this is business live from bbc news, with samantha simmonds in westminster and susannah streeter here in the studio. uk pm borisjohnson loses the first round of his heavyweight brexit showdown with the house of commons. where does it all leave business? live from london, that's our top story on wednesday, september 4th. the pound bounces after last night's parliamentary vote, opening the door for another brexit delay. but the uncertainty continues, with a vote today on holding another general election. and the uk finance minister, chancellor, sajid javid, is to press

ahead with an announcement today on next year's public spending plans, with an extra £2 billion — $2.1; billion — of brexit funding. hello and welcome to business live. and a very rain drenched westminster. dramatic political events here in westminster are heightening marketjitters about brexit. prime minister borisjohnson lost a key brexit vote last night, giving mps more clout to prevent a no—deal exit from the eu. that bill will be voted on later today. the defeat has prompted the prime minister to push for a snap election, though that will also be put to a vote in the commons. that will be later. the pound bounced in the wake of the vote to defy mrjohnson, after falling on tuesday to below $1.20 against the dollar —

its lowest level in three years. the pound was trading at about $1.50 before the eu referendum in june 2016. data from the office for national statistics shows the uk economy shrank by 0.2% between april and june for the first time since 2012. 0ur political correspondent, rob watson, joins me. welcome, one thing we have been hearing for the past three years from businesses is they want certainty, they are sick of all of this. guess what? it isjust continuing. we are hearing the word gridlock today, is that how you would characterise it? to pick up on the word certainty, an end to britain's brexit crisis seems as uncertain as everand britain's brexit crisis seems as uncertain as ever and i mean, britain's brexit crisis seems as uncertain as everand i mean, yes, we may be getting a general election but who knows to what purpose? could say with any said —— could one say with any certainty whether one will leave on october 31st or not? you couldn't. will britain be without a deal? who knows? will there be a

last—minute deal or another referendum? seriously, all those options are perfectly possible, some more likely than us. but absolutely, the word of the morning is uncertainty. and i would say further to that thatjust uncertainty. and i would say further to that that just after ten o'clock la st to that that just after ten o'clock last night when the vote happened, that was the moment where boris johnson, the man who won the vote leave campaign by promising to take back control was the moment where he lost control of the brexit process, not entirely, but to some extent. we not entirely, but to some extent. we no borisjohnson need to two thirds majority to get to his vote for another general election, he lost 21 mps last night, with during the whip from them because they voted against the government, do the numbers stack 7 the government, do the numbers stack n the government, do the numbers stack up? an easier way to answer your question is what happens next, write, will there be a general election? the wisdom amongst journalists and politicians this morning and some may well be wrong, there may well be an election in the middle of october. but the government will have to accept any law passed by parliament saying they

can't be a no—deal on october 31st. with office either prime minister hoping he would win an early election and overturn the law. that is why there is so much uncertainty. let's say there is going to be an election in october, who knows, maybe it would lead to another parliament where there is nobody with an absolutely easy and clear working majority. rub, as ever, we do accept your wisdom and we will hear from you a lot throughout today. like the markets, your can go up today. like the markets, your can go up and down, right question wisdom goes up and down. we trust you implicitly. thanks very much. more from us must shortly come back to the studio. —— more from westminster. more from westminster shortly, but with me here in the studio is chris southworth, secretary general of the international chamber of commerce uk. how are your members viewing these developments? it was extraordinary but the priority for business is to remove no—deal as an option, that is

the most damaging option for companies. if you look at the proportion of mid—size companies in the uk, these are 40% foreign owned, in every city in every region and they proportionately contribute more to the economy and jobs than small 01’ to the economy and jobs than small or large companies and they rely on the tariff free environment on the border, that is what we have to focus on. some companiesjust want to get on with it and know the state of play so they can make future plans for investment for example. what would you say to that? the chancellor as we outlined, he is due to unveil around $2.11 billion of brexit spending to support those businesses. 2,000 staff are being drafted in to help with no—deal planning. surely there are some contingency plans in place to reassure them? yes, but they are com pletely reassure them? yes, but they are completely right to say, we need an answer. 0ver completely right to say, we need an answer. over three years of uncertainty and not just for answer. over three years of uncertainty and notjust for uk businesses and foreign trading partners, they have also been living in uncertainty so they are right to

say, we need an answer. the 200 billion or however that shapes out in terms of support is a drop in the ocean in comparison to the bigger picture which is it —— which is a 500 billion minimum trade relationship between the uk and the eu. it is $2.4 billion being promised. however, where exactly do your members fear their business will be disrupted, is it in terms of investment not just now, will be disrupted, is it in terms of investment notjust now, but in the future? i think it is both committed trade, exports and imports and investment. all three of those things. if there is a hard brexit, that means a hard border and that means tariffs in some industries more than us. and there is, investment is looking down. and we're hearing more and more that companies, foreign companies are re—routing their supply chains. businesses will adapt to the environment either way, happens with brexit, but the danger is the uk becomes taken out of the supply chain, that is the risk, and that means operations and growth happen

on the continent because that is where the bigger market is, rather than the uk. and which sectors in particular are you concerned about? if we are talking about tariffs and i have particular concern around anyone in manufacturing and particularly the auto trade and agriculture, that is where the terrace will for the highest of those would be my major concerns, and that has major implications on food and drink and price inflation in the food industry. thank you very much for talking to us. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. walmart is to ban shoppers from carrying firearms in its outlets, in response to two deadly shootings at its stores. it will also stop selling some bullets used in handguns and in assault—style weapons, and will stop selling it will also stop selling some bullets used in handguns and in assault—style weapons, and will stop selling handguns in alaska — the only state where it sells them. the nation's biggest retailer is often cited as america's

largest firearms seller. singer ariana grande is asking for $10 million in damages from forever 21, saying the fashion retailer "stole her name" to promote its goods. ms grande claimed the firm, which has stores in more than 50 countries, published at least 30 "unauthorised" images and videos suggesting she had endorsed the brand, and hired a model with an "uncanny" resemblance to herfor social media posts. huawei has accused the us government of "using every tool at its disposal" to disrupt its business. in a press release on tuesday, the chinese tech giant said the us had launched cyber—attacks to infiltrate its networks and was threatening its employees. the firm, which was put on a us trade blacklist this year, didn't offer evidence for the allegations. let's check in with the financial markets now, and stocks across asia have risen — mainly on the back of a report from china, showing growth in the country's services sector, despite those very strong headwinds of the us—china trade war.

but the dowjones ended more than 1% in the red — after a report showed that us manufacturing activity slowed for the first time in three years. and the pound, as we've been talking about, has halted its decline — on the rising hopes a no—deal brexit may be averted. let's get the latest picture now of european markets. the ftse is in positive territory and it did cling on to positive territory again yesterday. samantha. thank you. with a look at the market reaction in new york, here's samira hussain. on wednesday, we will hear from the us commerce department, which will release a report on the us trade deficit. now, the expectation is that it narrowed in the month ofjuly to 53.5 billion from 55.2 billion injune. so, what that means is that injuly, the us imported $53.5 billion more goods than it exported. now, remember, the trade deficit is something us president donald trump often laments, especially when it comes to china.

and since coming to office, the president has promised to narrow that gap. also happening on wednesday, the clothing retailer american eagle outfitters will be reporting earnings, and wall street will be particularly interested in any comments the company makes on the impact from the trump administration's latest rounds of duties on chinese imports. i'm joined byjane foley, senior currency strategist at rabobank. hello. let's talk about sterling. yesterday, it touched a three year low and today, it bounced back. at what point was that a significant bounce? we were going to see it coming back as the us started to come in around lunchtime, it began to come back then. perhaps for bargain hunting, the us were closed on monday and they would have come in on tuesday morning and seen sterling at low levels. really, this is about politics, of course. the pound is a very good test of the political mood. and as we have been

hearing, businesses are very concerned about the potential chaos ofa concerned about the potential chaos of a no—deal brexit, so sterling began to get proper support when it looked as if mps could be successful in passing the legislation that might take no—deal off the table. in passing the legislation that might take no-deal off the table. so let's look at the ftse. it has risen and it rose yesterday as well. why is it performing so strongly, despite the turmoil? we have to remember the ftse 100 despite the turmoil? we have to remember the ftse100 is the biggest 100 companies in the uk and large companies do have international relationships, international trade. when sterling goes down, there is a perception companies that export will therefore benefit from a weaker pound. it is a lot more complex than that, supply chains we know are fairly complex companies that export tend to export raw materials. so it is complex, but generally speaking, the ftse100 has tended to benefit when sterling goes down. it is not just in the uk, we can look at

japan's mckay index. when began a soft, then uk generally goes up. look at brexit in terms of global trade, you look at global reports from big institutions, it is cited asa from big institutions, it is cited as a key headwind so how important are the reports we have seen from the un showing just how dramatically investment could fall in the uk in the event of a no—deal brexit? investment could fall in the uk in the event of a no-deal brexit? the un report we saw this week was talking about trade and the us could lose up to $16 billion worth of trade. this is related to investment and this is something we have seen since the brexit vote in 2016. mark carney, the governor of the bank of england, has said several times when investment has been growing say in 2017, it was lower than it would be otherwise because political uncertainty, just as we are seeing in the pound, has a detrimental impact on decisions. people might say, i need to have clarity on the

political situation before i make that investment, before i build that new plant. 0r that investment, before i build that new plant. or maybe i will build that new plant somewhere else where the political situation is more stable. politics has a very significant impact on decision—making of investors and thatis decision—making of investors and that is exactly why it is reflected in the pound. let's look at that again in light of the us and china trade war. political decisions have an impact. however, there has been a glimmer of hope for the chinese economy that it is withstanding the trade war with services numbers out today. services numbers are a little bit better and we have to remember the domestic economy has been lifted by their stimulus. the chinese government is stimulating and trying to support growth. but looking at the external data, we don't necessarily see the same picture. some of that can be a little mix and a reason for that is when we know we have these deadlines with tariffs coming in, the production can be brought forward and exports can be brought forward and exports can be

brought forward. sometimes, the data can bea brought forward. sometimes, the data can be a bit muddled because of that, but certainly, the stimulus internally has been supportive of some areas of the economy. jane foley, many thanks. we will come back to you later to look through some of the business pages, thank you. stay with us on business live. still to come... as if there wasn't enough going on today already, the chancellor is due to unveil his spending plans later for next year. more brexit funding is expected. but will his sums add up? you're with business live, from bbc news. marks & spencer has been demoted from the ftse100 index of britain's biggest listed companies from today — for the first time in the index's 35—year history. it's been a tough year for the food and fashion giant, with its shares down 40%. helal miah is investment research analyst at the share centre.

why has it dropped out? what is it in its performance that means it is just not so big as it was? first of all, i wanted to highlight it was a founding member of the ftse100. it has been a benchmark retailer for founding member of the ftse100. it has been a benchmark retailerfor a long, long time. but what it does reflect is the fact that the uk high street has been in turmoil. more specifically, marks & spencer hasn't got the strategy right. it has failed to revamp its clothing lines, there have been so many complaints that it has just not been attractive toa that it has just not been attractive to a wider range, a wide audience, especially the young. it has been supported to a certain extent by its food business but more recently, the growth in the food sector has been slowing down and ultimately, it has been too slow to develop its offering online and it has been left behind by other retailers such as nxt and other online retailers. as you say, there has been a bright spot, especially in food. what we

know about marks & spencer plans going forward for that sector in particular? there has been talk they may look to dispose of the food business and realise value there. but it is still for shareholders, thatis but it is still for shareholders, that is little consolation. the sector is in so much pressure and marks & spencer is still restructuring its stores and off—loading stores. i know there is the deal would the avocado business, but that may take time to develop —— the 0cado business. 0k, thank you very much. let's look at some of the other stories making business news in the uk. barrett profits and house—building figures, this is a story under business live page, announcing record profits before tax for the year, it is up 8.9% on the

previous year, the chief executive said there is increased economic and political uncertainty, but we begin the financial year with a strong, forward order book. you're watching business live. welcome back. you are watching business live. our top story: the uncertainty continues for business, after uk pm borisjohnson lost a key brexit vote last night. that gives mps more clout to prevent a no—deal exit from the eu. that bill will be voted on later today. a quick look at how the markets are faring. in europe, the ftse100 is rising on the open, it has risen a bit in the last few years. and the pound has rebounded very slightly. and that is the latest for the dax in frankfurt.

and the cac in paris. as if there wasn't enough going on already today, amid all the brexit shenanigans, the chancellor sajid javid will announce a spending review later — that's government spending for the next financial year, so 2020—to—2021. but how much more headroom has the chancellor got to increase spending? with me now is yael selfin, chief economist at kpmg in the uk. welcome, thank you very much for being here. we hearfrom ministerial is sources the review is intended to provide some certainty ahead of brexit, whenever that might be, what you think the country needs to hear to provide that certainty? well, the departments need a little bit of certainty and they need a little bit of room to plan ahead. so they would need to know how much money they would have for the next year or so. what the spending review is unlikely to do is provide the full breakdown

of the government plans for the next few years. they are unlikely to leave that for the autumn budget. we are expected to hear some significant increases in budgets from many government departments and have already heard a lot of spending commitments over the last few weeks for the police, the nhs, schools. can sajid javid be confident he can get the economic growth he needs to finance these? that is a very good question and there is a question about whether he wants to stick to the fiscal rules of his predecessor and so far, he has said he well and he maybe wants to spend a little bit more. one of the interesting questions around it is whether now come up with student loans coming on the government books, whether he will count it as an extra or not. because he does count it in, it leaves him very little room to spend more. we heard last year from the former chancellor philip hammond, he declared austerity was over and

raised a lot of eyebrows. can sajid javid afford to be as generous as we think, is austerity really over? well, we are living in an era of low interest rates that are likely to remain low for longer so as long as he spends on things that will improve growth, it could pay for itself in some ways. so there is room to spend more. it is just really a question on what he is spending it on in future. we don't get the spending review every year andi get the spending review every year and i think it is four years since last spending review. how important is it? it is normally very important. but this is only going to be limited to one year, so it will give clarity to departments about the short to medium term spending and ‘the real deal‘ is going to be announced in a year‘s time, according to the government. and how much of an interest is there going to be in this given what we have going on in parliament, is it going to be carefully watched? a lot of it

has already been announced. and if the chancellor is going to stick to the chancellor is going to stick to the fiscal rules, he has got very limited room to spend extra money. and therefore, the importance to the economy as a whole may be a little bit limited. 0k, chief economist at kpmg yael selfin, thank you for that analysis. the spending review to be announced by new chancellor sajid javid in a few moments. he has been inajob fora javid in a few moments. he has been in a job for a few weeks so interesting to hear what he says and interesting to hear what he says and interesting whether there will be new announcements given what we have heard over the past few weeks. thank you, samantha, on the update on those spending plans. that‘s cut to ten downing street, quite a lot of activity, people going in and out of the iconic door many others are used to seeing. a lot of activity, partly because of the spending plans, the chancellor

and uk finance minister sajid javid is to announce today. but obviously, given the fact that tory rebels and opposition mps have defeated the government in the first stage of their attempts to pass a new law to prevent a no—deal brexit. there are a lot of media in downing street at the moment waiting for any of the latest developments. in the studio talking about the latest developments is jane foley. senior currency strategist at rabobank is still with me. developments in hong kong, this is a situation we have been closely watching. we have some kind of reading onjust how much watching. we have some kind of reading on just how much the economic toll has been on hong kong. because of these widespread protests. and it is quite significant. in terms of business confidence. in many respects, there has been a lot of anecdotal evidence and people saying the airports have been empty and people concerned about tourism and also new business.

the survey, the latest survey, really showing what the business climate is doing and talking about potential recession. we can see things are quite limited. that‘s it, there was scope for good news, the market reacted well this morning —— but that being said. there were reports that the extradition bell that has been so controversial, that has been the focus of the protests over the summer, that might be formally withdrawn. so if that follows through, there is some scope for reprieve for hong kong business. absolutely, another story being closely watched as the travel plans of the duke of sussex. prince harry, britain‘s prince harry. yesterday, he launched a sustainable travel scheme or campaign to encourage all of us to travel more sustainably. and inevitably, he was questioned by journalists about his own family‘s travel plans, particularly his use ofa

travel plans, particularly his use of a private jet between ibiza and the south of france over the summer. what you make generally of this push for sustainable travel, is he the best person to leave —— to lead this? he does have a profile and it is important somebody with profile usesit is important somebody with profile uses it for a good cause, but it is controversial and there is spotlight on anyone with a celebrity status for using private jets and on anyone with a celebrity status for using privatejets and negative impact they have on the environment. the prince was very careful yesterday when launching this initiative in amsterdam to have flown on a commercial airliner and he did say that 99% of his flights are commercial. that is what he is quoting. but i think going forward, this is something that we all have to ta ke this is something that we all have to take responsibility for, it is going to be difficult to tell people you can‘t have your summer holiday. but for business and business travellers, technology can certainly ta ke travellers, technology can certainly take the place of some and perhaps more business meetings than they do already. it is for businesses to

come up with alternative options that appear to be better. that might persuade people more than a lecture about being told what you need to do. this is the difficulty of being told what you need to do, it is only in the less generational so we have had in the less generational so we have ha d a ccess in the less generational so we have had access to cheap travel. 30 or 40 yea rs had access to cheap travel. 30 or 40 years ago, airline flying was extremely expensive, so the world has opened up to us and it will be very difficult to tell people, no, you can‘t travel after all. very difficult, i think. you can‘t travel after all. very difficult, ithink. a you can‘t travel after all. very difficult, i think. a very difficult subject. but for the sake of our planet and climate, many others do have to question if we travel to much. 0k, jane foley, thank you very much. 0k, jane foley, thank you very much for being with us on the programme today. that is all. that‘s it from business live today. samantha will be longer in westminster telling us more about the spending review and we will cover it under bbc web page. stay tuned, we will have all the twists and turns and any market and

currency reaction to developments here. thank you for watching, goodbye for now. goodbye. good morning. it is going to stay fairly and settled over the next few days. low pressure in charge of the weather today. you can see the north of scotland, the white lines, the isobars quite close together and quite blustery conditions across the uk. in particular, the northwest. a weather front to the south east, that will clear away and as it does so cometh the hour comes in from the north, the north west, bringing much cooler conditions. it will feel cooler conditions. it will feel cooler today compared to the last few days and also quite windy. this morning, that rain in the south east of england clears and for much of southern england, the midlands, eastern england, some sunshine this afternoon. still showers across northern england, north wales, scotland, northern ireland. quite

blustery showers because wind gusts will be up to 50,50 blustery showers because wind gusts will be up to 50, 50 five miles per hour. quite widely, gusty conditions this afternoon. as temperatures drop away. these are the afternoon values. 10—15d in the north. 17—19dc in the south east of england, a few degrees lower than they were yesterday. tonight, a lot of the showers clear away, some coming into the far north and north west of scotland, clear skies elsewhere. the far north and north west of scotland, clearskies elsewhere. it potentially in northern parts of the country especially, temperatures to fairly low single figures. for most of us, there looking dry with some sunshine. still a few showers across scotland, north west england, wales, some of those drifting into the midlands. for many, dry and with sunny a maximum temperature into the high teams. into friday, more weather fronts moving in high teams. into friday, more weatherfronts moving in across high teams. into friday, more weather fronts moving in across the uk throughout the uk. wet weather

singing south and east. fairly blustery conditions. but the rain eventually clears from northern parts of england, scotland and northern ireland with a few showers. the rain lingers in the far south of england during the afternoon. and those are the temperatures on friday, 15—17, 18 degrees, fearing on the cool side. into the weekend, the weather fronts clear away. and then we have this ridge of high pressure which is quite well established across the uk over the weekend. things looking drier and brighter. plenty of sunshine on saturday and sunday. the winds should be lighter and temperatures 17-19dc. that is it should be lighter and temperatures 17—19dc. that is it me, goodbye.

you‘re watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines... a dramatic defeat for the prime minister last night, as mps try to block a no—deal brexit. borisjohnson lost his commons majority and his first vote. he says he could trigger a general election. if mps vote tomorrow to stop negotiations and to compel another pointless delay to brexit, potentially for years, then that would be the only way to resolve this. the liberal democrats and labour say they will block an election until the threat of a no—deal is removed. get the bill through first in order to prevent...