Politicians who continue to welcome contracts with US companies without considering the risks and consequences of total dependency in the years to come are undermining the raison d’etre of the NHS, argues Dr JOHN PUNTIS

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.

Lucy Powell may not exactly be the left’s choice, but her bid for the deputy leadership is certainly not the Labour right’s choice — and if she wins, that could mean the ascendancy of Andy Burnham and the end of Keir Starmer, writes VINCE MILLS

VINCE MILLS charts the disintegration of the Starmer faction’s platform and the gulf between it and Labour members

VINCE MILLS says Scottish Labour has adopted better positions than its Westminster counterpart — but unless it starts to fight for them that will count for nothing

VINCE MILLS cautions over the perils and pitfalls of ‘a new left party’