KEY POINTS:
National's delaying tactics in Parliament have forced MPs to return to work next Tuesday to pass the contentious Electoral Finance Bill, instead of starting their Christmas holidays.
Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the House Michael Cullen was preparing to pass the bill yesterday.
But he said National's
delaying tactics were the result of a Herald editorial yesterday that was critical of the way in which National had opposed the Electoral Finance Bill.
"I think the real cause of this is that the Herald's editorial has made them feel a bit inadequate."
The editorial suggested National could have done a better job in opposing the bill - which imposes restrictions on political advocacy in election year by third parties.
The House has been in urgency since Wednesday to give 14 new bills their first reading and send them to a select committee.
Labour, and its support parties New Zealand First, the Greens and United Future, have been adamant that they would not pass the Electoral Finance Bill under urgency.
The Government had planned to lift urgency yesterday at lunchtime, go into "normal time" to hold question time and pass the electoral law and then return to urgency to complete the work of the House by the end of play.
National, however, submitted yesterday morning 54 questions to chairmen and chairwomen of select committees.
They would have stretched question time out so far that there would not have been enough time to complete the debate on the Electoral Finance Bill until Tuesday next week.
So the Government abandoned its plans, kept the House in urgency, and will return on Tuesday to begin the third reading of the bill.
Dr Cullen said National's tactics were "silly" and suggested that it was the sort of abuse of standing orders that led to changes in Parliament's rules.
It meant a lot of money would be spent next week running Parliament which would not have been necessary.
"The final outcome will be the same."
National shadow leader of the House Gerry Brownlee said he was comfortable that the party had put up as strong a fight as possible against the bill in the House.
It had had to battle presiding officers who had been instructed to shut down debate on the bill very quickly.
"We did not muck around in the EFB and despite what your editorial says this morning, I think we did a pretty good job of presenting a serious alternative inside that bill.
"We should not have at any point just simply rolled over."
If anyone had abused standing orders it was Michael Cullen.
HOW THEY DID IT
* Parliament's question time consists of 12 main oral questions, with follow-ups (supplementaries) which usually takes about 75 minutes.
* The rules allow MPs to pose questions at the end to select committee heads, but it is used sparingly.
* National MPs lodged 54 questions to select committee heads which would have added about an hour to question time.
* Leaving too little time to finish the electoral reform debate, Labour dropped question time, continued urgency on other bills, and Parliament will return next week.
