Hide has message for Peters

4.00pm

Act party MP Rodney Hide had a message for New Zealand First leader Winston Peters today: if he is going to deliver on his policies he has to support a centre right government.

The possibility of "grand right coalition" was raised after a snap Herald DigiPoll on Monday showed National, Act, NZ First and United Future combined would have 60 seats -- or 50 per cent of Parliament.

Mr Peters has said the idea of such a coalition was the result of National leader Bill English talking it up to try to convince people to vote for his party.

"New Zealand voters know, at this election, how bad National is doing and how bad any potential coalition from Act and National is going to shape up on election night," Mr Peters said yesterday.

But Mr Hide today said Mr Peters would have to support a centre right government based on his policies of ending the "treaty industry" and getting tough on law and order.

"There's no way he's going to get support for those policies with Helen Clark and the Greens," Mr Hide said.

"Winston is an erratic character but it would appear to me that ... if he's going to deliver on his policies, he's actually got to be supporting the centre right, not the centre left."

However, Mr Hide did not think a centre right government would necessarily have to be a coalition of the four parties.

"I make the observation now that when you look at the votes, it is very close between the centre right and the centre left if you put Winston across," he said.

"I don't think you're going to have all those parties sitting around the cabinet table but there may well be support for a centre right government."

- NZPA

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