this is worklife from bbc news, with victoria fritz and samantha simmonds. prime minister borisjohnson will hail the "dawn of a new era" later, as the uk prepares to leave the european union after 47 years. live from london, that's our top story on friday 31st january. a $1.7 trillion gamble. britain's economic future at stake as it reshuffles trade ties with europe — and the rest of the world. also in the programme...

the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in china has now exceeded the worldwide total of the sars virus. plus — the price of fish. will brexit land uk fishermen a bigger share of the catch or leave them adrift? and some of your brexit questions answered. we'll be getting the inside track on what effect could the transition have on things like health insurance and data roaming charges. and some will celebrate. others will commiserate. what is certain is that its happening. #brexitday has, at last, come round. so how are you feeling about it? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcworklife. hello and welcome to worklife. we start with brexit, because after one referendum, two elections, three prime ministers and four years of political wrangling, it is finally happening. britain leaves the european union

at 2300 gmt tonight. not much will change in the short term, because the uk will enter what's known as a transition period for the rest of the year. it remains in the eu single market and customs union, subject to eu rules, but without any say over them. during the next 11 months, travel between the uk and eu will be unaffected, there will still be freedom of movement and trade will continue on the same terms, without taxes or border checks. but during that time the two sides must agree their future trading relationship. there is a vast amount at stake: britain does trade worth $1.7 trillion a year. almost half of it with the european union. and much of the rest, under deals the eu has with other countries, which britain will no longer be part of.

a key benefit of brexit could be the ability to strike a trade deal with the us, which the eu doesn't have. it's already britain's biggest trading partner outside the eu, accounting for 15% of trade. with us now is craig beaumont, director of external affairs at the federation of small businesses. good to have you here. we have got a year, good to have you here. we have got a yea r, less good to have you here. we have got a year, less than a year, 11 months, before any potential deal could be signed. how are small businesses dealing with yet more uncertainty? they have had three and a half years of almost brexit purgatory and they weren't sure brexit was going to happen. then they were looking at a perhaps no—deal brexit. so we have had the full range of happen and a business couldn't really prepare. we are still looking at the potential? we pushed really hard to get sta nsell we pushed really hard to get stansell transitional period when nothing happens for a period of

time, but now the clock will be ticking towards the end of the year, what will adil look like. but the reassuring message now is nothing changes tomorrow. if you are trading as small business, if you have people or things crossing borders, things will not change and you will be able to do your business. at least for 11 months until we know what happens with the negotiations. what are small businesses, if you can lump them together, what are they ultimately have people as a best case scenario? a good free trade agreement with the eu, but also one with the us. while they are moving through this period of uncertainty, they can see opportunity and ambition as well. with the eu, we are looking for things like, how do tariffs like, regulatory standards work, can we have a one—stop shop for all small businesses. if you want to trade with germany under the new system, how do you get there? we are looking at the first sense today, of the negotiation objectives for the uk, which will be published in the next

couple of weeks. we will look at the eu mandate as well. suddenly we will start to see the outline of a deal. small businesses will be waiting for that moment and then predicting what will happen by the end of the year. a lot of importance being placed on regulatory standards, what is the likely outcome? it is hard to predict. the prime minster came out said they want a canada style free trade agreements. so we may see regulations not quite matching. when you have kitchen appliances, you might want to both have them safe, but not come at it in the same way. you have the special situation around northern ireland, which will have to stay lockstep on eu regulations anyway. interesting to get your thoughts, thank you. we

will be hearing from northern ireland, we have ben thompson their later in the programme. joining us now from brussels is dominic boucsein, head of international trade and foreign policy, eurochambres. thank you forjoining us. i noticed the main square in brussels was lit up the main square in brussels was lit up in red, white and blue of the unionjack. up in red, white and blue of the union jack. russell sank by up in red, white and blue of the unionjack. russell sank by but has the eu already moved on? good morning and thank you for having us. i think it is a sad day because we are losing a close friend and partner that is leaving the european political family. this should partner that is leaving the european politicalfamily. this should not mean that we lose britain economically and sever all ties economically. we have concluded three and a half years of the first phase of brexit, the political brexit and we are moving to a more challenging, economic brexit. in this sense, we have an extremely

challenging timeline ahead. we want as much progress, of course, in those 11 months, that is to have an ambitious and deep economic partnership with the uk in line with the political declaration that both sides agreed. 0k, obviously this is an opportunity that is branded here by the prime minister in an address later, as not the end, butjust the beginning. it is also an opportunity for the eu to take a look at itself and perhaps overhaul itself and some of its own institutions?” and perhaps overhaul itself and some of its own institutions? i think we need to put this in perspective. the economic relationship between the uk and the eu is of vast importance, i think, to both of us. we need to look at the numbers, 9% of the eve trade is with the uk. 43% of the uk go to the eu. we both have a very strong interest in this economic relationship. an even stronger interest from the uk side given

those numbers. i think the eu, now we are looking for both sides to come forward and provide clarity to the business community, by publishing the mandate so we can really see where the objectives and the aims of both parties lie in these 11 months ahead, as we have no time to waste. 0k, thank you dominic, in brussels for us. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. a major investor in leading e—cigarette—makerjuul has seen its stake in the company drop by more than two—thirds. tobacco giant altria group has blamed the $8.5billion fall in value on rising legal and regulatory threats. the firm had paid $12.8bn for a 35% stake injuul in 2018, and it revealed a huge write—down to investors on thursday. kenya's national carrier has suspended all flights to and from china because of the coronavirus outbreak. the virus has caused more than 130 deaths,

more than 213 deaths, across china and at least 16 other countries. six suspected cases had been reported across africa although patients tested negative for the virus. kenya airways says its route to thailand's capital, bangkok, will still be operational. struggling luxury uk carmaker aston martin has announced plans to raise emergency funding worth around $650 million. a consortium led by billionaire lawrence stroll will put in about $230 million, with the rest coming from issuing fresh shares to existing investors. mr stroll partly owns the racing point formula i team. the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in china has now exceeded the worldwide total of the sars virus. mariko 0i is in hong kong and the world health organisation hasn't yet recommened any trade restrictions?

mariko, bring us up today. no, but it has declared a global emergencies which countries could restrict travel as well as trade, which is a concern for beijing because it could have a significant impact on the country's economy. there were some critics asking wyatt at the w h oh so long to declare a global emergency and whether there was any pressure from beijing on the who not to do so. as you can see around me, a lot of people in hong kong are concerned, wearing face masks and a lot of pressure on the hong kong government to close all the borders. thanks very much, mariko. ijust wa nt to thanks very much, mariko. ijust want to let you know what is going on with the market at the moment. if we bring them up, and we have had a bounce in wall street, a decoupling, i suppose, with what is going on in the asian markets. the asian markets

more tied with the man coming in and out of china, which of course, anything affects the consumer demand coming out of the world's second biggest economy, will affect absolutely everyone. in terms of the european markets, we have had some news coming out in the last half an hour. the french economy shrank unexpectedly for the first time under the presidency of emmanuel macron at the end of last year. the country are starting to feel the economic impact of protests and strikes over pension reform there. time now for our daily look at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye. joining me is riaz kanani, founder of radiate b2b — the account based marketing and sales platform. let's look at this one here brexit, smexit. tell us about this one? one

thing about the uk, it is a world —class thing about the uk, it is a world—class place for al marketing andi world—class place for al marketing and i think it is up 13 detent. why is that? london is a huge financial centre and there is a huge amount of very clever and very well informed people. the connections between the industry and the innovation that we see in that space means it is leading the world in fintech. europe, is slowing down? interestingly yes. that is how big london is in terms of the fintech space. it has been growing and hit a critical mass. it has really managed to own that space? it really has. brexit is helping some of the smaller centres in europe from more traditional financial space,

smaller centres in europe from more traditionalfinancial space, but from the tech standpoint. the wall streetjournal would beg from the tech standpoint. the wall street journal would beg to from the tech standpoint. the wall streetjournal would beg to differ, saying they have all the talent but the wall streetjournal saying the uk companies tackle brexit and the hiring? it is the challenging time for tech services. it is built on people and data. and in both scenarios, we need that to continue to grow in scale. the challenge at the moment is obviously, we have uncertainty around what are the agreements going to be about movement of people between europe and london. that word uncertainty, how many times having said that in one half years? let's cap —— cash this is a bit wider than tech. a week of toast brexit britain, looking to america. good luck with that, they say. 15% of our trade is done with the us. 0ne of our trade is done with the us. one could say, if you take as a

blueprint, the way in which the us has treated china over trade, a much bigger player than the uk, it is going to be testing times ahead, the next 11 months? it is going to be tough and it is not anywhere near in our own control, that is the problem. we are not negotiating these deals in a silo. things are happening alongside it, the article talks about huawei and the tech tax and these things will have an impact on the trade agreements with the us. thanks very much for taking us through those papers. thank you. still to come... we'll try and answer some of your brexit questions — what effect the transition could have on things like health insurance and data roaming charges. you're with worklife from bbc news. the northern ireland border with the republic of ireland was one of the most contentious issues of the brexit negotiations,

so with just hours to go, how are businesses and people who live and work here feeling? ben thompson is at a sports clothing factory in strabane near the irish border. good morning from northern ireland, we are right on the border here. remember, the border was one of the most controversial elements of the brexit negotiations. this place makes sportswear, it is sold all over the world but made right here. but the issue is, the equipment that it needs, the material has to cross the border eight times before it gets to customers. so quite clearly they've got a very close eye on what happens in the coming year. let me introduce you to cieran, who's the boss here and also grainne, who runs a business. good morning to you both. ciaran, give me a sense of what changes because tonight, 11:00, the uk officially leaves the european union, but not a lot changes for you? not a lot changes for us. 0bviously, for us, the big part was the uncertainty and may be

the threat of a hard border. so, you know, it allows us to make sure we can move our goods freely across the border, which we do on a very regular basis and that our staff can freely move across the border as well without any delay and get into their place of work. now, you run a business as welljust down the road from here, what are the things you are concerned about in these 11 months of the transition period, what do you need to get answers to? i need to make sure that, again, as ciaran said, that we can export freely so that we can have frictionless export from northern ireland. and that is really important for us, almost 100% of our business is exported, just to put that into perspective for you. and again, it's because we physically don't have the number of people in northern ireland to sell products too. so we ship so much from northern ireland, we need to make sure we're not going to have additional taxes or tariffs added onto our products when they for export. also from a legislative perspective from a compliance perspective because we manufacture a child safety product, a booster seat, it is really important that we understand if there

are going to be any changes coming up, if there are going to be any additions to the legislation so that we can be ahead of the posse on that. it's good to see you both, thanks very much. and there you have it, a sense of what business is contending with right now. lots of questions still need some answers. whether they'll get them in this 11 months of the transition period, of course, is the outstanding big question. we have 2 million ferrets in this country. you're watching worklife. a reminder of our top story: prime minister boris johnson will hail the "dawn of a new era" later, as the uk prepares to leave the european union after 47 years. now in an ideal world, many british citizens will be hoping for a smooth transition as the uk leaves the european union. however, if certain issues are not clarified by the end of the transition period, what impact could that have for millions of brits?

currently european health insurance cards let uk residents get medical care forfree, or at a reduced cost, in 31 countries. but by the end of 2020, that may no longer be the case. when it comes to mobile data roaming charges, they will remain unchanged until the end of this year. however after that date, if no new arrangement is reached, mobile operators will be able to implement new roaming charges. 0ur economics correspondent andrew walkerjoins us now. lots of pressure. let's look at health care first of all. all 0k until the end of this year, then what potential scenarios are we looking at? there are two different groups of people looking at here.

travellers and also the ones affected by the european health insurance card. as you indicated, you can travel around europe and get basically the same health care at the same because, as the local national scan. in many cases that is free, in some cases there are some charges. that continues under the transition period. thereafter, it is a matter for negotiation and it may be at the end of the day, brits travelling do have to pay for the health care and that will make it all the more important for tourists to ta ke all the more important for tourists to take proper health insurance. they are advised to do that anyway because they are things like repatriating yourself if you do get seriously injured, you might want to be covered. the other one is people who are resident there and under their withdrawal agreement they will be titled to the health care they are currently getting. there have been some anecdotal reports of people having difficulty with doctors asking for payments in advance. but that is the arrangement that we have. some campaigners for

brits in europe have said that actually one of the aspects of the withdrawal agreement, they like the provisions that have been made on health care for people who are registered as resident abroad. health care for people who are registered as resident abroadm health care for people who are registered as resident abroad. it is a quid pro quo because of the europeans who come to get the same. let's talk about mobile phones, we have got used to an area where we don't pay data roaming charges, what are the chances of those coming back in? several of the mobile operators have said they have no plans to do so. obviously, plans can change. 0ne of the key points, underpinning the absence of mobile phone roaming charges is regulation that restricts the charges that the operators, the wholesale charges, the operators can charge. if i am in finland, the local operator that is restricted what they can charge my mobile phone provider here in the uk. that will end, so the operators here will then have to come first of all, look at

what they are being charged in the future by the european operator, then make a judgment. do they pass it on, absorb it in their profit margin, do they scrap roaming charges or charge a higher overall tariff? we could end up paying, if not directly. we will have to pay more attention to our mobile phone bills. pet passports, lotta people travel with their dogs, cats, ferrets ? travel with their dogs, cats, ferrets? the eu pet passport is something that is targeted at those three groups. i cannot say i have ever seen a ferret at an airport. you are not looking properly. keep your eyes peeled. i will know better now. for the transition period, no change. thereafter, it depends on negotiations to some degree, but there is an arrangement the eu already has four listing certain groups of countries. if you do get the highest level of listing, it is

pretty much equivalent to having the eu pet passport. if you are not one of these listed countries, there is significant extra cost and hassle that involves an additional blood test for your pet to prove they do have the rabies protection, the vaccine is supposed to provide. but a big thing, so many questions and the answer to many of them is, as it is now for the next 11 months, thereafter, depends on the talks. all up for negotiation. andrew, plenty more on this for the coming months, but for now, thank you. 2 million ferret owners in the uk. if you do travel with your ferret, please send it in. bbc worklife. in a moment, we'll run through some viewer responses to our twitter question. but first, let's talk about the britain's fishing industry in the coming months after brexit. the eu has made it clear that any trade deal must include an agreement on fishing access to british waters and that it should be reached by the beginning ofjuly. british fishermen in brixham, devon,

fear that their interests will be sacrificed to get a deal with the eu. he'd never leave the harbour if you are never optimistic. my name is andy, i am skipper and owner of the van dijk. i have been fishing for 35 yea rs. van dijk. i have been fishing for 35 years. my father owned the boat and pass them on to me. i have my son working with me so it is a generational, family thing. it is seen as a bit of a romantic life being a fisherman, it is hard work and you are away from your family and you are away from your family and your home for days on end. i voted to leave because we wanted to regain some more control over our waters and have a bigger share of the quota. the french get 84% of the channel and the uk gets less than

that, which is not fair. you would like to think the government would say, if you are going to start putting tariffs on our fish, we will putting tariffs on our fish, we will put tariffs on the german and french ca rs put tariffs on the german and french cars and the wine and cheese. the biggest fear is, for she will be used as a bargaining chip and we are just sacrificed for the greater good of the country. if we don't get continued, reasonable fishing, then we will end up with a lot of coastal towns becoming ghost towns. in brixham, you have fishing and tourism and that is it. if there is an efficient, you have tourism. a lot of tourists come to brixham to see fishing boats. as it's brexit day, we asked you about how you feel about the uk leaving the eu. let's take a look at how some

viewers have responded. andrew is summing up what many are feeling the only time will tell if this is a dawn of a new prosperity for the uk at the start of the biggest mistake in a generation. we should all be optimists today. i was really optimistic we might get some ferret pictures in. i have been scanning my computer in this desk. so far, nothing. do send them and if you do have them. 2 million people have ferrets in this country apparently. and you need a pet passport. whether you are celebrating or commiserating, it is a friday and you have the weekend

ahead. that is it from worklife today and plenty more business news throughout the rest of the day. thank you for being with us and goodbye for now. good morning. it is a mild start to the day and temperatures are in double figures across many parts of england and wales. we keep the mild air through the course of the day but it will come again with lots of cloud and for some of us, some rain as well. low pressure out towards the west and it is this whether front moving south and east are bringing the rain. the still close together so still quite breezy conditions. that wind is coming in from the south—west so you can see the yellows and oranges through the uk. temperature is above average for the time of year. heavy rain this morning across wales, the midlands and eastern areas. that will move further south and east. it will break up into some showers are moved

to the south—east of england later this afternoon and in the evening. showers behind that coming across western scotland. quite breezy for many of us in the best of any sunshine will be across the east of scotland. temperatures, 12 to 1a celsius, maybe 15 degrees cropping up celsius, maybe 15 degrees cropping up in the north—east of wales and towards the east of the pennines. tonight, we continued showers across scotland, fed the south—east, the rain will clear away and we will be looking about varying amounts of cloud for england and wales. the wind are still from the south—west so it keeps temperatures up. 0vernight lows of about seven to 10 celsius. for the start of the weekend, we will see a bit of rain across southern areas. that would drift eastward during saturday and then this next weather system will push in for sunday. for many of us on saturday morning, a dry start and showers toward scotland and northern ireland. rain affecting southern areas of england just running across southern parts and for many into the

afternoon there will be sunshine for england and wales. showers for scotland. temperatures coming down a touch but still in double figures for many of us, about 10 celsius. and to sunday this area of pressure moving and that will spread rain further north and east with throughout the day on sunday. but as it clears to the north, there will be something drier later on. drying out across southern parts later on in the day. the rain moves to the far north of england into northern ireland and eventually into south—western scotland. some sunny spells developing in the south. dry weather and sunshine for the far north of scotland. chilly here, five or six celsius, but across the south, temperatures 11 to 13 degrees. goodbye.

you're watching bbc news with me, carrie gracie. the headlines... brexit countdown — in just a few hours' time, the uk will be leaving the european union after 47 years. the prime minister will hold a cabinet meeting in sunderland — the first place to officially back brexit — and he will make a speech saying brexit is not an end but a beginning. but the issue is still dividing opinion. finally, so happy. i am so happy it is finally done and they are finally listening to what we want.|j is finally done and they are finally listening to what we want. i have falle n listening to what we want. i have fallen out with people over this. i don't think those friendships are going to come back. and we'll be hearing from scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, in the next hour. and our other main stories — the world health organization