Dave Stewart

Golly, I seem to have triggered the National Party fire brigade with my letter to the Beacon (12/11/25 “PM points finger at anyone”) that pointed out that he came to office as an MP in Jamie Lee Ross’s former electorate during National’s war with itself after losing the 2020 election.

Do we need reminding that this was the election where Labour spectacularly delivered the First Past The Post electoral victory that National fans had been calling for ever since Winston Peters went with Labour in 2017? Obviously, we do.

Public ratings of government performance have reached another new low in the latest IPSOS Issues Monitor survey.

The government rating of 3.9 out of 10 is the lowest since the survey began in September 2017 and reflects about 45 percent of respondents giving between 0 and 3.

Another 31 percent gave a rating of 4-6, while 23 percent gave 7-10, and 2 percent said they didn’t know.

This is very bad news for the very bad National-led coalition government and I can see why National voters are getting shirty over any commentary that doesn’t play to their “she’ll be far right” narrative.

I’m sorry the truth is hard to take for some people, but my only advice to them is to buckle up because the lead up to the next election of a new government is going to be a very bumpy ride for anyone who can’t handle the truth.

This Government has failed to deliver cost-of-living relief like it promised, and that’s where the buck, indeed all the bucks, stop.