Senior Labour MP Ginny Andersen is backing outgoing Prime Minister Chris Hipkins “100%” as her party prepares to move into opposition.
Her comments follow a dismal election result for Labour, which will see the party take just 34 MPs into opposition.
Through an upcoming review, Labour will be launching a post-mortem of the election campaign in an attempt to figure out where they went wrong.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Andersen said that while they wait for the results of that review, Labour will focus on “making sure that we are the leanest, meanest opposition".
She said she “100%” backs Hipkins to stay on as party leader, confirming that she will vote for him when caucus meets in the coming weeks.
“I believe that Chris Hipkins is the best person to be leading us right now.”
When asked why Hipkins would make the best choice for party leader, Andersen said his experience in opposition would be an asset to Labour.
“He’s done nine years in opposition previously, and he was a formidable force when he was in opposition. He knows how to do that job well."
She called him a “great leader” and said it would be “interesting to see how he stacks up against Chris Luxon, now we’re in opposition".
“I think there will be a real difference there.”
The outgoing Cabinet minister said no other MPs had contacted her about putting their names forward to challenge Hipkins.
“There is always gossip going around, but there's no one who has come to me and asked for my support to be leader of the party.
“I have full confidence that we're a good team, and we’ll work together tightly.”
She also said she supports him leading the party into another election.
Andersen said the party will now be keeping a close eye on the coalition negotiations between National, ACT and New Zealand First.
“We've got David Seymour and Winston [Peters] trading pot-shots over the weekend about who had whose phone number.”
“I think there are some big challenges ahead for Christopher Luxon in terms of whether he can get that foreign buys tax over the line with Winston [Peters] in the mix.
“So there’s all the sorts of things that we’ll be closely watching as we form and become an opposition.”
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