Gary Neville, YouTube and online protections

0:00The top business stories live from the Sky Newsroom. Labour Party backer Gary Neville hits out at the government's National Insurance Rise, telling the programme it could deter companies from employing people. YouTube sees more viewers than ever switch channels as both young and older people desert television from streaming. Plus, the chief executive of EE tells Sky News that the mobile network is working to keep children safe online. a new message to protect young people from harmful content coming to force.

0:39A very good morning on this Wednesday. Business Live with me, Darren McCaffrey. Gary Neville has criticised the government's national insurance rise this year, telling the programme it could deter companies from employing people. The former Manchester United and England popular is now a business owner who employs hundreds of people, and vocally supported Labour at the last election. But this week, he was also appointed a brand ambassador of the business software firm, Sage. And I began my interview with him by asking him about that partnership between him, Sage, and the Premier League.

1:12Gary Neville:The partnership with Sage, to be honest with you, came about six months ago. And I smiled thinking about it because my dad was commercial manager at Bury Football Club and my mum initially, going back 20 years, was helping with the bookkeeping and they used to use Sage. I used to hear this word when they would speak at night, bringing their work home with them all the time about, OK, I'll just go and sort of, you know, I use Sage, I check Sage. Obviously, it's the sort of financial system that they used at Bury. And when you think about local communities and football clubs, I go back to sort of what would be Salford as an owner or Bury, but obviously at the higher end at United, you know, if you think about all the thousands of fans that go and watch football matches, they rely upon being serviced by local businesses in the area, whether it's a supermarket, whether it's the local pub, the restaurants, the shops, all the places that fans use on the way there.

2:06Gary Neville:And the impact of football on the local community and local businesses is enormous. A local football club that's doing well in a city or a town has a big impact on the economy in a local city and also not just the economy but the spirit. And small businesses are a huge part of that. Yeah, isn't it fascinating that we often talk about, you know, the Premier League, don't we, and the big clubs and actually how it's good for the UK kind of around the world, but we don't actually talk about those smaller clubs in the smaller times and, as you said, the big economic impact they have week in, weekends in, weekend out.

2:43Gary Neville:Absolutely. I think we do talk about the global game. We talk about the reach of the Premier League, which is great and the fantastic sort of matches that we watch week in, week out. But, you know, when I go back to watching United at the age of five, United, one of the biggest clubs in the world, and thinking of going to Marina's Grill, which was the chippy up at the top of the road and basically going in with my dad and having sort of like fish and chips or sausage, chickpeas and gravy. That was our sort of a massive part of the day. Of course, we went for the football. But when fans go to watch football matches, they go and use the chippies.

3:15Gary Neville:They go and have a drink in the local pub. They eat in the restaurants. They use the shops. They buy chocolate. They buy sweets. They do the things that basically families do. And they have a huge part to play local businesses and the community around football stadiums. And football stadiums historically were built amongst the local communities. If you think of Goodison Park and Anfield, there'd been two clubs in Liverpool and Main Road here in Manchester. United's slightly different, but there is a community around Manchester United as well. Football clubs were the heart of a community. I think that's something that should never be lost.

3:45And, Kev, what do you think? I mean, I say this as someone who goes to quite a lot of matches over the years. And I just feel, and I've been to lots of sporting events in America and elsewhere, that actually there's more opportunity here, isn't there, as well? Because actually, if you go to lots of sporting events as well, they're not just about the football game or the rugby match or whatever. You know, there's kind of halftime shows and there's lots of other stuff going on. And we haven't quite got there yet, haven't we? Lots of our football matches are just about the game.

4:16Gary Neville:I don't think it is look I know what you were saying I think in America and sometimes other countries there's maybe a greater theatre and events sort of around the match but I think we have quite a tradition in this country and a history of how we do things you know if you think of a group of friends going to the local pub before the match working out what the team is sort of who the manager should pick and at the end of the game they go back in that pub or in that bar or in that restaurant and they're debating walking down the street sort of arguing over referees decisions whether the team's won celebrating and singing obviously if it's been a great day and commiserating if it's been a bad day i do think that forms a large part of what football is in this country it certainly does for for me still i still think obviously sometimes i go to a lot of the games to sky but there are games that i go to united and at salford where i'm not working where i still build something around it i just don't turn up at quarter to three and leave at sort of quarter to five you know i think of what we're going to do first where we're going to eat Are we going to go for a drink?

5:11Gary Neville:Who are we going to meet? And then after the game, you're thinking, right, what are we doing after the match? And I have to say local businesses, local sort of, particularly hospitality businesses, have a huge part to play in that. And of course, you're not a businessman yourself. You kind of see both sides of this coin. Well, what have you gained in terms of when you now work with those small businesses, the insight from actually investing and owning your own businesses in terms of the challenges that often actually they face? Yeah, I mean, if you think next season Manchester United won't be in Europe, you think about the impact upon Manchester as a city in respect of what would be the amount of visitors that come to a United European game, a Champions League game.

5:54Gary Neville:It's an enormous impact when Manchester United, Manchester City and this city are doing well or they're not doing so well. You literally are talking about people's jobs, you're talking about people's life being a lot easier. obviously if the football team are doing well and i think that's you know manchester's a city that's got a huge element of music sport cultural events and it relies upon those cultural events and sort of those sporting events to be able to fuel the city so that the city's busy and full obviously it's got a great nighttime economy as well manchester but it does rely upon these you know these things and the clubs doing well pays it plays a huge part in that not just in fan spirit and fan happiness but all the local businesses all the local sort of economy that that basically benefits from Manchester United and Manchester City.

6:38Gary Neville:And then if you take that into a smaller town, whether it be Grimsby Town, if Grimsby are at home at a weekend, and I'm picking them because obviously we play against them for Salford, the impact upon the city or the town of Grimsby in that weekend will be big when Grimsby are at home and they're playing a big game. So it is important that the football club is a huge part of the community in spirit, in energy and feeling, but it's also a huge part of the local business economy as well. And Gary, just very finally on all of this, as I said, you know this, particularly the hospitality industry, better than lots of people do.

7:13And a lot of people who watch this programme run small businesses. But you've also been a supporter of the government. And lots of businesses feel that, you know, the taxation level, the increase in the minimum wage has all been difficult at a time in which, you know, economically, we're not doing that well. Do you understand the strain, I suppose, that many small businesses are feeling at the moment?

7:34Gary Neville:I do. I mean, look, it's been a tough economy now for a good few years. And I did think that once there was a change of government and once there was some stability that we would get something settling. But it's not settling locally in our country. But it's not settling, actually, to be fair, in many places in the world either. I don't think we can ever criticise a government for increasing the minimum wage. I honestly believe that people, to be fair, should be paid more. So I don't think that's something that you can be critical of. I do think that the national insurance rise, though, was a challenge.

8:08Gary Neville:Accepting that we need to raise money for services, we all talk about the requirement of great transport, great education, great health service, you know, great police and sort of emergency services. We all want these things in our lives. We want these things in our country. And the money's got to come from somewhere. But I honestly don't believe that, to be fair, companies and small businesses should be deterred from employing people. So I think the national insurance rise was one that I feel probably could have been held back, particularly in terms of the way in which the economy was. But I don't think we can be critical of increasing the minimum wage.

8:39Gary Neville:I think that's something that ultimately we should all be championing, that people get paid more and that people are fairly looked after. And just very finally, Gary, and quickly, I cannot not ask you about, talking about turning things around, can United turn things around in the next season? That could be... That's almost bigger than turning the economy around. Yeah, that could be a bigger challenge to the economy. I was just going to say that. You took my line away. No, I'm heartened quite a bit by the fact that Manchester United over the last 10, 11 years have sort of accepted a position whereby they've made mistakes in the transfer market or they've made mistakes in recruitment or they've held on to players too long.

9:18Gary Neville:It would seem that, to be fair, what's happening now is that Ruben Amirim is identifying players he does not want in the squad. And to be fair, he's moving them out of the squad. That's a positive. The second thing is I do like, on paper, the signings of Cunha and Vermo. Why do I like them? A couple of reasons. Well, three, actually. One is that they've got Premier League experience. One is that they look more like Manchester United's styles of players with a bit more pace and power and the ability to have that sort of physicality to be able to get from box to box quickly. I think when you look at particularly Ganacho, Sancho, Anthony, they're more jinkers, I call them, more people who sort of work in tight spaces.

9:56Gary Neville:I've always felt at United you need players that can open their legs up and really sort of stretch teams. And I think Kunia and Bermot do that. And then the other thing I like about those two signings is that they've not proved themselves at the highest level yet in the game in respect to the Premier League club level or European club level. So they should be really desperate and hungry to prove themselves on a huge stage, which is Old Trafford. And that hunger hasn't always been there in the last 10 years with players that have come to the club. They've come maybe where they've been the more finished article and we've got excited by them.

10:28Gary Neville:But maybe they've come and maybe not had that desperation. I always feel like a player needs hunger. They need desperation in the game to feel that it's the most important thing. I think these two lads that are signed will have that. So I think the two signings are good signings yet. There's a couple more needed. I think they need a goalkeeper, they need a centre-forward. And I think if they fill those two positions with decent signings, then United have to have a better season than last year. It can't get any worse, really. Can't get any worse for Manchester United. Maybe famous last words there from Gary Neville.

11:02Now, let's bring you up to date with some of the rest of the business news on this Wednesday morning. And YouTube has become the second most watched TV service in the UK, According to new data from Ofcom, the online streamer is still behind the BBC, but has beaten ITV's viewing figures. One in five people born after 2010, known as Generation Alpha, turned to YouTube first on the TV, while the over-55s have also doubled their time on the service. Profits at UBS have more than doubled in the second quarter of this year to$2.4 billion. Switzerland's largest bank reported profits higher than those expected by analysts and said there had been continued progress in integrating Credit Suisse, which it acquired in a state-sponsored takeover back in 2023.

11:48BAE Systems has lifted its sales and profit outlook for the year as higher military spending by government's boosted orders. The defence giant said it won£13.2 billion worth of new orders in the first six months of the year, taking its backlog to more than£75 billion. BAE also secured another£1 billion from the UK government towards its work on building a next-generation fighter jet with its Italian and Japanese partners. And Sainsbury's is racing to resolve an issue with Visa car payments affecting customers' ability to pay for their orders online. Sky News understands the supermarket chain is working with Visa to address the issue after a number of shoppers reported that the car payments had failed.

12:30The retailer has reeled out the possibility of a cyber attack saying its website and app are functioning as normal. Now, the chief executive of EE has told Sky News that the mobile network wants to play a role in protecting children online by providing special tools to parents. Kerra Gillis, who was speaking to me for the first time since she's taken hold of that job, her first interview actually, since she came into post in December of last year. And it comes, of course, just days after thousands of sites offering adult content, as well as social media apps, including TikTok, Reddit and X, introduced new age assurance systems for users in the UK to comply with the Online Safety Act.

13:09Well, I began by asking her about the protections the EE is putting in place. I think it's a really important conversation. And there's lots of research that says that both parents and youth are quite uncomfortable with this transition. It's a significant responsibility, and it has both risk and reward for youth. And so parents are seeing both sides of the coin. They want their children to have advantage to the learning and the access that smartphones can give them, Darren. But they also want to make sure that there are protections in place. And so why are we doing this now? Because it's this critical moment.

13:46And we know that lots of parents are having this conversation through the summer. In fact, research says that probably more than 4 million households are having that conversation this month. And what other people would say is this is a decision, isn't it, for schools and parents? Are you kind of offering choice or is it kind of ease position that actually this is a good place to be? So this isn't about us taking a position on smartphone usage and youth. What we know is that we need to provide tools and support and guidance because it is going to happen. There's lots of people in the fold on these sort of discussions, whether it's us as network operators, whether it's government, whether it's regulators, whether it's social media platforms.

14:31There's lots of people who are having this discussion. And we just want to play a role to provide, as I said, special tools for parents to ensure that their kids can make the boast of this technology. And just very funny on this, though, what would you say to people who go, you know, this is kind of like the drug dealers saying, oh, don't try these drugs, which is in essence, I mean, you're a mobile phone network. I mean, you're the guys offering the data. We are a mobile phone network. And that's why, just like others before us, we know that this is an important conversation. It is a tool that is evolving and continues to evolve.

15:08And youth are using smartphones. As I said, there's sort of this tension between the advantages and the challenges that every youth and every parent is facing. So what we're doing is providing tools so that they can be used safely and comfortably with the right guidance. Just a couple more questions, if I can, on EE generally. You know, we're a big city today in London. And yet there's a lot of criticism of users. And it's not just EE, just mobile phone in general. that you're often in big cities like London, Manchester, Edinburgh and elsewhere, and you can't get mobile phone coverage. Why is that?

15:45Well, I would first say we're really proud here that we have won network awards for more than 11 years through route metrics. And that's really critical for us. So we invest billions of dollars every, billions of pounds every single year, I should correct myself there, to ensure that we have the best possible coverage. We've led in 5G coverage. We've led in the launch of 5GSA. And we continue to lead also in broadband rollout across the country to make sure people can stay connected, as well as with various different hotspots. So, yes, it is a technology that requires constant evolution and work, and our network team is up for the challenge.

16:25Are you frustrated, though, by local authorities, business, you know, that the infrastructure is proving quite difficult at some places to be installed? I think there's definitely infrastructures that are more challenging than not. We often talk about places like the underground as an example that can be particularly cumbersome. But we're making great progress in some of those areas. And just very finally, we talk about AI a lot. I mean, I seem to talk all the time in every interview about artificial intelligence. It's clearly going to be a disruptor in essentially every industry. What does it mean for mobile phone networks, though?

17:01What is the AI transformation going to be? Well, you talk about AI every day, and so do I, right? I think every organization across this great nation is speaking about just that, and mobile operators are no different, nor are we here at BT. We're looking at it from every part of our business, whether that's in our network infrastructure, whether it's in our call centers, or as the topic we've been speaking about today is about controls and particularly scam protection. So we're using AI in every part of our business and it becomes a core technology for the future. Thank you. That was Claire Gillis, the CEO of EE, speaking to me a little earlier.

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