Gloucestershire’s phlebotomists have brought their historic strike to a close after almost a year of action, leaving a legacy of determination – and a clear lesson about the power of solidarity in the face of anti-union laws and austerity, says FBU general secretary STEVE WRIGHT
THIS government’s obsession with outsourcing public services to the private sector has led to some catastrophic failures in recent years.
Specifically, January marked a year since one of the UK’s largest suppliers to the public sector, Carillion, collapsed, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.
Since then, the public have footed the bill for the £148 million spent wrapping up Carillion’s accounts, despite the Tories insisting that “shareholders and not the taxpayer (are) taking the burden on this.”
CLAUDIA WEBBE argues that Labour gains nothing from its adoption of right-wing stances on immigration, and seems instead to be deliberately paving the way for the far right to become an established force in British politics, as it has already in Europe
Every Starmer boast about removing asylum-seekers probably wins Reform another seat while Labour loses more voters to Lib Dems, Greens and nationalists than to the far right — the disaster facing Labour is the leadership’s fault, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
The BBC and OBR claim that failing to cut disability benefits could ‘destabilise the economy’ while ignoring the spendthrift approach to tens of billions on military spending that really spirals out of control, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP



