Chris Hipkins will remain as leader of the Labour Party, but Kelvin Davis has been replaced by Carmel Sepuloni as deputy leader.
Hipkins confirmed it at a media conference this afternoon, following a Labour caucus meeting held off the parliamentary precinct.
"I was successful in being endorsed as the leader," he said.
Carmel Sepuloni is now deputy leader and Kelvin Davis stepped aside. (Source: 1News)
It follows a vote on the Labour leadership at the meeting, something required under Labour's constitution.
Hipkins said Davis had “foreshadowed” standing down as deputy leader.
Hipkins said Labour was looking forward to the next three years and had a “big and important job” as the main Opposition party.
Asked if it was time to refresh the Labour leadership, Hipkins said, simply: “No.”
The party says it doesn’t need a new leader, but it will re-examine its policies. (Source: 1News)
He said he and Sepuloni had only been in party leadership roles for nine months and the 2023 election campaign was tough for Labour.
Labour suffered one of its worst election defeats in October, reducing its party vote from 50% in 2020 to just shy of 27%.
"We know that actually many of the seeds of our defeat were sown well before we actually became the leadership team."
He committed to staying on for the full three-year term and it was his "intention" to be the Labour leader contesting the next general election.
Hipkins said the vote was a secret ballot and the threshold for confidence in him as leader had been met.
"I don't know whether there was any dissenting. We had a good constructive conversation, nobody indicated they weren't going to be supporting the motion [to support me]."
He confirmed no one challenged him for the role.
Earlier, senior Labour MPs Phil Twyford and David Parker refused to say how they would vote on the matter but both expressed support for Hipkins.
Former Rangitata MP Jo Luxton was also coy, but new MP Reuben Davidson said Hipkins had his vote.
Hipkins said Davis had "indicated" to him "some time back" he wanted to "step back from the front line".
"He still wants to be part of the team, still wants to contribute, but just doesn't want one of those front line roles."
He said there were no other candidates for deputy leader besides from Sepuloni.
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