you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: theresa may is continuing to try to gain support this is business live from bbc for her brexit deal. she's promised to quit news with maryam moshiri and sally bundock. as prime minister if the withdrawl anger, frustration and uncertainty. agreement is approved. business demands clarity as the political deadlock meanwhile, none of eight alternative over brexit deepens. brexit proposals brought by mps live from london, that's our top secured the backing of parliament after a series of commons votes last night. story on thursdsday 28th of march. fall—out from the grenfell tower fire could have contaminated the soil surrounding it. a report highlights fears of an increased risk of cancer and respiratory problems. british mps fail to agree an alternative brexit strategy — as companies struggle to prepare for an uncertain future. also in the programme. mission to beijing: us officials the clear—up continues two weeks are in china for talks on ending since a devestating cyclone the trade war between the world's two biggest economies.

european markets have opened and it's generally looking good. tech for all — diversifying the talent pool in the technology sector. singapore changi airport has been named the best airport in the world for the seventh year running. london's heathrow is number eight. what makes a good airport? which is your favourite? you can what makes a good airport? which is yourfavourite? you can name your worse as well. let us know — just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. we start with brexit — because the confusion for the business world continues after members of the uk parliament failed to find a majority for any single plan for leaving the european union. they did overwhelmingly reject the option of

leaving without a deal — one consolation for increasingly worried business leaders. but as it stands — if they fail to reach an agreement— britain could still face a no—deal exit on april 12th. the head of the british chambers of commerce is today accusing politicians of "letting business down" and risking "mass disruption". he's not alone. on wednesday, the institute of directors warned there was "deep frustration and anger among companies" over the government's handling of brexit so far. the iod also published a survey of m00 of its members on their preferred brexit option. six out of ten want to keep eu single market trading arrangements. on monday the confederation of british industry called brexit a "national emergency". it's among business groups across europe that have warned that nobody is ready for a possible no—deal brexit — which could mean disruption to flights, drug supply shortages and interruptions to

vital data—sharing. with us is nicole sykes, head of eu negotiations at the confederation of british industry. welcome. last time i saw you we were outside parliament on college green and it doesn't feel like we are any further forward. businesses are looking on with a bit of despair right now. politicians are running round in circles and the economy isn't doing as well as it should be. this week we heard from financial services firms saying confidence is as low as in 2008. the automotive industry production is down for nine months in a row. in parliament, politicians are prevaricating and not making progress. the one thing that might have given business leaders a smile this morning is seeing the slim minority but a lot of support for a customs union in the house last night. business has long backed a customs union. without

it they face £20 billion a year on customs declarations, tonnes of paperwork. they are saying maybe there's a way forward and a compromise but it's going to take a lot of leadership to come to a consensus. we get a sense that politicians and those in the various parties know that we need leadership now especially as april the 12th isn't far away, or make the 22nd. we get the impression within the tory party some of the prominent leave supporters such as borisjohnson, iain duncan smith, are starting to say may be theresa may's deal isn't as bad as we first thought, or at least better than the other options out there. what is your thinking at the cbi? what might happen in the future? we know you are frustrated and fed up with how this is being handled but what are you thinking the outcome might look like? it's a really good thing if politicians start to put their perfect option aside and say, actually, everyone is

going to have to compromise whether it's on immigration or access to trade or influence, there is going to have to be a compromise and maybe they are thinking of doing that. that would be welcomed from the business community. but in terms of your members, one of the real sticking point is the border between northern ireland and the irish republic. do you have members in northern ireland ? republic. do you have members in northern ireland? what are their thoughts about this and be calls for compromise? those who live there and work there and move across all the time are saying actually we can't compromise on this. absolutely. both companies in northern ireland work on an all ireland bases. you might beep producing milk in the north, processing it in the south and labelling it in the north. it acts as one market and they are saying they have to have that frictionless border, they can't have additional border, they can't have additional border controls. it's also about people, they travel to work in the

north, they travel to see family in the south. it is integrated at the level of people as well as at the level of people as well as at the level of people as well as at the level of the economy. banking. -- thank you. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. wow air has issued a fresh travel alert this morning to ground all flights as it finalises an equity deal with investors. the troubled icelandic airline is heavily in debt and has been seeking a backer for months. talks with a us financier and the rival carrier, icelandair, have broken off in the past few days. a jury in san francisco has awarded $80 million to a man who claimed his use of the weed killer roundup caused his cancer. it's the latest legal setback for chemicals firm bayer — which is facing more than 11,000 similar lawsuits. bayer bought monsanto — the maker of roundup — last year for $63 billion. uk car production slumped over 15% last month compared with a year ago — the ninth month of declines in a row. the society of motor manufacturers and traders says brexit uncertainty has paralysed investment

in the industry, which has also been hit by the backlash against diesel engines and a steep fall in demand from china. let's discuss a story that was dominating daily but is off the radarfor dominating daily but is off the radar for us dominating daily but is off the radarfor us at the dominating daily but is off the radar for us at the moment but never off the mind of global traders. it's the trade spat between the us and china. top us officials are arriving in beijing to resume talks aiming at ending their trade war with china. monica miller is in singapore. what expectation is that this will lead to progress? both sides are saying progress is being made but investors today aren't feeling particularly reassured. china stocks we re particularly reassured. china stocks were down, shanghai composite was down 0.9%, blue chips were down 0.4%. both sides say they are making

progress particularly on the touchy issue of technology transfers. this issue of technology transfers. this isa issue of technology transfers. this is a huge sticking point for president trump. they are working on a deal that will hopefully end this trait to speed. key leaders in china are also meeting in the southern province and the premier has promised reform. again, another sticking point. phone companies have claimed liberalisation has been to narrow. thank you. asian markets saw a bit of volatility as investors worry about the state of the global economy. european stocks have opened a bit higher in london especially. and samira hussein has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. president trump may lose

one of his favourite talking points on thursday. he likes to boast that the us economy in 2018 grew by over 3%. and depending on which piece of the government gdp release you read, he's right. or he has been, since the first reading of the gdp for the last three months of 2018 was released about a month ago. but now, the final revision of that data will be released and is forecast to be cut slightly. that could be enough to make 2018 growth just a little less than mr trump's much—vaunted 3%. and quite apart from any political meaning, the gdp report could feed into spending concerns that the us economy is slowing down. the good times haven't stopped rolling on wall street, though. ride—sharing app lyft is expected to price its shares on thursday, and despite its record—breaking losses, the demand for lyft stock is sky—high. it raised the price range of its shares, which should start trading on friday.

joining us sonja laud, deputy chief investment officer at legal & general investment management. good morning. iwould imagine when the revision of gdp for the us comes out, people will be watching quite closely because what's been going on in the bond markets, there is real concern out there. the gdp data will be the confirmation of what the market has already started to price and is linked to what the fed told us and is linked to what the fed told us during the last press communication. clearly, with reduced outlook for growth and inflation, with a reduced interest rate outlook, the bond market is considering whether the next movement of the fed is a cut. that isa movement of the fed is a cut. that is a significant change to what we we re is a significant change to what we were still debating at the end of last year, and is obviously based on the slowdown in global growth. we had the european data, the us expected to follow that path and hence the worry at what is the next

step. bringing things back to the uk, the brexit saga continues, what do investors make of the latest? it's very interesting because you've seen more calm in markets, particularly in currency markets. the pound has been perceived as the pressure valve for everything going on politically. right now, the relative strength is more related to what's going on in the us than brexit. you have seen widespread disengagement with the uk because overseas i nvesto rs disengagement with the uk because overseas investors are really, oh my god, i cannot understand so let's wait and see until we have greater clarity. this is why there is less volatility and more calm. as soon as we know more, might see a change in attitude. remind me where you are from. i am from germany. speaking to your friends and family, how are they perceiving all of this? they cannot understand. there is a genuine lack of understanding on how

these events are unfolding and what is happening in terms of the vote, for example, yesterday. why this hasn't happened earlier. the lack of a planned. yes. the european press struggle to make the story work. thank you. we struggle sometimes! still to come. notjust a boy's game — we'll hear about efforts to close the skills gap in the tech industry. you're with business live from bbc news. let's get more on the continuing drama over brexit. ben's in the city of london — getting more details on how business is trying to cope with all the uncertainty. we are on the latest stop of our brexit road trip around the country, looking at how different industries are affected by brexit and the ongoing

uncertainty from westminster. today, we are in the city of london looking at financial services because it's one of our biggest exports, employing 2.3 million people across the country. not all of them work here in the city. two thirds of those jobs are spread up and down the country. with me to discuss what implications all of this could have is miles celic from thecityuk. miles, good morning to you. one of the implications of all of this, of course, was thatjobs would have to move, not only from the city of london but from elsewhere. they haven't gone, why not? so, about 7,000—10,000 jobs, it's a bit difficult to be exact about it, have moved out of the uk. our view is always the absolute worst case scenario would be about 75,000, but that's always been a bit of a red herring. the biggest issue is where does the economic activity go? and the concern we have there is about £1 trillion worth of assets out of a total of roughly about £25 trillion have already moved. the big winner here hasn't been europe, the big winner has been places like new york and places in asia such as shanghai,

singapore and hong kong. there are a lot of headlines, maybe not about the jobs going, but about the money going. £1 trillion leading uk. ——£1 trillion leaving uk. what does that mean in reality, should we be worried? so, what we have here in the uk is a critical mass. it creates a centre of expertise, of excellence, of ability to invest and provide returns for customers, whether those are people with pensions or investing in businesses or whatever it may be. there's only one other place like it anywhere else in the world, and that's new york. the important thing is to maintain that critical mass to attract the talent, and to be able to continue to have this fantastic exporting industry that we have. let's see if we get any answers soon. miles, for now, thank you very much. so, there you have it, one view of what the city of london makes of all of that chaos in westminster. of course, very few answers right now, and those plans are in place for people to have a contingency if they don't get the answers that they need. more from me a little later.

end of operation for wow air. latest travel updates shows it has ended all operations. if you are travelling with them, you are advised to check with your flights and with other airlines. you're watching business live. our top story — business leaders are demanding clarity as the political deadlock over brexit deepens. it comes after british mps falied to agree a new exit strategy for the uk. a quick look at how the markets are faring. now let's get the inside track on skills shortage — that's where you advertise for a job but can't fill it — is costing the uk tech industry an estimated £63 billion,

or $83 billion, a year. that's in vacancies and recruitment costs, recruiting from abroad, etc. but there is also a skills gap — where people just can't do a job because they lack the necessary skills. 0nly12% of business leaders today believe uk school leavers and graduates have the right digital skills. and 93% of tech companies find that the digital skills gap affects their commercial operations. our next guest is trying to address that, she's the ceo of 0pus talent solutions a recruitment company that also develop and train talent. amy golding is in the studio with us. first of all, you're only 33. ceo of a company that's got £100 million turnover. that in itself is

pretty impressive. tell us about you. say, it's always hard to see yourself as impressive or young, i suppose. i am allegedly the youngest ceo of a company of our size. it's been quite a ride, it's been great. you specialise in tech recruitment and that's a subject close to your heart, in particular you often talk about diversity in the tech sector. what is the problem we have right now, why is there a lack of diversity in tech and why should we care? as a young female ceo, i get asked a lot to talk about women in the workplace in general and women in tech. all of our clients are struggling with the same issue. there is a shortage of tech skills in general, and within that the diversity within that pool is a lot

worse than the general diversity in our workforce. we have 2000 clients globally, they are all trying to solve the diversity problem at board level and if there statistics are to be believed, by 2030, 80% of roles will be technology roles. we are heading for a diversity disaster worse than the one we are in at the moment because 85% of the current tech pool is male. what are you doing to solve the problem at opus? we've worked very hard with our clients to get them the correct talent in the correct places. u nfortu nately, talent in the correct places. unfortunately, it's the pool that's the problem. we are one of many companies fishing from the same pool and, actually, if you're not going to do something about the people coming in, the problem is never going to get solved. how do you get more women to be interested in tech? does it start at school? this is an

interesting debate and the government has put a lot of work in to try and increase the number of people taking stem. that's science, technology, engineering and maths. but i did an english degree, and if someone had said to me when i was graduating but you would run a tech skills company i would have laughed. what we need to do is start breaking down the belief that technology is a jobjust for down the belief that technology is a job just for scientists or people who did computer science degrees, because it's not. we do a 12 week course where we can take someone who may be never went to university at all and within 12 weeks they can become an excellent developer and technology employee. i think it's so important that if we don't get rid of this myth that it's guys that do science that can go into technology, because technology is creative, its design, artistic, thinking about the

customer. girls in particular and anyone that doesn't have a science background believes that route is already cut off for them if they didn't do science at school and that's not true. your clients, when it comes to the fact they want a diverse workforce, it's notjust for them about ticking a box or meeting quotas or targets are having a diverse board, they do realise it's better for business. exactly. the whole diversity debate started as an hr issue and increasingly people realise it's not, it's a business issue. unless your workforce represents the community you're trying to sell to, how can you effectively sell to that community? when we talk about diversity it's about ethnic minorities as well, i also wonder if it's about h. 100%. a also wonder if it's about h. 10096. a lot of older people think, again, technology is the feature and yet

it's a path that is closed to them. on our current course we've got the youngest person who is 19 and the old est youngest person who is 19 and the oldest person is 38. that's not the barrier at either end but it shows it's not too late and you don't have to have a certain kind of background. even not too late for me! i'm way beyond 38! laughter i'm in the silver surfer brigade! we have to leave it there but thank you so much. amy golding, ceo of opus. we'll take a look at the course, a lot to learn here! in a moment we'll take a look through the business pages, but first here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. stay up—to—date with all the day's business news as it happens on the bbc‘s business live page. there's insight and analysis from our team of editors right around the globe. and we want to hear from you, too. get involved on the bbc‘s business live web page

at bbc.com/business. on twitter we're @bbcbusiness. and you can find us on facebook @bbcmoney. business live — on tv and online. what you need to know, when you to know. on the business life page today, the breaking news is the end of operations of wow air, the latest travel updates say they have ended operations. this company is struggling with its future and is looking for debt refinancing. another airline, it's becoming a bit ofa another airline, it's becoming a bit of a problem in the industry as competition gets even more heightened. sonja is here to talk us through the papers. this story in

the irish times talks about where warehouse operators worrying about storage. this is the shortage of storage. this is the shortage of storage space if you want to stockpile. this is a problem in ireland. it's a problem everywhere, in every region is affected by potential border checks. as we know, the global supply chain and in particular between the uk and europe is not set up for big storage capacity. for the auto industry its most acute because on average they have 1—2 days maximum storage capacity. it is definitely a topic thatis capacity. it is definitely a topic that is so difficult to judge but will definitely be one to watch. this is all the contingency measures, the precautions business leaders have had to take. talking of transport delays, let's look at the airports. the 15 best in the world and singapore's changi is named for

the seventh year in a row as the best in the world. we've had lots of tweets about this. dave said that barra airport in the hebrides is the best. another viewer says, last time i travelled through there it took 45 minutes. all global management should be sent to singapore for training! where is yourfavourite airport? or your worst? festival is all about efficiency. singapore is just so easy to get through —— first of all, it's all about efficiency. hong kong is also good. great distances, the way to navigate a terminal is all important because if you are travelling for business you don't want to waste time. worst, i'm

not sure, but it's where you spend hours in immigration. we've had a tweet that says, the worst airport in the world, berlin. another viewer says telling is the best airport in the world, an airport where my kids can go away from me for 20 minutes andi can go away from me for 20 minutes and i can have a cup of coffee. laughter it's not just and i can have a cup of coffee. laughter it's notjust the airport but it's the timing. the worst times of the year to get through an airport. i've made the mistake of travelling the august bank holiday weekend. it's a major disaster. i never seem to learn! thank you so much for being here with us today. on our website, you've got all the

latest on brexit. thanks for watching. bye—bye. good morning. it's been a lovely start to the dais and many of us. lots of clear skies and sunshine. however, it has been chilly with patchy frost and also dense fog patches in the south. we are looking at warm, sunny spells. this is the satellite image over the last 24 hours. we've got some clear skies for many, pick a cloud across the far north of scotland. it's closer to this weather front. high pressure is firmly in charge of the weather at the moment. things are very settled. the fog in the south—west clearing away with some cloud across east anglia and the south—east of england. pick a cloud in the north

west of scotland. elsewhere, blue skies with sunshine and a maximum temperature of 16. through the night, more cloud developing in central and southern areas compared to last night. elsewhere, lengthy clear spells turning quite chilly again and some patchy frost into friday morning. not quite as cold the further north and west you are with cloud and outbreaks of rain. that rain continuing on friday for the north—west of scotland and the northern isles. elsewhere, the fog clears and more sunshine for england and wales. still in the north—east of scotland, temperatures getting to 15-16. of scotland, temperatures getting to 15—16. elsewhere, temperatures a degree higher also. that's going to change as we go through the weekend. the rain in the north—west associated with this weather front moving south—east. colder air moving

m, moving south—east. colder air moving in, as the rain clears away the skies brightening up in scotland and northern ireland on saturday. there will be some wintry showers and feeling colder here. more cloud around on saturday further south, temperatures still around 12—15. by sunday, but weather front continuing to move further south and east. that means the colder air is going to filter in across all parts. high pressure still relatively in charge. mostly dry and settled but quite a big difference in the temperatures. some sunny spells. turning colder into the weekend. bye—bye.