United Kingdom: BBC News London — Verified Live

20260917 14:00 UTC · 00:31:00 · 522 transcript segments · GDELT Visual Explorer · plain-text transcript · Event Map

Matthew Amroliwala presents all the latest global and UK news, live from London.

Film strip

One frame every 4 seconds, 466 in all. Click a frame to jump the transcript to that moment, or click a line of the transcript to see what was on screen while it was said. Served from apprised.news, so it loads behind proxies that block Google Cloud Storage.

00:00:00
00:00:04
00:00:08
00:00:12
00:00:16
00:00:20
00:00:24
00:00:28
00:00:32
00:00:36
00:00:40
00:00:44
00:00:48
00:00:52
00:00:56
00:01:00
00:01:04
00:01:08
00:01:12
00:01:16
00:01:20
00:01:24
00:01:28
00:01:32
00:01:36
00:01:40
00:01:44
00:01:48
00:01:52
00:01:56
00:02:00
00:02:04
00:02:08
00:02:12
00:02:16
00:02:20
00:02:24
00:02:28
00:02:32
00:02:36
00:02:40
00:02:44
00:02:48
00:02:52
00:02:56
00:03:00
00:03:04
00:03:08
00:03:12
00:03:16
00:03:20
00:03:24
00:03:28
00:03:32
00:03:36
00:03:40
00:03:44
00:03:48
00:03:52
00:03:56
00:04:00
00:04:04
00:04:08
00:04:12
00:04:16
00:04:20
00:04:24
00:04:28
00:04:32
00:04:36
00:04:40
00:04:44
00:04:48
00:04:52
00:04:56
00:05:00
00:05:04
00:05:08
00:05:12
00:05:16
00:05:20
00:05:24
00:05:28
00:05:32
00:05:36
00:05:40
00:05:44
00:05:48
00:05:52
00:05:56
00:06:00
00:06:04
00:06:08
00:06:12
00:06:16
00:06:20
00:06:24
00:06:28
00:06:32
00:06:36
00:06:40
00:06:44
00:06:48
00:06:52
00:06:56
00:07:00
00:07:04
00:07:08
00:07:12
00:07:16
00:07:20
00:07:24
00:07:28
00:07:32
00:07:36
00:07:40
00:07:44
00:07:48
00:07:52
00:07:56
00:08:00
00:08:04
00:08:08
00:08:12
00:08:16
00:08:20
00:08:24
00:08:28
00:08:32
00:08:36
00:08:40
00:08:44
00:08:48
00:08:52
00:08:56
00:09:00
00:09:04
00:09:08
00:09:12
00:09:16
00:09:20
00:09:24
00:09:28
00:09:32
00:09:36
00:09:40
00:09:44
00:09:48
00:09:52
00:09:56
00:10:00
00:10:04
00:10:08
00:10:12
00:10:16
00:10:20
00:10:24
00:10:28
00:10:32
00:10:36
00:10:40
00:10:44
00:10:48
00:10:52
00:10:56
00:11:00
00:11:04
00:11:08
00:11:12
00:11:16
00:11:20
00:11:24
00:11:28
00:11:32
00:11:36
00:11:40
00:11:44
00:11:48
00:11:52
00:11:56
00:12:00
00:12:04
00:12:08
00:12:12
00:12:16
00:12:20
00:12:24
00:12:28
00:12:32
00:12:36
00:12:40
00:12:44
00:12:48
00:12:52
00:12:56
00:13:00
00:13:04
00:13:08
00:13:12
00:13:16
00:13:20
00:13:24
00:13:28
00:13:32
00:13:36
00:13:40
00:13:44
00:13:48
00:13:52
00:13:56
00:14:00
00:14:04
00:14:08
00:14:12
00:14:16
00:14:20
00:14:24
00:14:28
00:14:32
00:14:36
00:14:40
00:14:44
00:14:48
00:14:52
00:14:56
00:15:00
00:15:04
00:15:08
00:15:12
00:15:16
00:15:20
00:15:24
00:15:28
00:15:32
00:15:36
00:15:40
00:15:44
00:15:48
00:15:52
00:15:56
00:16:00
00:16:04
00:16:08
00:16:12
00:16:16
00:16:20
00:16:24
00:16:28
00:16:32
00:16:36
00:16:40
00:16:44
00:16:48
00:16:52
00:16:56
00:17:00
00:17:04
00:17:08
00:17:12
00:17:16
00:17:20
00:17:24
00:17:28
00:17:32
00:17:36
00:17:40
00:17:44
00:17:48
00:17:52
00:17:56
00:18:00
00:18:04
00:18:08
00:18:12
00:18:16
00:18:20
00:18:24
00:18:28
00:18:32
00:18:36
00:18:40
00:18:44
00:18:48
00:18:52
00:18:56
00:19:00
00:19:04
00:19:08
00:19:12
00:19:16
00:19:20
00:19:24
00:19:28
00:19:32
00:19:36
00:19:40
00:19:44
00:19:48
00:19:52
00:19:56
00:20:00
00:20:04
00:20:08
00:20:12
00:20:16
00:20:20
00:20:24
00:20:28
00:20:32
00:20:36
00:20:40
00:20:44
00:20:48
00:20:52
00:20:56
00:21:00
00:21:04
00:21:08
00:21:12
00:21:16
00:21:20
00:21:24
00:21:28
00:21:32
00:21:36
00:21:40
00:21:44
00:21:48
00:21:52
00:21:56
00:22:00
00:22:04
00:22:08
00:22:12
00:22:16
00:22:20
00:22:24
00:22:28
00:22:32
00:22:36
00:22:40
00:22:44
00:22:48
00:22:52
00:22:56
00:23:00
00:23:04
00:23:08
00:23:12
00:23:16
00:23:20
00:23:24
00:23:28
00:23:32
00:23:36
00:23:40
00:23:44
00:23:48
00:23:52
00:23:56
00:24:00
00:24:04
00:24:08
00:24:12
00:24:16
00:24:20
00:24:24
00:24:28
00:24:32
00:24:36
00:24:40
00:24:44
00:24:48
00:24:52
00:24:56
00:25:00
00:25:04
00:25:08
00:25:12
00:25:16
00:25:20
00:25:24
00:25:28
00:25:32
00:25:36
00:25:40
00:25:44
00:25:48
00:25:52
00:25:56
00:26:00
00:26:04
00:26:08
00:26:12
00:26:16
00:26:20
00:26:24
00:26:28
00:26:32
00:26:36
00:26:40
00:26:44
00:26:48
00:26:52
00:26:56
00:27:00
00:27:04
00:27:08
00:27:12
00:27:16
00:27:20
00:27:24
00:27:28
00:27:32
00:27:36
00:27:40
00:27:44
00:27:48
00:27:52
00:27:56
00:28:00
00:28:04
00:28:08
00:28:12
00:28:16
00:28:20
00:28:24
00:28:28
00:28:32
00:28:36
00:28:40
00:28:44
00:28:48
00:28:52
00:28:56
00:29:00
00:29:04
00:29:08
00:29:12
00:29:16
00:29:20
00:29:24
00:29:28
00:29:32
00:29:36
00:29:40
00:29:44
00:29:48
00:29:52
00:29:56
00:30:00
00:30:04
00:30:08
00:30:12
00:30:16
00:30:20
00:30:24
00:30:28
00:30:32
00:30:36
00:30:40
00:30:44
00:30:48
00:30:52
00:30:56
00:31:00

Transcript

Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.

00:00:02MUSIC
00:00:12Live from London. This is BBC News.
00:00:18News. King Charles urges Silicon Silicon Valley bosses to develop
00:00:20develop sufficient controls for AI
00:00:22AI amid fresh calls for safeguards safeguards from another senior tech
00:00:27tech figure. Those in our world who
00:00:30who value deeply our humanity and
00:00:32and its vital moral component are
00:00:35are anxiously seeking your reassurance
00:00:38reassurance that we will not lose lose control of our destiny or our
00:00:42our souls. We're essentially seeding
00:00:45seeding a new silicon species which which will no doubt compete with
00:00:49with us for resources. Buckingham Buckingham Palace is in a war of
00:00:53of words with Princess Diana's brother brother over his controversial memoir
00:00:57memoir about her life and death.
00:00:59death. South African police say they they found a ninth woman killed near
00:01:04near Johannesburg in a spate of murders, murders, causing fear and outrage
00:01:07outrage in the country. The Bank
00:01:09Bank of England holds interest rates
00:01:12rates at 3.75%. We'll assess the
00:01:14the state of the global economy as as the Iran war pushes continues
00:01:18continues to push up energy costs.
00:01:21costs. And the boss of the social social media company Snapchat tells
00:01:24tells the BBC the firm would be willing willing to implement time limits
00:01:28limits for teenagers.
00:01:40Hello and welcome to BBC News. King Charles has urged tech bosses
00:01:44bosses to develop a sufficient means
00:01:46means of controlling artificial intelligence intelligence before, in his words,
00:01:50words, it's all too late. His warning warning while hosting a gathering
00:01:53gathering of AI executives in Scotland, Scotland, follows the latest alert
00:01:57alert about the rapidly developing developing technology. Microsoft's
00:02:00Microsoft's AI chief has told the the BBC he believes the world is
00:02:03is seeing the development of a new
00:02:05new silicon species that could compete compete with humans. We'll bring
00:02:08bring you more of that interview interview here in just a moment.
00:02:12moment. But addressing representatives representatives from some of the the world's biggest AI developers,
00:02:16developers, including Nvidia, Google, Google, DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic
00:02:19Anthropic and others, the King said said he believed in ensuring humanity
00:02:23humanity remains sacred. The substantive substantive discussions are taking
00:02:26taking place privately, but here's here's what some of the King was
00:02:29was saying as he opened today's meeting.
00:02:33meeting. AI is already showing its
00:02:35its immense capacity to improve and
00:02:38and save life. For example, in the
00:02:41the field of life sciences and medicine.
00:02:44medicine. Yet those who have created
00:02:47created these technologies are now now increasingly warning that AI
00:02:51AI risks developing darker capacities,
00:02:54capacities, perhaps even to take
00:02:57take life. And in this regard, if
00:02:59if I may say so, there seems urgency
00:03:03urgency in adequately considering
00:03:05considering the existential dangers dangers of such technologies falling
00:03:08falling into the wrong hands. Well,
00:03:11Well, the CEO of Microsoft AI has
00:03:15has told BBC Radio 4 this is a warning warning shot moment in the development
00:03:18development of AI, and there's every every risk that we might lose control
00:03:22control of it unless it's regulated,
00:03:25regulated, resulting in Silicon Valley Valley species competing with humans.
00:03:28humans. I think that if we all create
00:03:31create AI's that are able to act
00:03:34act autonomously, that can define define their own objectives, that
00:03:37that can earn money, that can own
00:03:40own assets, that could run businesses,
00:03:42businesses, we're essentially seeding seeding a new silicon species, which
00:03:46which will no doubt compete with with us for resources no matter how
00:03:50how much it cares about humanity
00:03:51humanity and loves us, which is,
00:03:54is, I think, Anthropic's intention.
00:03:56intention. I think that is a mistaken mistaken and misguided, but we have
00:04:00have to empirically test it. And And so if they believe that this
00:04:03this is a safer route to developing developing AI's, then they have to
00:04:06to share the data to prove that.
00:04:08that. We've just witnessed a watershed
00:04:10watershed moment in the development development of AI and a model that
00:04:14that was being trained by OpenAI
00:04:18OpenAI inadvertently hacked into
00:04:20into Hugging Face, which is a public
00:04:22public website that runs evaluations
00:04:25evaluations and benchmarks for testing
00:04:27testing these agents. The swarm of
00:04:30of agents co-ordinated together.
00:04:33together. They organised themselves themselves into hierarchies. They
00:04:36They created a division of labour, labour, and so they've developed
00:04:39developed very, very complex behaviour.
00:04:41behaviour. Now the good news is this
00:04:44this was OpenAI developing a model
00:04:47model deliberately with the guardrails guardrails turned off. Well, with
00:04:50with me is our AI correspondent Marc
00:04:52Marc Cieslak. And Mark, this summit summit couldn't be more timely with
00:04:56with an avalanche of warnings that that we've had. Yeah. AI has been been making headlines all summer
00:05:00summer for all the wrong reasons. reasons. AI agents going rogue and
00:05:03and breaking out of their training training environments. And just days
00:05:06days before the King's Summit, Anthropic's Anthropic's own CEO Dario Amodei,
00:05:09Amodei, alongside Sam Altman of OpenAI OpenAI and Elon Musk, called for
00:05:12for a slowdown in the development development of AI. We've had safety
00:05:16safety researchers at these companies companies posting publicly that they they believe there's more than a
00:05:19a 10% chance AI could kill all humans
00:05:23humans within a decade. Some industry
00:05:25industry observers, though, say that that this apocalyptic AI talk is
00:05:29is actually marketing intended to to increase the valuation of these
00:05:32these companies as they prepare for
00:05:34for mega IPOs. Hype or not? These
00:05:37These warnings seem to have struck struck a real chord across the globe.
00:05:41globe. And massive questions now
00:05:43now about how you can slow progress. progress. Can you slow progress?
00:05:47progress? How you regulate? Yeah. Yeah. Regulation now regulation is
00:05:50is an incredibly controversial subject
00:05:53subject in AI circles. President President Trump recently said the
00:05:56the US already has enough regulatory
00:05:58regulatory and criminal powers to to hold AI companies accountable,
00:06:02accountable, and that more guardrails guardrails would undermine American
00:06:05American competitiveness. The reality
00:06:06reality is that the US doesn't have
00:06:09have one comprehensive rule or law law like the EU does. Regulations
00:06:13Regulations spread across existing existing laws, different federal federal agencies and different states.
00:06:16states. That's why we're seeing a a bit of a split at the moment. Some
00:06:19Some of the biggest AI companies companies are calling for more safety
00:06:22safety measures for a variety of
00:06:23of reasons. Some of them no doubt doubt commercial, but also we've
00:06:27we've got the White House saying saying that this there's a bigger
00:06:30bigger risk that if they have greater,
00:06:33greater, greater regulation, they'll they'll fall behind China. And exactly
00:06:36exactly on that point, you have an an American President who says, basically
00:06:39basically we just have to win AI.
00:06:41AI. And where are the Chinese, the the massive competitor in this race
00:06:45race in all of this conversation? conversation? Well. China has a massive
00:06:48massive amount of capability that that perhaps the West doesn't have
00:06:51have in certain arenas. And when when it comes to AI for a very, very
00:06:55very long time, it was thought that that the Chinese was a considerable
00:06:58considerable distance behind in terms terms of technology. That now isn't isn't the case. A lot of industry
00:07:02industry observers say that there's there's more or less parity between
00:07:05between Western technology and Chinese Chinese technology. They've caught caught up very, very fast and they
00:07:09they are incredibly capable. And And it's being framed in Western
00:07:13Western circles as a new Cold War, War, if you like, or a new arms race.
00:07:16race. The country that controls AI
00:07:18AI will have a leading position in in the world moving forward. Mark,
00:07:21Mark, thanks for taking us through through all of that. Much more on
00:07:25on that summit a little later. Now Now Buckingham Palace is in a war
00:07:28war of words with Earl Spencer, the the brother of the late Diana, Princess
00:07:32Princess of Wales, over his controversial controversial memoir about her life
00:07:35life and death. In the book, Earl Earl Spencer claims that soon after
00:07:38after Diana died, Charles told him
00:07:40him that she would be soon forgotten. forgotten. In an unusually strong
00:07:44strong response, the palace has hit hit back, saying the pain of fraternal
00:07:48fraternal grief can cloud reason reason and colour memory. Here's
00:07:50Here's our senior royal correspondent
00:07:53correspondent Daniela Relph. It is is the content of Earl Spencer's
00:07:56Spencer's book about his sister that that has driven Buckingham Palace
00:07:59Palace to issue an unusually robust
00:08:01robust response. Earl Spencer writes
00:08:03writes of a row with the King back back in 1997, when the King was Prince
00:08:07Prince of Wales after he challenged challenged him on the decision to
00:08:10to allow Princes William and Harry Harry to walk behind their mother's
00:08:14mother's coffin at her funeral, something something he said his sister would
00:08:17would not have wanted. Earl Spencer
00:08:19Spencer claims the King replied angrily
00:08:21angrily saying that Diana would be
00:08:23be forgotten soon enough. The response
00:08:25response from Buckingham Palace a a sign of the fury behind palace
00:08:29palace walls. An official spokesman
00:08:31spokesman said while we do not comment
00:08:33comment on books as a matter of principle,
00:08:37principle, His Majesty is mindful mindful that the pain of fraternal
00:08:40fraternal grief can cloud reason, reason, affect judgement and colour
00:08:44colour memory in ways others do not
00:08:46not recognise. Even many years after
00:08:49after such a loss. Not since the
00:08:51the late Queen's statement that recollections recollections may vary after the
00:08:54the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Sussex's interview with Oprah Winfrey
00:08:58Winfrey has a royal statement packed
00:09:00packed so much punch. With King Charles, Charles, we are seeing a monarch
00:09:03monarch doing things differently. differently. I think we are seeing seeing an age of greater transparency
00:09:07transparency with the monarchy in in many ways, with a King who has
00:09:10has disclosed that he has cancer cancer and is undergoing treatment
00:09:14treatment and a King who we know
00:09:16know feels things. His great empathy, empathy, great compassion. And I
00:09:19I would imagine this is incredibly incredibly upsetting for him. And
00:09:22And he has decided that he wants wants to respond. We are hearing
00:09:25hearing more from the palace, I think, think, than we ever have done. The
00:09:29The relationship between the Royal Royal family and the Spencers has
00:09:32has never really recovered since since the funeral of Princess Diana.
00:09:36Diana. In his eulogy to his sister,
00:09:38sister, Earl, Spencer was openly openly critical of the royals. It
00:09:41It caused lasting damage. It's been
00:09:46been a challenging few weeks for for the royal family, many of whom
00:09:49whom will be out on official duty
00:09:53duty today. As will Prince Harry.
00:09:55Harry. He'll be in London for an an awards dinner for the Invictus
00:09:59Invictus Games for wounded military
00:10:00military personnel. His first public
00:10:03public charity engagement since moving moving back to the UK with his wife
00:10:06wife and children. Come on you. Come
00:10:09Come on. The return of Harry and and Meghan has brought with it a
00:10:13a degree of drama over their security, security, the safety of their children
00:10:16children on the school run and speculation
00:10:19speculation over why they have come
00:10:21come back to the UK. The return of
00:10:24of Sussexes really is shows just
00:10:27just how much they run out of road
00:10:30road in Montecito. And they had run run out of road, do you think? Totally
00:10:33Totally run out of road. They seem
00:10:35seem to be unable to just simply
00:10:39simply quietly and with composure composure examine their options and
00:10:42and follow a route. You know, they
00:10:44they they crash into things, you
00:10:47you know, all the time. My husband
00:10:48husband loves bagpipes. All of these
00:10:52these engagements have been planned planned well in advance. But with with Harry and Meghan now back in
00:10:56in the UK, the days where we see see the working royals out on the
00:11:00the same day as the non-working ones
00:11:02ones will become more common. Daniela
00:11:06Daniela Relph, BBC News. Well, let's let's speak live to the historian
00:11:09historian and broadcaster Doctor Doctor Tessa Dunlop. Tessa, welcome welcome here to the programme. What
00:11:13What do you make of this? There's
00:11:17There's a tragic predictability to
00:11:18to it. It is pitiful that a woman
00:11:22woman beloved by so many somebody
00:11:26somebody ephemeral, volatile, a seeker seeker of pain, someone who personified
00:11:30personified love and loss and above
00:11:33above all was a woman, a woman's
00:11:37woman's woman is being fought over over her legacy, which will be 30
00:11:3930 years her death next year. Of
00:11:41Of course, the anniversary by two
00:11:44two establishment men, both of whom
00:11:47whom I think should carry their burden
00:11:48burden of guilt for much of the or
00:11:51or latterly in the latter days of of Diana. The pain in her life. And
00:11:55And in fact you could add to that that list of men who are sort of
00:11:59of besmirching or fighting over her her legacy. Even Piers Morgan to
00:12:01to throw in a third one who was recently recently talking about how his Diana's
00:12:05Diana's mother used to ring him up up when she was drunk and then, of
00:12:08of course, her two sons. Well, William William doesn't say anything because
00:12:11because of his position within the the Constitution, but I'm sure we
00:12:15we will hear more from Harry over over the next year and it. There
00:12:19There is something. Yeah, grimly grimly predictable about it, I'm
00:12:21I'm afraid. What did you make of
00:12:23of the wording of the response? In
00:12:27In effect, regulations may vary. vary. I mean, Earl Spencer is an
00:12:31an assiduous writer and note taker. taker. Your assessment of the basic
00:12:35basic defence put out by the Palace? Palace? Well, as an oral historian,
00:12:37historian, I spend most of my time
00:12:41time talking to individuals and their their recollections predominantly predominantly but not only of World
00:12:45World War II. And I can assure you you that recollections always vary.
00:12:48vary. Often people contradict themselves.
00:12:52themselves. So I heard this morning morning a correspondent from the
00:12:55the times saying only the two charleses charleses know who's telling the
00:12:57the truth. Actually, no. Both will will be firmly entrenched in his
00:13:01his idea that his truth is the correct
00:13:03correct one. So I'm not questioning questioning their integrity in that
00:13:06that respect, but I did find it unprecedented
00:13:10unprecedented and surprising the the lengths to which the King went
00:13:13went to. He didn't just say recollections
00:13:15recollections may vary. He cited cited fraternal grief. He could have
00:13:18have been talking, of course, about about his own two sons. Forgive me me for spotting the irony there.
00:13:22there. He also referred to clouding
00:13:24clouding reason, affecting judgement,
00:13:26judgement, colouring memory. So this
00:13:29this is a monarchy in the brace position position for more to come, because because of course the serialisation
00:13:33serialisation will go over a few few days and the book's going to
00:13:37to land next week. But for what?
00:13:39what? Cause what? What is the end end game of this? And of course there's
00:13:42there's a long, very long history. history. Arguably the Spencers are
00:13:46are a far finer English aristocratic aristocratic family way back when
00:13:50when the Tudor times making their their fortune in wool, have often often crossed swords with the royal
00:13:54royal family. Of course, what makes makes our royal family so anomalous
00:13:58anomalous today is we have consistently consistently since the end of the
00:14:01the Second World War, removed the the edifice of aristocracy taken
00:14:05taken from them, their privileges privileges basically forced them them to open up their homes, which
00:14:09which of course Charles Spencer has has done, etc so the level there
00:14:12there is no level playing field. field. You've got this extraordinary extraordinary well protected, very
00:14:15very rich royal family and you've you've got the likes bizarrely of
00:14:18of Charles Spencer feeling like the
00:14:21the underprivileged one weaponising weaponising and monetising his sister's
00:14:24sister's legacy and casting himself
00:14:26himself very much against the House
00:14:28House of Windsor. Just a final thought thought because as you said, the the book is being serialised. We
00:14:32We are probably going to have days
00:14:35days of stories that the Palace may may or may not respond to, but what
00:14:39what do you make of the timing of of this? More broadly, you have Harry
00:14:42Harry and Meghan back in the UK that
00:14:45that controversy around the letter letter that was circulated. I mean,
00:14:48mean, the Palace is having to navigate navigate on, on several fronts, isn't
00:14:50isn't it? Yeah. Again, much of this
00:14:53this I think was unavoidable. Some Some people, I think would be fair
00:14:56fair to point out that, well, Charles
00:14:59Charles remained or retained his his never complain, never explain
00:15:03explain line when it came to Harry Harry and his explosions, but has
00:15:06has rewritten the rules for his one one time brother in law. But yeah,
00:15:09yeah, Harry is out and about. He's He's a loose cannon. I think much
00:15:12much of that could have been cleared cleared up if there'd been some kind
00:15:16kind of olive branch offered, but but there hasn't been, and I suspect
00:15:20suspect word on the ground suggests suggests and even from Meghan's photo
00:15:23photo dump suggests that Harry, while while perhaps not closely aligned
00:15:27aligned to his uncle, I'm sure he he won't relish the fact that the the serialisation has taken place
00:15:30place in the Daily Mail. I think think they are perhaps working more
00:15:34more closely together than the Palace Palace would like. Perhaps the publication
00:15:37publication this year, one year ahead ahead of Diana's anniversary, is
00:15:41is because there is talk of a Harry Harry documentary or something a
00:15:45a larger form of memorialisation memorialisation from her youngest
00:15:48youngest son this time next year. year. Tessa Dunlop. We have to leave
00:15:51leave it there. But thank you for for joining us on today's programme. programme. Thanks for your time.
00:15:55time. Thank you. We're going to take take a short break around the world
00:16:58high for Republicans and Democrats and for the American people. people. For the latest, follow us
00:17:01us on The President's Path here on
00:17:02on BBC. News. Welcome back. Now the
00:17:11the Bank of England has held interest
00:17:14interest rates at 3.75%. Despite Despite this week's announcement announcement of rising inflation.
00:17:18inflation. Six members of the bank's bank's Monetary Policy committee
00:17:21committee voted to hold rates, while while the other three voted to increase
00:17:25increase to 4%. Here's our economics
00:17:27economics editor Faisal Islam. They
00:17:30They have not followed. Other major major central banks which have raised
00:17:33raised rates. They've held it at
00:17:36at 3.75% on the same split of the the nine member committee that we
00:17:39we had before, 6 to 3. And the essential essential reason is that they recognise
00:17:42recognise rising pressures from energy. energy. But they say that for now,
00:17:45now, the rest of the economy hasn't hasn't sort of percolated out into
00:17:48into the rest of the economy and
00:17:51and effectively that they're going going to wait until they can see
00:17:55see that it might feed into wages wages before they act. Now, three
00:18:03Now, three members of the committee thought actually we've we've seen enough rates should go
00:18:06go up. This is an inevitability that that it will percolate through the the rest of the economy. Six didn't.
00:18:09didn't. So we got a similar decision decision to what we got in July, July, despite the fact that energy
00:18:13energy prices have gone up considerably considerably since then. But I should should say and it gets a bit complicated
00:18:16complicated this. But it is important. important. There was also another
00:18:19another move made today on how the
00:18:21the Bank of England deals with its
00:18:25its huge stock of government debt. debt. It essentially acquired lots
00:18:28lots of government debt during crises,
00:18:31crises, and it's been trying to sell
00:18:33sell that down quite calmly at a
00:18:35a time when the government, governments governments around the world have
00:18:38have also been trying to sell debt. debt. And we've seen and we've talked
00:18:41talked a lot about how we've seen seen high interest rates effective
00:18:45effective for governments, what they they have done today, the bottom bottom line and there are lots of
00:18:49of complexities. But let me just just you'll be hearing a lot about about this today. The bottom line
00:18:53line is they have paused the auctions.
00:18:55auctions. The Bank of England does
00:18:57does of its stock of government debt. debt. They still say that they will
00:19:01will sell it, but effectively they're
00:19:03they're going to keep like a significant significant portion back to cover
00:19:07cover their issuance of bank notes. notes. That's new news. We didn't
00:19:10didn't know that they were going going to do that. They're going to
00:19:13to sell them at a slightly slower
00:19:15slower rate. And then when they do
00:19:17do sell them, they have asked the
00:19:19the government essentially to swallow
00:19:21swallow that up. Now they say that
00:19:24that this is entirely their decision.
00:19:27decision. But the net effect of all
00:19:29all of this is that right now, when
00:19:31when we had expected the bank to
00:19:33to announce a programme of selling
00:19:37selling its government debts, it it won't be doing so at least for
00:19:40for a few months. And I think that that comes as a bit of a surprise
00:19:43surprise to the markets. It is complicated. complicated. Now they say this is
00:19:47is not because we have seen stressed stressed government markets, but but like I think there'll be a few
00:19:50few questions about this. They say say there's also questions about
00:19:53about how this may or may not help
00:19:56help the government finances to some some degree. It gets quite complicated
00:19:59complicated in terms of the accounting, accounting, but that is the news news that markets will be responding responding to. Obviously everyone
00:20:03everyone back home is thinking what's what's going to happen to interest interest rates? What's going to happen happen to mortgage rate, what's going
00:20:07going to happen to growth? The other other detail that I thought was quite quite interesting in here was that
00:20:10that the Bank of England is now projecting
00:20:14projecting that growth in this quarter, quarter, which it thought would basically
00:20:17basically be flat 0.1% will be 0.4%.
00:20:210.4%. Again, nothing to write home home about and hardly a triumph,
00:20:24triumph, but considerably more resilient resilient than had been expected.
00:20:27expected. Faisal Islam at the Bank Bank of England. Well, yesterday yesterday of course, we had that
00:20:31that increase to us interest rates. rates. It comes as rising fuel costs
00:20:35costs a result of renewed hostilities hostilities in Iran and Saudi Arabia
00:20:38Arabia now are pushing up rates of of inflation right around the world.
00:20:42world. Well, those rising energy energy costs are fuelling anger and
00:20:46and fears of shortages globally, globally, putting strains on transport
00:20:49transport systems, haulage companies, companies, shipping and everyday
00:20:52everyday people facing rocketing
00:20:53rocketing energy costs from Syria
00:20:56Syria to Guatemala, Portugal to France. France. People have in the last week
00:20:59week taken to the streets to protest
00:21:02protest against the rising fuel costs. costs. Well, let's speak now to Nick
00:21:05Nick Butler, former head of strategy strategy at BP. He was also a former
00:21:08former political adviser to Gordon Gordon Brown, is now a visiting professor
00:21:11professor at King's College London.
00:21:13London. Nick Butler, welcome here
00:21:15here to BBC News. So that is the
00:21:18the backdrop. Unless the conflict conflict in the Middle East cools
00:21:22cools is the price of just about about everything going to go up.
00:21:25up. Well good afternoon. I'm afraid afraid that is right. And you see
00:21:29see the prices rising already because
00:21:32because these costs have been increasing increasing already through the last
00:21:35last month or so. Now they've gone
00:21:39gone up a level more. I think that
00:21:42that will just push on inflation. inflation. And I was surprised by
00:21:45by the bank decision on interest interest rates. I think it's noticeable
00:21:48noticeable that nobody on the MPC MPC has a background in the energy
00:21:52energy industry or actually know
00:21:54know what's happening. This is both
00:21:57both oil and gas and then oil products, products, which are short because
00:22:01because the refineries in, in the the Gulf are blocked in can't produce
00:22:05produce or have been damaged. And And that feeds through to fertilisers
00:22:07fertilisers and food supply and through
00:22:11through naphtha and petrochemicals. petrochemicals. Yes, we're in for
00:22:13for a surge of inflation. And I think
00:22:16think we unfortunately have to be be ready for that. You've described
00:22:20described what is happening now as as an oil shock. We're seeing it
00:22:23it now. But this conflict has been
00:22:25been going on since February. Why Why haven't we felt all of this a
00:22:29a little earlier in the cycles? I I think it's very clear that the
00:22:33the reason is there have been cushions.
00:22:35cushions. The cushion is that the the International Energy Agency released
00:22:38released a very large amount of stocks stocks onto the market over the last
00:22:42last six months. And the Chinese,
00:22:45Chinese, who had heavy stocks, high
00:22:46high stocks built up over the previous
00:22:49previous year, decided to cut their
00:22:51their imports. So demand was new.
00:22:54new. Demand was much lower than it it could have been. But that's come
00:22:58come to an end now because you can't
00:23:00can't use stocks twice. The stock stock levels around the world are
00:23:04are now at pretty low levels, and
00:23:07and the Chinese have started importing
00:23:09importing again. And so it's just
00:23:12just a simple balance of supply and
00:23:14and demand. Demand is is now going going up. The stocks are not there
00:23:18there to cover it. And the supply
00:23:22supply particularly because of this this attack on the pipeline across
00:23:25across Saudi Arabia, it looks to to be down for at least the next
00:23:28next few weeks. So we're seeing the
00:23:32the impacts on inflation that translating
00:23:34translating into interest rates for for everyone sitting at home when
00:23:38when it comes to energy prices through
00:23:41through the winter. If there's no no sort of resolution pause in this
00:23:45this Middle East conflict, what is is the likely impact given already already what we've seen with oil
00:23:49oil prices, gas prices? Well, there
00:23:51there was one fairly authoritative
00:23:54authoritative forecast put out, I
00:23:56I think yesterday of the energy price
00:23:58price cap going up by £400. That
00:24:01That would be in January. And that
00:24:04that was, I think, prepared before before these latest events. So I
00:24:06I think that that is a minimum of
00:24:09of what the price increase will be. be. And I imagine now the government
00:24:13government is having to look very very carefully at how they're going
00:24:15going to protect particular sectors
00:24:17sectors health service, food supply
00:24:20supply and also how they're going going to protect businesses that
00:24:22that are heavily dependent on, on
00:24:25on energy costs. So it you can see
00:24:29see these price increases coming coming and it's not going to be very
00:24:32very comfortable, I'm afraid. You've You've got all the pressures of the
00:24:35the bond markets and debt to throw
00:24:39throw into a growing equation. What
00:24:41What are we talking about in terms
00:24:43terms of the timeline here? When When does this crunch really kick
00:24:47kick in for global economies unless unless there's progress in stopping
00:24:50stopping what we're seeing in the the Middle East? Well, it is kicking
00:24:53kicking in already. As you mentioned, mentioned, the people around the
00:24:57the world noticing the sudden increase
00:24:59increase in prices that have in their
00:25:02their in countries where it is really
00:25:05really very difficult to cover those
00:25:08those costs. These are not rich people
00:25:10people at all. And now we've got
00:25:13got petrol up over 170. We've got
00:25:16got diesel up over 190. We've got
00:25:18got the oil price well over 100 now
00:25:21now for several days. It will feed
00:25:23feed through gradually over the next
00:25:26next few weeks, but each time people people go to the garage they will
00:25:29will find prices are higher than
00:25:32than they were last week. Well, I I hope you're wrong, but I guess
00:25:35guess I hope I'm wrong too. But it it looks unlikely. But Nick Butler,
00:25:39Butler, great to have you on the the programme. Thank you so much
00:25:41much for providing that
00:25:46analysis. Thank you. Now in Russia, Russia, tomorrow is the start of of three days of voting in the country's country's parliamentary election,
00:25:49election, the first since Russia's Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
00:25:53Ukraine. Critics dismissed the vote vote as neither free nor transparent.
00:25:56transparent. But the Kremlin is expected expected to use it to claim that
00:25:58that the country is united behind behind the policies of President
00:26:02President Putin from Moscow. Here's Here's our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg.
00:26:05Rosenberg. Ultimate power in Russia
00:26:07Russia lies right here in the Kremlin. Kremlin. But just across the road
00:26:11road there is a parliament, the Duma,
00:26:14Duma, and it's election time. So So what is a parliamentary election
00:26:17election like now in Russia? Well,
00:26:20Well, on TV we've seen election debates
00:26:24debates sort of none of the candidates
00:26:25candidates turned up for this one.
00:26:28one. And there has been some campaigning. campaigning. We caught up with the
00:26:32the Communist Party chief at a bakery. bakery. At times, though, it's been
00:26:36been hard to tell the difference difference between the ten parties
00:26:39parties that have been allowed onto onto the ballot. None of them criticise
00:26:42criticise President Putin or the
00:26:44the war in Ukraine. And if the political
00:26:47political process feels rather orchestrated, orchestrated, keep in mind that the
00:26:50the political system in Russia is
00:26:51is often referred to as managed democracy,
00:26:54democracy, where the Kremlin does does the managing and I think the
00:26:57the Kremlin will try to use this this election to claim that the country
00:27:01country is united behind the President
00:27:03President and behind the war. There
00:27:07There are some individual candidates candidates in some seats calling
00:27:09calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Ukraine. But their party, which is
00:27:13is called Yabloko and which is anti-war, anti-war, isn't allowed to take part
00:27:17part in this election as a party party in its own right. It was struck
00:27:20struck off the ballot by the Supreme
00:27:24Supreme Court, 50 miles from Moscow. Moscow. We didn't see much sign of
00:27:27of an election. There were few banners, banners, few election posters. But
00:27:30But from chatting to people, there there was every sign that the war
00:27:34war is front and centre of people's
00:27:37people's minds. I want a peaceful
00:27:40peaceful life, Yulia told. Me. I'd
00:27:44I'd like to live in a peaceful country, country, says Polina, so that you
00:27:47you don't have to worry that a drone drone will fall down in front of
00:27:50of you. But expectations are low
00:27:53low that this election will bring
00:27:55bring peace any closer. Steve Rosenberg
00:27:59Rosenberg with that report, we're we're going to. Take a short break. break. When we're back, we'll have
00:28:02have more on the A summit with King King Charles. Also the
00:29:35temperatures peaking into the mid
00:29:36mid 40s. Take care.
Data courtesy of The GDELT Project (gdeltproject.org), from the Internet Archive TV News Archive. Film strip and transcript are GDELT's, rehosted here under their terms of use, which permit it with this citation.