Tax and borrow plans will sink Labour in 2026

Opinion: Labour leader Chris Hipkins’ claim that New Zealanders want to see “more Labour in the Labour party” and a “more traditional Labour flavour” in the run-up to the next election sounds like a good rallying call for wavering supporters, but is otherwise meaningless. It is almost as fatuous as Mike Moore’s “Labour’s come home” campaign after its disastrous 1990 wipeout. Hipkins’ comments were more about pacifying doubters within the party, unsure about where he is leading it, than winning over voters who still have not forgotten why they deserted Labour in droves last year.
Most voters at the next election will have little idea what a “traditional” Labour government might look like, because it is so long since we have had one. Almost 60 percent of those voting at the last election had not even been born when the last “traditional” Labour government was defeated in 1975. That was the 1972 Kirk/Rowling government which was booted out after just one term because of its “borrow and hope” response to the economic crisis caused by the 1974 Oil Shock.