Opposition parties pour scorn on deal

National Party leader Bill English predicts the agreement signed yesterday between Labour and United Future will produce a "do-nothing" Government.

Mr English and other Opposition parties were quick to dismiss the new arrangement which will see a Labour/Progressive Coalition minority Government given support on confidence and supply by United Future.

Mr English said the Greens' refusal to support the Government left Prime Minister Helen Clark in an unusual situation.

"The Greens have withdrawn their support for Labour even though they tend to agree with their policies."

And United Future leader Peter Dunne, who had voted most against Government policy during the last Parliament, was now supporting them on confidence and supply.

"Labour has bought stability for the price of future progress. It is the wrong answer for the challenges that lie ahead," Mr English said.

New Zealand faced tougher economic conditions and deteriorating health and public services, which the Government would not be able to cope with.

Mr English predicted the proposed Commission for the Family requested by United Future would be a bureaucracy bogged down in political correctness and over-analysis.

"It is disappointing that United Future has given away so much in return for so little."

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters expressed similar sentiments but in more colourful language.

The alliance was a "genetically engineered political wedding of Frankenstein proportions" which offered the prospect of "frightening offspring", he declared.

The new set-up probably made Helen Clark wish she had never called an early election, but he hoped she could manage the new arrangement in the interests of political stability.

Acting Act leader Ken Shirley predicted a rocky road ahead for the Prime Minister and her Government.

He said Labour was now betrothed to United Future - a party that had campaigned on a platform of lower company and personal tax, getting much tougher on crime and putting a deadline and fiscal cap on Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

It had also backed charter schools, eliminating state funding of political parties and using public-private partnerships in the health sector.

- NZPA

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