IF I may adapt that old expression used of the US economy, it seems that if leader of the British Labour Party Keir Starmer sneezes, Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, gets a good deal worse than a bad cold.

Starmer’s December Ipsos poll ratings show only 27 per cent of respondents were satisfied with his performance, with 61 per cent dissatisfied. This comes on the back of a slew of controversial policy decisions and, more importantly, an economy that is showing little sign of the growth Starmer promised, even if it is very early days of the promised infrastructural projects.

The success of Bidenomics in generating growth in the US was not enough to save the Democrats in the November elections, given the corrosive effect of inflation — annualised inflation rates were 5.4 per cent under Joe Biden as opposed to 1.9 per cent under Donald Trump.