leon dudley will weigh in on the hints of

trump administration's economic plans and of course what that means for the central bank's policy—tightening plan. this will happen at an event at the university of south florida. we'll come back to the theme of the us in we'll come back to the theme of the usina we'll come back to the theme of the us in a moment. joining us is james hughes, chief market analyst, gkfx. nice to see you. the morning after they've triggered article 50, what's happened? they've triggered article 50, what's happened ? markets they've triggered article 50, what's happened? markets not really going anywhere? nothing's happened really and the problem with brex sit that nothing's happened and we still haven't got a clue what is going to happen. from a trader's point of view, we are worried with the uncertainty. we have seen movements in the pound. that goes up when we hear detail from theresa may or from anyone, and that is the big thing we want. or it goes down depending on what the detail is? but usually detail means uncertainty goes away, whether good or bad news, and that's kind of helped, but still we don't

know the answers and that's the biggest problem for us as traders. the markets hate uncertainties, the old cliche, but unfortunately it's true. that's why we roll it out all the time. we have no idea how transparent this is going to be. exactly. the problem is we are going to be looking at headlines and hanging on speeches from people in the eu or whatever it may be. a quick word on america, us gdp, it's the final reading for the last quarter? yes. it's expected to come out in line around 2% which is what we expected anyway, but it all ties into the fed. strong gdp could pointous to more rate hikes this year, that is the issue. we'll hold you to that. james will be back in a moment. still to come... we meet the man behind the san francisco firm that began life in belfast.

and it makes money from lists — we'll explain all. some of you love lists! i'm one of those, i love lists! you're with business live from bbc news. we are also talking smartphones — because on wednesday, samsung unveiled its latest flagship models at an event in new york. the galaxy s8 and s8 plus feature artificial intelligence and the largest wrap around screens ever made. they are the first major product launch since samsung had to recall, and then scrap, its note 7 last autumn because of exploding batteries. will the s8 help it win back customers and regain the market leadership it has since lost to apple? zoe kleinman has been taking a look the long—awaited s8 plus and s8.

they have even got their own virtual assistant which can also use the phone's camera as a pair of eyes. can you tell me more about this wine? here are the wine search results... samsung calls the sb an artform but it is still a familiar sight. the button has moved to the back but there is also now facial recognition screen are locking and improved split screen. unlike apple, samsung is sticking with the traditional headphone jack. it can connect up to a monitor or tv. but after the disaster of the exploding batteries with the note 7, there is no attempt at extra battery power. with the note 7, we took a lot of lessons on the battery and we have implemented new types of control, new quality insurance processes

which we are of course implemented implementing in the production of the s8 and the s8 plus. implementing in the production of the sb and the sb plus. it is perhaps typical of samsung's newly cautious approach, that it only speaks us english and korean, for now. i find that really annoying, people who talk to you from the phone, does it get on your nerves? it does. you are either a person who absolutely uses it. you're watching business live. there are people who walk around the office speaking to these devices. what is the weather like...?

office speaking to these devices. what is the weather like. . . ? you can go to the business life page, it won't talk to you but it will give you lots of information. our top story... a $600 billion trade relationship between britain and the eu is about to be re—drawn, now that article 50 has been triggered. ben loves lists, so he is the really excited about this next story. and now let's get the inside track on the changing face of the world's workforce. the number of people opting to work on a freelance basis is growing rapidly as part of the so—called gig economy. 0ne survey from the upwork and freelancers union suggestsjust over a third of us workers are now freelance — that's about 55 million people. freelancers are also on the rise in europe. but according to the uk's association of independent professionals and the self—employed, they make up just 4% of the eu workforce. that's nearly 10 million people. but integrating temporary staff alongside permanent staff can be a challenge. that's where lystable says it can help, especially when it comes to making sure they get paid properly. 40,000 freelancers currently use

the service, whose high—profile backers include paypalfounder peter thiel. joining us now is peterjohnston, founder of lystable. as sally said, i love lists, i will put something on a to—do list, so that i can cross it off. on a spreadsheet? no, never done the spreadsheet? no, never done the spreadsheet thing. this is about lists and being able to manage things. we touched in the introduction about how we work now, a lot more flexible, a lot of us going freelance. how does your programme help? for sure, really, it helps businesses manage freelance staff. we help you create a list of the freelancers that you might use around the world and be able to

manage them in an efficient way. this is not just manage them in an efficient way. this is notjust a contact list, is it, what are the practical applications? it definitely starts with a directory of the freelancers, but it goes beyond that, to the workflow and assigning them tasks wherever they are in the world, managing invoices with them. it is a com plete managing invoices with them. it is a complete system, although way through to getting them paid on time. and what started out as your idea years ago has now become a big business, with lots of big clients, 45 staff, most here in the uk, some in san francisco, who started this when you were 25, you're now 28, running a multi—million dollar company, and many watching this might think, he is one of those young start—ups that we are told we are all going to be working for in the future! how did it all work, it was to do with a man called mark evans who you happened to meet when

you work at google? yeah, mark was the first venture capitalist that i met while at google. i met him at king's cross in london and explained how painful it had been at google, trying to manage, even knowing who the freelancers work, that we used to. he described to me what he called the find a market fit. he said, you have a really big problem, which we see increasing in the uk and the us. so he met you and saw that you had this brainwave, as it were, which could become a massive business, and he set you on the path,is business, and he set you on the path, is that fair to say? yeah, i definitely think he was an encourager of pulling me out of my comfort zone, which was google at the time, and encouraging me to become an entrepreneur. i think he was definitely aware of the time —— at the time of the bigger macro trend. he definitely introduced me

to the wider world of the freelancer economy. what does this tell us, the optimism amongst your backers tells us optimism amongst your backers tells us that perhaps this is the way the workforce is going. how do you see it changing? we talk about the gig economy, people being no guaranteed hours any more, how will it work the future? we think we are moving towards a professional freelancing economy. we are seeing a trend of freelancers opting into this lifestyle deliberately. they want more flexibility and they want to work for more companies, companies who have the best values and the best culture. sometimes they're highly skilled and they can make more money out of going from company to company. we see a shift, a lot of our clients today like google or ebay, have as many freelancers as full—time staff. and we see that trend continuing to increase. peter, we are out of time so we will leave it to me the. i understand your

family in belfast are watching. they don't see much of peter these days, lamarr woodley eating and living san francisco! i come back to see my new nephew, when i can! shareholders in the toubled japanese conglomerate toshiba have approved a plan to split off the company's lucrative flash memory unit. it needs the money after racking up more than $6 billion of losses at its us nuclear division, something that's threatened the future of the whole company. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes is in tokyo. this is a big move, isn't it? contact it is, it was an extraordinary shareholders meeting, called specifically to make this decision this afternoon. it took about three hours, it was an angry meeting, a lot of shareholders very unhappy about the situation toshiba is in, but in the end they had no choice but to agree to the spin off of the flash memory division, which will now be sold. it is thought to

be worth up to 18 billion us dollars, which is needed to pay for the massive debts which have been run up by toshiba in its north american nuclear division, up to $9 billion of debt. in north america division was declared bankrupt yesterday in the united states. but this is essentially selling of the family silver to pay the bills. they now have real choice but to do that. thank you very much. as you can see, james has returned, as promised, with a story about amazon and facebook hitting obstacles in india? india isa facebook hitting obstacles in india? india is a massive market, we know it has been, for a lot of these into their companies in the us. i did not realise until reading this story that facebook in india, it is the second biggest market for facebook, india he is on the whatsapp, it is the biggest market. but it is about those companies moving into india and trying to get the business and having issues because of chinese

internet firms coming in and allowing money into indian start—up companies, which is giving the chinese companies the upper hand. , of course, india is such a massive boom area, it has been for such a long time. the us firms are struggling to get traction there because of the amount of money coming in from chinese firms, giving them the upper hand. coming in from chinese firms, giving them the upper handlj coming in from chinese firms, giving them the upper hand. i know when the mark zuckerberg went to india, it might have been last year, and he was desperately trying to woo the masses, as it were, and he could see the potential there. masses, as it were, and he could see the potentialthere. time is up, i am sorry, but really good to see you. keep your comments and tweets coming in about questions for brexit. what does it mean for you? answers tomorrow. bye-bye. very good morning to you. we have

got some good news to day, and news which is not so great. there's going to be some cloud and rain around a long north and west in parts of the uk. in other parts of the country, it's going to be warming up. it will bea it's going to be warming up. it will be a story of two halves. two very different areas of weather. while western areas get the cloud and the rain, we'll start to see warmer air humming from the south and affecting many parts of england. this is what it has been looking like over the last few hours. let's have a look at the north first of all, this is where the fresher air is, certainly across the north of scotland. then we run into some

rain across northern ireland. heavy across the north—west of england. western parts of wales get some rain, and also some spits and spots across the south—west of england. for these more eastern areas, it will be a nice day. 0vernight, more less the same. wherever you are tonight, it's going to be a mild night. tomorrow it looks as though some of that rain will be pushing a little bit further east, at least in the morning. and then in the afternoon it will dry out again across a large part of the uk. some of these north—western areas tomorrow will have a better day. the weekend, looking split again.

saturday will bring april showers, the temperatures will be lower as well. come sunday, high pressure is going to build from the south. and we're in for going to build from the south. and we're infora going to build from the south. and we're in for a very pleasant day, with a lot more sunshine. hello it's thursday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. taking back powers from europe; we'll ask which european laws will the government keep after brexit, which ones will go, and what will it mean for you? and as the insurance market, lloyds of london, says it's setting up a base in brussels, we'll ask if more big companies could do the same. also this morning, the duke and duchess of cambridge and prince harry release a series of films of celebrities here in westminster, we'll discuss the great repeal bill. also this morning, the duke and duchess of cambridge

and prince harry release a series of films of celebrities talking about mental health for their heads together campaign. ifi if i start talking about problems, one, the people who followed me