Labour will kick off its election year Congress today by promising an upgrade programme for ageing school buildings to ensure all schools have modern facilities by 2030.

For each general election since 2008, the Herald has undertaken an in-depth project on the person challenging to be Prime Minister.

Labour's grant of an extra $100 a year for each pupil for state-funded schools will probably succeed in ending charges for all but the richest schools and that would be a pity, writes John Roughan.

Labour leader David Cunliffe says he’s sorry that he’s a man because men commit most family violence but Prime Minister John Key says the comment is 'silly'.

Politics columnist Toby Manhire leaks his version of the secret emails between the top players in Team Key.

I bet Labour wishes it wasn't an election year, writes Mike Hosking.

Editorial: The Labour Party has always struggled with the concept of "voluntary" school donations.

A former Labour Minister intervened three times in the immigration bid of Donghua Liu including waiving the English language requirement for the millionaire businessman.

Labour wants to end "voluntary" school donations by offering a grants of $100 per student to schools that stop asking parents to fund "day to day" spending.

The Government is hoping to pass home affordability legislation to limit council charges on developers in the eight sitting days left before the election.

David Cunliffe says Trevor Mallard's plan to resurrect and reintroduce the moa to Lower Hutt is "not going to fly".

The Labour and Green party coffers will receive a $120,000 boost for the election from unions that are also hoping to mobilise thousands of members to push for a change of Government.

Wages have only gone up $34.53 annually against house prices, which are up by $38,000, according to a new report. Which regions fared the worst?

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union has donated $60,000 to the Labour Party and $15,000 to the Green Party, the union announced this morning.

Labour wants to end the dislocation of Pacific Island families who are split apart for years by New Zealand's immigration rules.

The roading announcement was also part of a wider strategy to convince voters that the Greens will be the driving force of any post-election coalition, writes John Armstrong.

The problem with political journalism in New Zealand is that we have MMP elections covered by a First-Past-the-Post Press Gallery.

Deny, deny, deny. Attack, attack, attack. That's been Labour's response to businessman Donghua Liu claiming he donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Party.

Labour want to increase incentives for immigrants to accept jobs or establish businesses in regional New Zealand to take the pressure off Auckland.

Labour's alternative Budget manages somehow to be both cautious and audacious - and is all the better in political terms for being so, writes John Armstrong.

Millionaire businessman Donghua Liu has hired a high-profile Queen's Counsel to deal with any legal action from the Labour Party.

Fired-up West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says he would probably have crossed the floor in Parliament last night with or without the blessing of the Labour Party.

If it seems a dismal beginning to the election campaign, there is cause to hope that this has been a flash flood, rather than the start of a long storm, writes Toby Manhire.

The highest earning households in New Zealand are in the electorate the Prime Minister lives in, according to Census figures.

A war of words has broken out between United Future's Peter Dunne and Labour's Sue Moroney over the paid parental leave bill which has been scuppered by filibustering.

Labour plans to sock wealthy New Zealanders and multinationals for hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxes to fund new spending initiatives while posting slightly larger surpluses than National.

Editorial: Taxing the rich seems a defining policy of the Labour Party. It plays especially well to its left wing.