Trump shrugs off AI regulation

FT News Briefing

The episode examines significant shifts in UK and US economic policy and technology regulation. It begins with the business community's reaction to Andy Burnham's

Key takeaways

• Andy Burnham proposes reopening Britain's Brexit deal and ending the pensions triple lock.
• The US 30-year Treasury yield has reached its highest level since 2002.

Main topics

• UK Labour Party Conference
• US Diesel Export Ban

Notable quotes

He was willing to take a political gamble to rip the plaster off and take these painful decisions.

Conclusion

The episode highlights how political decisions in the UK and US are cu

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:02) Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday, September 30th, and this is your FT News Briefing. UK businesses react to Andy Burnham's big speech, and a White House plan to keep diesel prices down could go up in smoke. Plus, some AI leaders want more regulation, but the Trump administration isn't convinced. I'm Mark Filippino, and here's the news you need to start your day. Speaker 3 (0:37) Andy Burnham gave his long-awaited speech at the Labour Party conference yesterday, and the UK Prime Minister made some far-reaching policy announcements. But are businesses buying it? Here to discuss is the FT's Ashley Armstrong. She's speaking to us from the conference in Liverpool. Hi, Ashley. Speaker 2 (0:52) Hello. Hi. It's been quite the day. Speaker 3 (0:55) I can imagine. So now that the dust has settled, what were the biggest takeaways from Burnham's speech? Speaker 2 (1:01) Yeah, it was a speech that he said deliberately. It wasn't going to be the normal speech. He wanted it to be a meaningful speech. And so actually, you know, for a prime minister that has been relying heavily on good vibes up until now, there were a number of key lines, like most importantly, kind of looking at reopening Britain's Brexit deal, the ending of a pensions triple lock, which really is like one of the major... battlegrounds that has been kind of raging for debate and increasingly businesses and his own economists have said, go for it. That was one of the major takeaways, I think. And people are talking about it all around. Speaker 3 (1:36) And for our friends at home who don't know what the triple lock is, it determines how much the pension increase will be each year. And Ashley, I think the really interesting thing is that there's not expected to be any real traction. on any of these plans until after the next general election, which is in three years. Speaker 2 (1:54) Yes, yeah. So basically for all of the big projects, including this idea that he wants to set up a national social care unit, also the talk of launching a grid, they're going to take time and not until the 2030s at the earliest. So he said that he was willing to take a political gamble to rip the plaster off and take these painful decisions. But it's a big bet. Speaker 3 (2:16) Ashley, you cover businesses. What are you hearing from executives in response to the speech? Speaker 2 (2:21) I think it was important that Burnham was out front and center with the business community because there's been hardly any engagement with him in the run up to being prime minister and after prime minister. So for many of them, they really needed to hear from the horse's mouth what he was thinking, what he was about. And they got the good vibes. He's willing to make difficult decisions. And the previous regime really struggled to win over its party when it tried to change welfare spending. And so this does have a changing tone. They got a bit of a message on spending, but they are still very cautious that next month's budget could be another surprise tax hike for them. And they were burnt before really badly in 2024. And they're nervous that that might happen again. Speaker 3 (3:04) Ashley, it's worth noting that the bond market, which everybody's watching right now, didn't react very much to Burnham's speech, which suggests there's nothing really immediately blowing investors out of the water. Why is that? I Speaker 2 (3:17) think that the government would be delighted by the fact that the bond market has barely moved. That is exactly what they want. They don't want to do anything that's going to make their