NZ Herald editorial: Andrew Little needs to stay the course

Labour Party leader Andrew Little in the Labour Party Election 2017 video. Photo / Supplied

In a curious way, Andrew Little seems to have settled the issue of Labour's leadership, at least until September 23, the date of the election.

By raising his fitness to lead with his close confidantes - and receiving, it would seem, their endorsement to stay in the fight - Little secured his tenure for the next eight weeks.

If Labour fails to fire in the campaign, or sees its vote collapse on election day, then Little's hold on the job would more than likely be finished.

Unfortunately for Little, whether this comes to pass is not all within his ability to influence.

The poll on Sunday night which rattled Labour suggests the campaign could be volatile. Labour's fall to just 24 per cent was accompanied by a four point rise by the Greens to 15 per cent.

The Greens have been in the spotlight for two weeks since Metiria Turei made her frank admission of benefit fraud when she was a young single mother. She has come under fierce attack, but she also has been a rallying point for her party, which is advocating a liberal and generous benefit system.

The welfare policy distinguishes the Greens from the parties on the right, and from Labour, and coupled with Turei's scripted mea culpa, has given it traction in the polls. Labour, on the other hand, has struggled to clear the Greens' slipstream, and has been clipped as a result.

The centre-left can take some comfort in that its share of the vote was unchanged by the 1 News Colmar Brunton survey, as the poll had National steady on 47 per cent, not enough for the governing party to hold office on its own.

As things stand, both sides would most likely need New Zealand First as a partner to secure power, though Little appears unenthusiastic at the prospect and the Greens - or especially Turei - have been critical of NZ First leader Winston Peters.

Since Helen Clark stood down after National won office in November 2008, Labour has had four leaders - Phil Goff, David Shearer, David Cunliffe and Little. It is difficult to see how trying another one before next month's contest would dramatically turn things round for the party.

Little's challenge is to rouse Labour in the next few weeks and to show the electorate that he is, as he put it "totally determined to fight."

In Britain in June, Labour's Jeremy Corbyn showed that a lot can change in a campaign. Little could take inspiration from that lesson.

A general would cause despair among his troops if he were to muse about leaving the battlefield on the eve of a defining contest. Little's disclosure is hardly going to inspire Labour supporters at this point in the electoral cycle.

Having been urged to remain in his job, Little needs to throw himself into the campaign and put behind him the weekend poll jolt. New Zealand's democratic institutions are best served by strong contests involving willing leaders who can show the electorate why they should be trusted with their vote. That is where Little needs to turn his energy.