Is the Republican race already over?  

Welcome to Wednesday’s Early Edition from i.

“The race is over!!” a fundraising email from Trump’s campaign screams. “I just won the New Hampshire primary, and I delivered BACK TO BACK landslide victories.” Over at Trump’s watch party in the Sheraton Hotel in Nashua, Vivek Ramaswamy – introducing the former president to the stage – announced that the general election “begins tonight!” It comes as little surprise that the former president won the Republican vote on Tuesday night by a substantial margin. “If you win both, they’ve never had a loser,” Trump said in a reference to his recent win in Iowa. His victory is historic – no non-incumbent Republican has previously won both states. However, despite pressure from his campaign and supporters, Trump’s only opponent Nikki Haley has vowed to stay in the race, saying: “I’m a fighter. And I’m scrappy. And now we’re the last one standing next to Donald Trump.” But is the writing already on the wall? And where does the conversation go now? We’ll take a look, after the headlines.  

 Today’s news, and why it matters

 Labour has started drawing up the details of its first King’s Speech if the party wins the election, with MPs and officials examining possible legislation. Sir Keir Starmer quietly formed a “future legislation committee” last month, which in charge of working out which policy promises will need to be put before Parliament.

The UK should brace itself for a prolonged period of military action in the Red Sea, experts have warned, after British warships took part in the latest round of air strikes against Houthi rebels. Rishi Sunak told the Commons the UK would “not hesitate” to take more action. Meanwhile, a Cabinet minister warned the situation in the Red Sea “may get more tricky” before it is resolved.

The Government will be able to cut income tax in the Budget thanks to a drop in borrowing, economists have said as the Chancellor considers his options. Rishi Sunak is keen to run a general election campaign based around the argument that the Conservatives have cut taxes and Labour would raise them.

The BBC will resist calls to publish details from internal discussions about programmes, including the performance of presenters, after the Government told the broadcaster to be more open with viewers. The corporation and its presenters baulked at the suggestion to disclose such information, fearing reviews into their popularity with viewers, or otherwise, could be published.

Morrisons has ditched its four-day working week for head office employees following complaints from staff about working weekends. The trade-off for working a four-day week, introduced in 2021 at its office in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was to work 13 Saturdays a year, the equivalent of one every four weeks.

Three key questions in the wake of the New Hampshire race:

Will Nikki Haley drop out? The former UN Ambassador has vowed to carry on. But as CNN points out a loss in New Hampshire will make it harder to convince donors to support her campaign for the month until the South Carolina primary. “She’ll miss her only shot at another win before then because Haley filed to run in Nevada’s state-run primary, instead of competing in the state GOP-run caucuses,” it notes. This is why Trump last night jokingly boasted: “She forgot one thing… next week it’s Nevada. And I’m pleased to announce we just won Nevada, 100%. Because all of them, they look at it and they took polls… and they decided not to play in Nevada”. As Andrew Buncombe notes, Haley may have to make a difficult decision if she wants to maintain a future career: “In order to avoid more political bloodshed she may follow the example of DeSantis, who dropped out over the weekend and endorsed Trump. Both have the option to run again in 2028 and should Haley not wish to alienate hardline Republican voters, it is all but certain she too would have to back the former president.” Read his full analysis here. 

Who will be Trump’s VP? Unless something dramatic happens to Trump’s campaign, it’s likely that attention will now turn to who is likely to be his running mate. Statista has compiled a list of most likely vice presidents for Trump based on betting odds, which names Kristi Noem, the governor or South Dakota, Elise Stefanik, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently dropped out of the Republican race and gave his backing to Trump. Others have given their opinions on who it should be, including Donald Trump Jr, who believes former Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson could be a contender. “I mean they’re very friendly, I think they agree on virtually all of these things. They certainly agree on stopping the never-ending wars. And so, I would love to see that happen. That would certainly be a contender,” he said. Author and editor Rich Lowry has gone through who he thinks the contenders could, and should be, including Nikki Haley, who he says could help Trump win. That might seem a bit less likely after today’s race, especially after Trump made these remarks: “A little note to Nikki. You’re not going to win. But if she did, she would be under investigation by those people in 15 minutes”. Although he gave no further information on who “those people” are or why she would be investigated. On Saturday, Trump told Fox News teased that he has someone in mind, but said there is only a “25 percent chance” he’ll stick with them.

What about the Democrats? Due to an internal feud in the party, Joe Biden’s name didn’t appear on the ballot in the Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday. The move risked a potentially embarrassing scenario in which Dean Phillips, a 55-year-old Democratic congressman from Minnesota, could have won. The vote, however, was symbolic, due to being held in violation of the Democratic National Committee. Despite this, New Hampshire Democrats organised a write-in campaign on Biden’s behalf. US media projections showed the president won the primary with a whopping 73% of the vote. It may be an unusual victory, but certainly avoided what could have been an awkward, and perhaps damaging situation.

Around the world

 Fox News bosses are reluctantly set to throw their weight behind Donald Trump in the race for the White House but executives are “secretly hoping” he won’t succeed in getting his name on the ballot, insiders have told i. Senior figures at the Murdochs’ US media empire have revealed that the conservative channel would not support the former president as aggressively as it did during the 2016 and 2020 presidential election campaigns.

Turkish MPs have ratified Sweden’s bid to join Nato, representing a big step forward on the nation’s path to membership. Sweden applied to join in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey withheld approval amid a row over what it called Sweden’s support to Kurdish separatists.

Measles cases in Europe have risen 30-fold in a year, the World Health Organization has warned, as it called for more countries to implement urgent immunisation campaigns. The WHO said declining levels of vaccination are to blame for the resurgence of the virus.

Just a week after winning back the right to vote, more than 18,000 British expatriates around the world have registered to vote again in the UK after years of being disenfranchised, Graham Keeley reports.

 Watch out for…

 a parliamentary debate on Britain’s action against Houthi rebels in Yemen, the first time MPs will be able to express their views on the conflict.  

 Thoughts for the day

 The Tories are in danger of David Cameron looking more like PM than Rishi Sunak. The Foreign Secretary is playing an important role behind the scenes. But he’s getting a lot of attention for it too, notes Katy Balls.

The BBC does have a bias problem – but it’s not what you think. We tend to find the kind of bias we are looking for, writes Anne McElvoy.

MrBeast is turning our children into money-obsessed narcissists. It’s dangerous for young people to see cash as a quick-fix solution to everything, argues Nicola Horlick.

Culture Break

 I’m eight months pregnant, shattered, and sick of TV’s third-trimester girlbosses. I barely feel inclined to leave my sofa, let alone scale a building or confront a knife-wielding hitman – so why are dramas obsessed with pregnant action women, asks Gwendolyn Smith.

 The Big Read

 Why middle-aged women are suffering a silent mental health crisis. Suicide is less common in women than in men, but there is one particularly vulnerable group: mid-life women. Hannah Fearn speaks to those struggling with their mental health as they age.

Sport

 What life is really like for footballers in Saudi Arabia as more tipped to leave. With reports that Karim Benzema and Aymeric Laporte are unsettled, a footballer with first-hand experience of playing in the Saudi Pro League explains why he wishes he ‘stayed there longer’.

Something to brighten your day

 I had two babies with a sperm donor, then I fell in love. In the first of her new parenting column, Outnumbered, Genevieve Roberts shares her own story: how she went from single mother of two to creating a new family unit with a new partner – and baby number three.