LABOUR warned today of the huge threat to patient care posed by multinational Virgin, which has hoovered up almost £2 billion worth of NHS contracts over the past half decade.

Analysis by the Guardian shows that Richard Branson’s group is now one of the leading healthcare providers in Britain.

As well as holding a contract portfolio that includes about 400 lucrative deals, from running prisons to giving immunity jabs to schoolkids, Virgin has upped its stake in the NHS rapidly in the past few years.