Winston rules out Labour

The Herald reports:

For the first time since MMP began, the former Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First leader has emphatically ruled out working with a major party. …

“We are not going to go with the Labour Party, this present Labour Party crowd, because they can’t be trusted….

To double-check whether there was any wriggle room in his position on Labour, he is asked if he is ruling out working with a Jacinda Ardern-led Government. …

“Most definitely,” he says

This is extraordinary, for a number of reasons.

The first is that never before has Winston explicitly ruled out going with one of the two main parties. He drops hunts and speaks in code, but always leaves wriggle room because by not ruling out a major party, you are more powerful in post-election negotiations.

But here he has explicitly said he won’t with with an Ardern-led Government.

What is even more extraordinary is Winston made her Prime Minister. In 2017 he made her PM and in 2022 he says he will never work with her again.

He feels Ardern and Labour lied to him over He Puapua and Three Waters,