Share Sounds presented by Sarah Lowther related to Economics - UK

The Prime Minister is in Malta for a summit with EU leaders to discuss the UK's plans to leave. Her trip comes the day after her strategy was set out in a White Paper. Sarah Lowther was joined by Ryan Heath, Senior EU Correspondent at POLITICO Europe.

Joining us to discuss what the main market headlines of the morning are is Share Radio's very own Juliette Foster. A busy morning of company announcements starting with Ryanair - It's traffic statistics for January are out. The company we used to know as Zoopla have changed their name. And Sports Direct has bought an 11% state in French Connection.

There is widespread concern after British Airways and the Post Office joined Southern Rail in striking over the Christmas period. According to the latest figures by the Office for National Statistics, 281,000 days were lost to strike action up until the end of October 2016, which is over 100,000 more days than the same time last year. Share Radio’s Matt Cox investigated this new era of strike action with industrial action expert Professor Chris Rowley, Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, and Professor Emeritus at Cass Business School.

The UK is building 15% fewer homes than it was in the five years before the downturn in 2008, according to a new report by Carter Jonas that has laid bare the disjointed residential construction industry. For more on this, Lee Layton, a Research Analyst at Carter Jonas, joined Share Radio Breakfast to offer an insight into the research.

Economists are warning that Brexit and the election of Donald Trump could cause a return to 70s style inflation. But if inflation is so bad why did central banks spend the past few years trying to get it to occur? Robert Van Egghen reports on whether we are headed back to the future.

The Financial Conduct Authority has announced a set of new rules to protect investors using CFD's, after it was revealed 82% of investors lost money. According to research by Financial Orbit, there are 125,000 active CFD accounts in the UK and the average loss is £2200. So, what's in store for companies offering financial spread betting and other risky investment instruments? Matt Cox spoke to Dice McCairn, Editor and Analyst at WhichInvestmentTrust, to find out more.

In a speech later, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling will announce a plan to take track maintenance responsibilities away from Network Rail, and give them to the train operators. He says it will make things simpler and more accountable to passengers. But not everyone's happy about the changes, with some experts worried it could cause a decline in safety standards. Share Radio’s James Brydges spoke to Lianna Etkind, from the Campaign For Better Transport.

The Environmental Industries Commission Annual Conference is being held in London. Its remit explores how environmental industries in the UK will deal with the potential fallout from Brexit. How will so called green companies cope if current environmental regulation is loosened once we come out of the EU? James Brydges spoke to James Murray, Editor in Chief of Business Green, who'll be speaking at the event. He asked how things would pan out for green businesses over the next few years.

LondonMetric Property is a FTSE 250 Real Estate Investment Trust specialising in property investment and development. It delivers attractive returns for shareholders through a strategy of increasing income and improving capital values. On the day of its half year results, Andrew Jones, the company’s CEO, joined Share Radio to discuss the numbers.

Mike van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets, joined Share Radio Breakfast to offer an immediate reaction to the release of the Bank of England Stress Test results. Were there any major surprises?