July 12, 2024 - 6:30pm

→ Criminalising abortion is a red line for British electorate

There are some policies that British voters just can’t stomach, and new polling gives an idea of what those are. According to More in Common, privatising the NHS, opening Britain’s borders, withdrawing from Nato and banning same-sex couples from adopting are red-line issues for over half of voters. That is to say: if a party had one of those policies, it would stop people voting for it.

Interestingly, the biggest red-line issue that would stop 67% of people from voting for a party is criminalising abortion. On the other end of the scale, only 16% listed legalising assisted dying as a red line, 25% nationalising industries and 28% rejoining the EU. Strikingly, only 35% thought bringing back the death penalty was a red-line issue. Hanging, drawing and quartering could be on the ballot box soon…

→ Will Jeremy Corbyn start his own party?

It’s not only Dominic Cummings and Matt Goodwin who think the two main parties in British politics are increasingly redundant. A former leader of one of those very parties, Jeremy Corbyn, agrees. Today in the Guardian, he explained his thoughts about creating a new party after the “loveless landslide”.

“The time for celebration […] is over. Building for the future starts now,” he wrote. Corbyn’s success in Islington North as an indpendent candidate proves the existence of “a movement that offers a real alternative to child poverty, inequality and endless war”, and which stands up for “anti-racism, equality and inclusion”. Overall, the former Labour leader has “no doubt that this movement will eventually run in elections”.

Corbyn does admit that “to create a new, centralised party, based around the personality of one person, is to put the cart before the horse.” After all, hero worship can be politically damaging…

→ Does Trump know who he’ll pick for vice president?

With the deadline days away, Donald Trump has reportedly narrowed his running mates to Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and North Dakota Governor Doug Bergum, per political outlet Puck.

One Trump advisor anonymously called the former president “master of the tease” and promised he’d build suspense as long as possible, though he’ll have to announce his vice presidential pick by Thursday. His allies have said he could still very well change his mind, given that he did so three times in 2016.

The delay on a veep announcement is perhaps less about suspense and more about avoiding the spotlight, as a major announcement from Trump could distract from turmoil among Democrats. Biden, for his part, floated an interesting veep suggestion on Thursday evening.