Nats close electorate office

National will be closing their Kerikeri electorate office after the defeat by Winston Peters at the polls

The National party's Northland electorate office in Kerikeri will close on April 17 following the defeat of the party's candidate, Mark Osborne, in the March 28 by-election.

The closure means one full-time and one part-time staff member will lose their jobs.

New MP Winston Peters will decide where to have his Northland electorate office and will select his own staff. At edition time he had yet to make a decision.

NZ First's only office in the region is list MP Pita Paraone's office on Bank St in Whangarei. While Parliamentary Services pays the rent for electorate offices from a capped budget, it is up to the MP to choose the office.

If a party wants to exceed the budget cap by having more offices or extra staff, they have to pay the difference. Most electorate office leases include a clause allowing one month's notice if the MP has to leave Parliament.

Mr Peters' win will boost his party's funding by about $360,000 a year. That includes $91,731 in extra funding he gets as an electorate MP rather than a list MP, and $179,400 his new list MP will qualify for. That funding is largely to run electorate offices and pay staff.

NZ First will also get $86,320 more in party and leader's office funding when its caucus goes from 11 to 12.