Don't waste vote, says English

By AUDREY YOUNG, political reporter

A "fighting fit" Bill English is warning National supporters not to desert the party for what he considers would be a wasted bid to prevent the Greens holding Labour to ransom in next month's snap election.

The National leader's repeated message yesterday was that it would be impossible for Labour to govern alone anyway - implying that his people would waste their votes if they switched to try to prevent an inevitable coalition.

Mr English was clearly worried by a UMR Research poll last week suggesting 40 per cent of National supporters would consider switching their votes to Labour to stop the Greens holding the balance of power.

The poll followed an ultimatum by the Greens that they would not support Labour again unless it extended the moratorium on the commercial release of GM organisms.

Mr English's comments also strongly suggest that National's efforts will be concentrated on minimising damage to its own support base rather than realistically winning Government.

"There is no chance that Labour will govern on its own," he repeatedly said after the announcement of a snap election on July 27.

"Helen Clark has misjudged the Green issue altogether. There is no way Labour can end up governing on its own."



And to all those people who had thought they might vote Labour to get a stable government, he said: "You'll get the worst possible outcome."

That would be, he said, a Labour-Green coalition which had been supported by those former National supporters who, in fact, were opposed to all its policies.

"Labour just can't govern on its own. It's not a possible result of our [MMP] electoral system."

His assertions contradict the three polls in the past week, by the Herald, NBR and TV3, which have all shown Labour with enough support to govern with an outright majority.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said Parliament had become a farce since the Alliance split. She attempted to blame the Opposition for raising points of order over the situation which saw Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton claim to lead the Alliance when it had expelled him for party-hopping plans.

Mr English said the voters would punish her for "calling a snap election without a reason".

"All we did was point out her hypocrisy in passing party-hopping legislation and then endorsing a party-hopper, Jim Anderton.

"The public know they have been played with, they know they have been lied to, they know they have been manipulated.

"Helen Clark has played with the goodwill of the public and she is going to pay for it."

Alliance leader Laila Harre said it appeared Helen Clark "intends to reward Jim Anderton for setting out to destroy the most effective left-wing competitor that Labour has ever had".

The Alliance would try to prevent that. "It is vital for those who remember the past that Labour do not have the opportunity to govern alone, that there is a principled voice to the left of Labour in Government."

She said if Labour proved attractive to National voters that should be a strong incentive for traditional Labour voters to give their party vote to the Alliance.

The danger, otherwise, was that Labour's relied for a majority on National supporters.

"The only way you can maintain the vote of right-wing people is to deliver right-wing policies."

The Alliance put social justice policies such as student debt and child poverty "first, second and third".

Act leader Richard Prebble said his party would fight the election on the issue of personal and economic security.

Included in that was zero tolerance for crime and business and personal tax cuts.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said his party would campaign on three issues: immigration, the Treaty of Waitangi "industry", and law and order.

Mr Peters will launch his party's campaign on Monday.

United Future leader Peter Dunne said his party would be promoting "family-friendly" policies, including a commission for the family to ensure Government policies met family needs, and income splitting for tax purposes.

Mr Anderton said he would take his share of the responsibility for the snap election.

Plans for his new party, the Progressive Coalition, will not be unveiled until after Parliament has dissolved next Tuesday.

Feature: Election 2002

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