this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. business leaders lose their patience about britian's brexit plans as the prime minister meets senior ministers to thrash out the uk's position on leaving the eu. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday 7th february. the british chambers of commerce accused theresa may of "ambiguity" saying businesses must plan for their future and want a firm decision on the way forward in the next fortnight. also in the programme: grocery giant tesco faces britain's largest ever equal pay claim that could top $5 billion dollars as thousands of women workers demand pay parity with men. a bounce back in global stock markets following the wild swings this week that have marked a return of volatility after years of calm. but is it here to stay? traders

could do with de—stressing. and we'll be getting the inside track on the business of stress—busting — stock market traders could do with a bit of that this week. but for many of us, hectic modern life means we all need a some help to destress. our next guest says he has the answer — in a bottle. today we want to know the billionaires space race — @elonmusk celebrates a successful launch of his new rocket! if you were given the chance, would you go to space? just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. i think some days salary would happily send me to space. send your comments in —— sally would happily. i know we say this a lot, but we're at another crucial stage of the brexit negotiations.

senior uk ministers begin a two—day meeting later to thrash out the government's position on what relationship the uk will have with the eu after it leaves in march 2019. business bosses have already warned the prime minister about the lack of clarity and the damage they say it's doing to business. the british chambers of commerce has accused theresa may of "continued ambiguity". the eu's brexit negotiator urged mrs may's government to clarify its position. michael barnier said without a customs union and outside the single market, barriers to trade are inevitable. one vital sector that wants clarity is services. it accounts for 45% of the uk's total exports, in everything from financial services, it, design, tourism, education, accountancy and law. it makes britain the world's second—largest exporter after the us. and recruiters are nervous, too. the number of london jobs available in december fell a dramatic 52% month—on—month, a far bigger drop than the same month in previous years, according to morgan mckinley. anastassia beliakova is head

of trade policy from the british chambers of commerce. we outline some issues that you as an organisation had of this open letter to theresa may and her government. you are asking for a united party to deliver clarity, easier said than done. we know the political environment is challenging and businesses are unaware of the complexity of the negotiations but government needs to be mindful that business has been very patient in phase one of the negotiations. as we are about to enter the second stage, we still don't know what the uk government wants to do. that is having a real effect on business sentiment, which means businesses are holding off on some investment decisions. this 11 member brexit

subcommittee that is meeting today and tomorrow in intensive talks, led by theresa may, includes the likes of philip hammond, the chancellor, amber rudd, the home secretary, michael gove and boris johnson. amber rudd, the home secretary, michael gove and borisjohnson. you can see the clear decisions. what expectations have you got that we should get some clarity this week? many will be saying it will be more confusion, but more fudge coming out of this meeting perhaps. that would be very disappointing for businesses. we have seen ambiguity continuously over the last few months. businesses want to know what kinds of practical questions will be addressed in the next stage of the negotiations and what kind of assurances can government give to them. rhetoric is no longer enough. it is important to address questions such as what kind of customs declarations businesses will have to make, what kinds of arrangements will services have in the future relationship with the eu? and what exactly will happen to the existing trade agreements we are party to,

will we still have the same benefits? when it comes to a trade agreement, what do our members are as divided as the rest of the country, we represent 75,000 businesses of all shapes and sizes. they are united on the fact that the uk government has taken too much time in outlining its position. it has a responsibility with regards to its own citizens and businesses and we really need to hear a much stronger statement of intent from the prime minister and her cabinet. thank you for coming in. the cabinet meeting is underway today and tomorrow and we will keep you up to date. there is a press conference being held by mike pence, us vice president in tokyo, meeting with shinzo abe, the japanese prime minister. he is largely talking about the concerns over north korea, let's have a quick listen. in the past, the united states,

japan and freedom loving nations across the globe responded to pyongyang's actions with failed diplomacy. the result of which has been a cycle of broken promises. wilful deception. and escalating provocations. but the era of strategic patience is over. the truth is, in 1994, the kim regime committed to freeze its plutonium programme, only to continue making progress. in 2005, as we discussed today, it promised to dismantle its nuclear programme. but north korea only accelerated. 0ver over the years, north korea has, as the president has said, repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil. as the regime even secretly helped syria will do a

nuclear reactor in the mid—2000s. in the indo pacific, north korea has continued to develop and test ballistic and nuclear weapons. last year, within less than 30 days, the regime launched two missiles over japanese territory. and conducted yet another nuclear test in the same period of time. this week, as the world knows, north korea is sending a delegation to participate in the winter olympics. they will march under the same banner as south korea. but we should not forget that north korea south korea have marched under the same banner before. the world witnessed it at the 0lympics the world witnessed it at the olympics in 2000 and in 2004. in the winter olympics in 2006. only to see north korea continue its pursuit of threats and provocations. in fact, north korea tested its first nuclear

weapons only eight months after the conclusion of the 2006 winter 0lympics. later this week, conclusion of the 2006 winter 0lympics. laterthis week, i conclusion of the 2006 winter 0lympics. later this week, i will have the privilege to lead the united states delegation to the winter olympics. we will be there to cheer on our american athletes. but we will also be there to stand with our allies. and remind the world that north korea is the most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet. i'll bejoined by the father of a promising young man who was imprisoned and tortured in north korea only to pass away shortly after his release. as president trump has said, we will honour 0tto's memory with resolve. we will not allow north korea propaganda to derail the olympic games. we will not allow north korea to hide behind

the reality that they enslave their people and threatened the wider region. as we discussed, mr prime minister, today, the american people and the people of japan and freedom loving people everywhere along for the day when peace and prosperity replace pyongyang's belligerence. but we will not repeat the mistakes of the past. as president trump has said, past experience has taught us that complacency and concession only invite aggression and provocation. vigilance and resolve will be our lode star. all options are on the table. and the united states has deployed some of our most advanced military assets to japan and the wider region to protect our homeland and allies. studio: vice president mike pence in tokyo talking with

prime minister of japan shinzo mike pence in tokyo talking with prime minister ofjapan shinzo abe. l‘flgé 5514'5'515 snsgg; smsé gee you heard, he is striking a as you heard, he is striking a warning about the relationship with north korea ahead of the winter olympics that get underway on friday in south korea. he continues his tour of the area ahead of the beginning of the winter olympics at the end of the week. we will stay right across that and if there is anything else of interest we will bring it to you. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. a roller—coaster day yesterday but more calm today. injapan in the kay was up 3% after falling almost 7% in the session but it ended pretty flat. let's head to our asia business hub for the latest, where karishma vaswani has been tracking the markets for us. an easier day today but still, i would imagine that traders are remaining on edge for the time being? absolutely. the anxiety that

we saw in asian markets yesterday has abated somewhat today but it was a mixed session. volatility has come into both the us markets and in asia. that's not going away any time soon. if you think about it, it makes total sense. in the united states there is this anticipation that interest rates are going to be rising at a faster rate than many people had expected. that results in the fact that money gets pulled out riskier assets. one of those risky assets has been emerging market equities. many markets in asia have benefited foreign funds flowing in over the last seven or eight years from places like the united states. over the last couple days, there has been anxiety about the fact that that money might have been pulled out and what that will result in in terms of share price volatility over the coming days. you will stay across

that for us as that volatility potentially continues. thank you. joining us is mike bell, global market strategist, atjp morgan asset management. you were talking a lot to clients yesterday in the midst of this. you said, would return. have you been vindicated this morning? that he said that calm would return. the key thing is that friday people worried about wage growth coming back. higher wage growth you would think is good for the economy but whatever you everyone is concerned about is that the central bank in the us will slam the brakes on and cause markets to come to a juddering halt. wage growth is slowly going to pick up. but a lot of the pick—up was caused by the distortion in weather data because some people weren't working because some people weren't working because of the storms we saw in the us. as a result, we will see some central banks tightening but realistically we will probably only get four rate rises from the fed this year, probably not enough to

slow the us economy. earnings for us companies are being revised up rather than down, that is why some calm is returning to markets. the word we heard so much yesterday, correction, not a collapse. but the question is how much of a correction needs to be made to markets? because they have potentially been overvalued for so long. the important thing to know, on average, over the last 30 years, the uk stock market falls from peak to trough every year by an average of 12%. most yea rs every year by an average of 12%. most years it still ends up. 10—12% pull—back is entirely normal. what was abnormal was that last year we saw lots of markets head strongly upwards but with little pull—back. these kind of pull—backs are com pletely these kind of pull—backs are completely normal. somewhat healthy for markets. the fundamental economic data matters, that is still healthy. it is at the moment. how long do you think it will be healthy for? this was the discussion of the

world economic forum. we are in a sweet spot for the global commie but it might not last long. we think at least for the rest of this year the growth outlook should look strong. the business surveys have historically been a good guide as to what will happen in the economy and around the world, in the us in particular but also in europe, they are telling you that growth is booming, slightly less in the uk but in europe and the us growth looks very good. it is hard to predict much further into the future than that but it looks good will stop thank you. still to come... the business of stress busting. if any investors put their money in that, market for things to de—stress. we speak to a boss of a company who says he has bottled the answer. we have heard this before but apparently this is the one. the government is to give so—called

gig economy workers new rights including holiday and sick pay for the first time. it's in answer to last year's taylor review which recommended changes in conditions to reflect modern working practices. our business correspondent, theo leggett has been looking at the details. reminders about the taylor review. —— remind us. reminders about the taylor review. -- remind us. it was set up to look at how business practices have changed over the last few years and how the government should respond to that in terms of employment law and the enforcement of employment law. it noted there are trends to companies like uber and deliver real, people who employ people by thejob. real, people who employ people by the job. there is an increasing reliance on agency workers and people and zero—hours contracts, people and zero—hours contracts, people who are not guaranteed hours of work but do have a contract with

an employer. mr taylor's conclusion was this does allow flexibility in the workplace, useful for employees and employers, but things were weighted too much in favour of the employers. he set out a number of recommendations to make life better for the employees, most of which the government has now taken up. what are they proposing here? it is pretty widespread, the proposals, that will affect so many people in this so—called gig economy?‘ that will affect so many people in this so-called gig economy? a set of widespread proposals but the actual changes are not that great. what the government is planning to do on holiday and sick pay, for example, is to enforce the existing rules better. a lot of people who work in the gig economy who are entitled to holiday and sick pates don't actually know that they are entitled to it. under these proposals, they will be informed on day one what their rights were. hmrc would then try harder to enforce those rules, to make sure people who were entitled to holiday and sick pay get

what they are entitled to. it is the same with the use of unpaid interns, that has been a controversial point. employers are not supposed to use unpaid interns to do the job of a paid worker. in this review there will be increased enforcement of that rule and increase penalties for employers who disregard that. good stuff, thank you for explaining that. it is pretty complicated but those proposals in force. not eve ryo ne those proposals in force. not everyone is happy, the union say there is still a whole load of workers who are not being protected by those proposals. more details on our website. you're watching business live — our top story: business leaders in the uk are demanding more clarity about britain's position when it comes to brexit. the prime minister, of course, is meeting with senior ministers in her cabinet to try and thrash out the uk's position. markets will be looking closely at

that and also recovering after a pretty volatile session yesterday, sparked by that sell—off on wall street. some markets bouncing back from the falls we saw earlier in the week. tesco is facing britain's largest equal pay law suit which could affect up to 200,000 mostly female shop floor workers, who say they're paid less than men who work in the company's warehouses. lawyers suggest tesco could be liable for up to £4 billion in back pay if it loses. our economics editor, kamal ahmed, has more. you have been looking at this, this is fascinating because there are a number of firms caught up in this equal pay row. yes, plenty of equal pay claims in the uk, which is paying men and women the same for the samejobs. paying men and women the same for the same jobs. this paying men and women the same for the samejobs. this is paying men and women the same for the same jobs. this is a slightly different issue. it is about, can businesses pay men and men different rates for doing differentjobs, even

though their value is the same? this is the shop workers in tesco, in comparison to men who work in the warehouse. most of the people who work in the shops tend to be women and they are paid less than men. tesco says it is an equal opportunities employer, that it ta kes opportunities employer, that it takes gender equality very seriously and is seen generally as a big employer. it is britain's biggest private employer. for many businesses around the world, there has been this division between what is seen as women's work, in a rather old—fashioned way, is seen as women's work, in a rather old —fashioned way, catering, cleaning, shop workers, being paid less tha n cleaning, shop workers, being paid less than what is traditionally seen as men's work, lorry driving, loading in warehouses, bin collection. as we are in the 21st century, should those kinds ofjobs be seen as equal in value?” century, should those kinds ofjobs be seen as equal in value? i am sure business leaders all over will be watching this very closely, to see how this plays out, what the conclusions are, because it could

have huge implications for many companies and businesses around the world ? companies and businesses around the world? absolutely. in britain, although this is the tesco story today, big retailers in britain like sainsbury‘s and asda have been facing similar claims. big city council in the uk, birmingham, britain's second city, had to pay out £1 billion when they agreed that they should pay more money to clea ners they should pay more money to cleaners and caterers in the council, paying them the same as being collectors as well, and they have agreed that that should happen. so this notion of equal pay the jobs of equal value is i very significant of equal value is a very significant one. just briefly, there is a figure out there, £4 billion in costs to tesco. is that the cost fixing the situation as is all future pay to these women if they get a deal? situation as is all future pay to these women if they get a deanm will be about fixing the problem. in britain you can claim back six years of back pay if you've been found to have been paid equally. that will be

people who retired, for example, could take action against tesco. they employ over 200,000 people in their stores in the uk. the highest proportion of those women. that shows the of the agreements, if the case is successful it will be very long. each woman could be due up to £20,000. but this will be fought over many, many years because the issues are so fundamental. very interesting. more on our website, two, on that. we're going to change to the little bit. for many of us, modern life is pretty hectic. so the market for products to destress us is big business, everything from calming music, herbal drinks or a smartphone app. our next guest says he has the answer. tranquini makes what it says is the first "global natural de—stress" drink. it was founded in 2014, but has grown quickly. it does business in 42 countries and is launching here in the uk. rachel horne caught up with the boss, ahmed elafifi, in london. it's a soft drink with

a functionality, so it's a functional beverage that provides you with ingredients that allows you to really deal with your stress and relax. when we are stressed, when we have an anxiety attack, three vital signs are happening in the body; the heart rate, the breathing rate and the neurons, pulsation of the brain, is going up. when you take ingredients like theanine from green tea or chamomile or melissa, what happens is that helps, these ingredients help these vital signs to come back to normal. so if somebody is having a stressful day at work or at home, are you saying drinking your drink will actually calm them down? there are a lot of examples of this. you know, at work for example they do a lot of speeches, presentations, people turn red, they start sweating, they have the knot in the stomach, this is an anxiety attack of making a big speech. if you drink a tranquini half an hour before, this helps you a lot to avoid these

symptoms and be more confident and more positive and deliver a much better speech or presentation. do you have the scientific research to back that up? absolutely. there's a lot of scientific research, very credible, about the ingredients, the individual ingredients and also the combination and levels of ingredients that supports the fact that these ingredients get you to deal with the stress and relax. how significant is wellness for you? it's a real focus today. do you think if you launched the drink ten years ago it would have been as successful? yes, today mindful and wellness is very, very important for consumers, for people. if we look at energy drinks, the real growth of energy drinks took place at the end of the ‘90s and beginning of the 2000s. the spirit of the time, the zeitgeist at that time, was all about give me energy. "i want to work hard, play hard to compensate", and no one was talking about work—life balance, mindfulness, wellness like today.

the spirit of the time today is very, very different and we created tranquini exactly to fit the spirit of the time today. let's talk about the sugar tax. we asked you at the start of the programme, elon musk launching a rocket into space yesterday. you will have seen those pictures, if not, they are on the website. we we re not, they are on the website. we were asking you, would you go to spaceis were asking you, would you go to space is given the chance question that this is the elon musk rocket that this is the elon musk rocket thatis that this is the elon musk rocket that is reusable, it can land again, the idea is to make space travel a bit cheaper and easier. lots of you getting in touch sending out m essa g es getting in touch sending out messages about this. one says, hell yes, i'd go to space. another said, send the politicians and their spin doctors into space to see how small they really are. these are incredible pictures from space. that isa mannequin, incredible pictures from space. that is a mannequin, a dummy, nota real person.

we had one tweet that said yes, i wanted to be an astronaut after seeing the moon landing aged ten. i was told a girl cannot be an astronaut, i want to prove them wrong. that has already been proved wrong, plenty of women in space. another said could i go into space quest might yes, i'm curious to go up quest might yes, i'm curious to go up there and what we could do given a bigger space. a few viewers got in touch saying, i know who i would send into space but we won't mention those names! no, we will leave it to your imagination. just as they are tesla car is up there in space. elon musk will be in there in space. elon musk will be in the news later because tesla results are released later today. quite a busy agenda for him right now. all of those details for you tomorrow on the programme. thank you for your company today. see you very soon. bye—bye. good morning. it has been a cold

start to the day. in widespread frost in the uk, temperatures down to —9, frost in the uk, temperatures down to -9, -10 frost in the uk, temperatures down to —9, —10 in parts of england and across scotland. but for many of us, today will be a fine day. lots of sunshine around. you will notice from the satellite imagery, a bit more in the way of cloud to the far north and west and that will gradually move in. and introduce outbreaks of rain for northern ireland and across scotland. eventually, as it pushes into the cold air, there will be some snow over the higher ground of scotland, perhaps even low levels this afternoon. further south and east, a few wintry showers this morning in the far south east, west wales, those tending to fizzle away. lots of dry weather and bright weather down towards the south—east. it will feel quite cold today. maximum temperatures, 4—8dc. through this evening and overnight, this cloud will continue to move a little further south east, but that rain and he'll smoke continuing.

look at the map, the green colours indicating this guy is the central and eastern areas. “— indicating this guy is the central and eastern areas. —— hill snow continuing. temperatures down to —3, -5 continuing. temperatures down to —3, —5 minus six. less cold further north and west, that is purely because there is more cloud acting like a blanket. that cloud will move further south—east again during thursday. rain in northern england and wales, which could turn heavier into the afternoon across wales and the north—west of england. dry and brighter weather in the south—east of england. sunny spells and some showers across scotland and northern ireland but less cold on thursday. temperatures up to perhaps nine or 10 celsius. that weatherfrom bringing the cloud and rain will continue to move into the south—east during friday. high pressure building behind that and that means for many on friday a dry and bright day. but colder air moving in. that is indicative of snow showers across scotland, northern ireland, early morning rain

clearing the south—east but in between lots of dry and bright weather on friday. just a little bit colder compared to thursday. those temperatures down by a few degrees. how about the weekend question at this area of low pressure will gradually move into the north. weather fronts moving gradually move into the north. weatherfronts moving in. the isobars coming a little closer together, so quite breezy weekend at first. some rain and hill snow, together, so quite breezy weekend at first. some rain and hillsnow, dry on sunday but it will be cold. that's it from me, bye—bye. hello, it's wednesday, it's 9am, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. tesco is facing britain's largest ever equal pay claim and the possible bill running to £4 billion. women working on the shop floor claim they are paid up to £3 an hour less tha n claim they are paid up to £3 an hour less than warehouse workers. those warehouse workers are mainly men. there's obviously discrepancies with distribution and shop floor workers. that's what we are saying, we just

wa nt to that's what we are saying, we just want to be paid the same. we hear from one of the lawyers representing around 100 of the women. plus, in her only broadcast interview, we'll talk to facebook‘s most powerful executive in europe and mum of four, nicola mendelsohn about being diagnosed with an incurable form of blood cancer. she wants to use her her experience as the most powerful british woman in the tech sector to find new ways to treat the blood disease.