a brexit reset? uk chancellor rachel reeves pushes for closer relations with the eu, as she joins talks with european finance leaders in brussels. commercial benefits. advertising giants agree a $13 billion mega merger, raising hopes on wall street of a new era in global deal—making. plus, google unveils a mind bogglingly fast quantum computing chip. and can the magic of cinema and can the magic of cinema still cast a spell? still cast a spell? wicked takes on netflix wicked takes on netflix drama emilia perez in the golden globes — drama emilia perez in the golden globes — as the big screen fights back as the big screen fights back against the streamers. against the streamers. growth for both sides. welcome to business today, welcome to business today, i'm ben thompson. i'm ben thompson. we start with relations we start with relations between the uk and europe — between the uk and europe — because british chancellor because british chancellor rachel reeves has been calling rachel reeves has been calling for a �*reset�* — for a �*reset�* — saying closer ties saying closer ties will help boost economic will help boost economic

growth for both sides. she's in brussels attending a eurogroup meeting of finance ministers — the first uk chancellor to do so since britain left the eu in 2020. the european single market is by far she's in brussels attending a eurogroup meeting of finance ministers — the first uk chancellor to do so since britain left the eu in 2020. the european single market is by far the uk's biggest trading partner. almost half of britain's exports of goods and services went to the eu last year. since brexit, though, exports have fallen sharply —

since brexit, though, exports have countries, 'ply — since brexit, though, exports have countries, and - since brexit, though, exports have countries, and to between our countries, and to have _ between our countries, and to have a — between our countries, and to have a more businesslike relationship between the european union and the uk. faisal islam joins us to discuss _ faisal islam joins us to discuss this. how are you seeing _ discuss this. how are you seeing this? how is this going down? — seeing this? how is this going down? ., ., , seeing this? how is this going down? ., .,, , , down? someone has suggested this is the uk _ down? someone has suggested this is the uk saying _ down? someone has suggested this is the uk saying we - down? someone has suggested this is the uk saying we want i this is the uk saying we want all of the good bits and none of the bad bits. how has it been received?— of the bad bits. how has it been received? the first thing is lots of warm _ been received? the first thing is lots of warm words - been received? the first thing is lots of warm words about . been received? the first thing is lots of warm words about a | is lots of warm words about a close at relationship. the baseline for this is the fact that the newish labour government in the uk news that the deal inherited from the conservative government was too hard a brexit, to clean a break, and the uk economy, which has suffered from slowish growth over the past few years, could do with the boost of not having to deal with many of the

trade barriers, nontariff barriers as they are called, extra red tape, that leaving the single market and customs union inevitably entails. they are not going to reverse those headline strategic moves, by the conservative government. they don't want to rejoin the single market or customs union or do anything that would lead to freedom of movement coming again. that was clear in the labour manifesto last summer. but it strikes me that a lot is “p but it strikes me that a lot is up for grabs within that, if you accept those red lines. with everything else on the table, if everything else conceivably is on the table then there could be some degree of ambition in the amount of these trade barriers you could take down, particularly in the food and farming sector, where a veterinary agreement could span anything from being relatively light and not make a great deal of difference to taking most of the trade barriers that were created by

the trade deal in brexit away, if they are willing to keep up with eu rules and regulations, unthinkable to the previous government, but not unthinkable to the current government said it did not rule that out. other things mentioned to me ahead of this meeting, this parish finance ministerfor this meeting, this parish finance minister for example, telling me that they would put on the table things like youth mobility. this was ruled out by labour in opposition but some sort of exchange, youth experience exchange or something like that may be on the table again in order to help these sorts of conversations. ., ., ~ ., conversations. good to talk to ou, conversations. good to talk to you. thank — conversations. good to talk to you. thank you. _ conversations. good to talk to you, thank you, faisal - conversations. good to talk to you, thank you, faisal islam, | you, thank you, faisal islam, our economics editor. now to a mega—merger in the world of advertising. global ad group omnicom is to buy rival interpublic in a $13.5 billion deal— to create

the world's biggest advertising group. it's a response to the rise of artificial intelligence — which is shaking up how commercials are made and targeted. but it's also creating a lot of excitement on wall street — where there is a hope it could be the start of a new era of mega deal—making, in what could be a lighter regulatory regime under the coming trump administration. our north america business correspondent michelle fleury is following this for us in new york. and this is the big deal, the coming together of these two giants but it tells us much about how this industry has changed. about how this industry has chanced. ~ about how this industry has changed-— about how this industry has chanced. ~ ., ., ~ ., changed. we are talking about the number — changed. we are talking about the number three _ changed. we are talking about the number three and - changed. we are talking about the number three and four - changed. we are talking about| the number three and four and the number three and four and the world of advertising getting together to create the worlds biggest advertising agency, a response in part to the advertising world's transformation from analog to digital and the disruption that has ensued. it is not the first time omnicom try to strike a deal, the last time was in 2013, then it failed in part because of regulatory hurdles p0p because of regulatory hurdles pop is time the management confident in the wake of the trump election that they can

get this particular deal done and that it will get through the sort of scrutiny that typically accompanies these types of mergers. and that is what is a leading market strategist to predict that we might see a pick—up in m and a activity, and we are hearing about a deal involving the cadbury owner reportedly buying up cadbury owner reportedly buying up her she's, so you are starting to see executives respond they think is a better regulatory environment, —— hershey's, you've got money sitting on the sidelines on private equity also so when you look ahead to 2025 is one market strategist tells me, this is the year that we expect and hope to see a pick—up. that and hope to see a pick-up. that is want to _ and hope to see a pick-up. that is want to keep _ and hope to see a pick-up. that is want to keep an _ and hope to see a pick-up. that is want to keep an eye - and hope to see a pick—up. that is want to keep an eye on as we head into 2025, thank you,

michelle fleury, live in new york. to tech now and an apparantly revolutionary new kind of computer chip with "mind boggling" capabilities. here it is — it's the latest cutting—edge quantum chip from google. and it's fast. according to google it's capable of completing in five minutes a task that would take one of the world's fastest super computers a septillion years — that is a 1 followed by 25 0s — to complete. this the latest in the field of what's known as quantum computing. to help us understand what we're talking about — joining me now is our technology reporter chris vallance. it is mind—boggling to get your head around these sorts of numbers so put it into context why it is so important. why is it so great? to why it is so important. why is it so great?— it so great? to look at it is uuite it so great? to look at it is quite unassuming. - it so great? to look at it is quite unassuming. a - it so great? to look at it is quite unassuming. a little| quite unassuming. a little square of pearlescent material. the reason people are so excited about it at google is that it excited about it at google is thatitis excited about it at google is that it is a quantum computer. the hope with quantum computers is that they don't work the same way as computers in our

everyday lives in phones and laptops, they solve problems and a fundamentally different way. and that allows them to solve problems that regular computers, classical computers so called, really struggle to do. and there is an awful long way to go but google is terribly excited about this result, because here, you have a quantum chip, vastly outperforming, in theory, one of the world's fastest supercomputers, doing it in five minutes, when according to google that computer would take longer than the age of the universe to solve it. but a long way to go. at the moment these are very much experimental devices. even google admits we have years to go before we start to get really everyday practical problems in battery design, drug discovery, solved by quantum computers. it is quantum computers. it is fascinating, _ quantum computers. it is fascinating, isn't - quantum computers. it is fascinating, isn't it, - quantum computers. it is fascinating, isn't it, howl quantum computers. it is| fascinating, isn't it, how it

is such a game changer. thank you, chris vallance, ourtech reporter. it's another critical week for europe's biggest car—maker. in germany, thousands of volkswagen workers have walked out today, as a fresh round of talks between the carmaker and the workers union takes place over vw�*s restructuring plans. a four—hour work stoppage has been called at nine volkswagen factories across the country. vw is looking to cut costs as it struggles with weak ev demand and steep competition from china. professor ferdinand dudenhoffer — who has held senior executive positions at porsche, opel and citroen — told me that vw has a unique set of problems. it's damaging, and we don't see an end to the conflict, because on the one hand, we have the trade union, they want to increase its wages and, on the other hand, we have the management of vw, which is in big problems, due to increasing costs.

just to compare it, if you produce the same car instead of wolfsburg, for example, with skoda, skoda is very successful, has better prices for the customer, and it has margins of 8%, 9%. if you do the same thing, the same technology, the same car in wolfsburg, it is about 1%, half a percent, and it is subsidised also in the past by china, so it is— a dramatic situation which vw faces in germany, because vw is in principle a political institution, a political company. it is in some kind, like a state—owned company because the state of middle saxony has 20% of the shares, and we have a trade union which has voting rights of 50%.

the latest on those strikes at vw. now to the film business — because in the couple of hours or so we've had the nominations for this year's golden globes awards. box—office hit wicked is is squaring off against netflix drama emilia perez in the best musical or comedy movie category — with conclave and dune part 2 among the nominations for best drama. but whoever picks up the prizes injanuary — this year, cinema itself is a clear winner. us box office takings over thanksgiving soared to a record 415 million dollars — way ahead of the record set before the pandemic. that's despite widespread concerns that cinema—going had been dealt a fatal blow by the rise of streaming services. as entertainment analyst richard cooper told us earlier. we cannot take anything away from the success of the thanksgiving weekend. it was a huge boost to the us domestic theatrical market. when we compare to the theatrical performance before

pre pandemic we are still anticipating a lower overall box office this year, than we saw before the pandemic, by about 25%, so 25% lower. stepping away from that, and we have a statement in the house of commons on syria from the uk foreign secretary david lambie. over the weekend, the form of his murderous regime. on the 30th of november the regime withdrew from aleppo. on the 5th of december, hama, then on the six, daraa and homes then on the 7th of december, damascus. this government came into office, some in the international community and some in this house asked whether we would re—engage with assad. his russian and iranian

ally said a long chat with him, increasingly, other governments were also starting to step up their presence in damascus. madam deputy speaker, this government chose not to re—engage. we said no, because assad is a monster. we said no because assad was a dictator whose sole interest was his wealth and power, and we said no because assad is a criminal who defied all laws and norms, to use chemical weapons against the syrian people. we said no because assad is a butcher with the blood of countless innocents on his hands and we said no because assad is a drug dealer, finding his regime through, and we said no, because he was never, ever going to change. there were those who used to call assad the lion of damascus. now we

see the reality. assad is the rat of damascus, fleeing to moscow with his tail between his legs. how fitting he should end up there. we see streets of syrians cheering his demise, tearing down his statues, reunited with loved ones who have been disappeared. we have long hoped to see him gone, and welcome the opportunity this brings for the people of syria. assad's demise is notjust a humiliation to him and his henchmen, it is a humiliation for russia and iran. iran's so—called axis of resistance is crumbling before our eyes. and vladimir putin's attempts to p"°p up vladimir putin's attempts to prop up assad for more than a decade. and he has got, all the is got from this is a fallen

dictator filing is got from this is a fallen dictatorfiling for is got from this is a fallen dictator filing for asylum in moscow. he says that he wants to return russia to its imperial glory, but after more than 1000 days, he has not subjugated ukraine, his fake empire stop shortjust a few miles out of donetsk. i have no fear of it, only discussed. of course madam deputy speaker, our revulsion of assad and his henchmen and those who propped him up, there is not blindness to the risk of this moment. the demise of assad brings no guarantee of peace. this is a moment of danger, as well as opportunity for syrians and for the region. the humanitarian situation in syria is dire. with almost 17 million people in need. millions of refugees, largely still in neighbouring turkey, lebanon and jordan, and

so many are