Those who understand politics have realised that that the National party needed the government to go ahead with capital gains tax in order to give voters a strong reason to switch their vote to National.
Simon Bridges is now beside himself because he knows that he has lost his ace in the hole. Our sources tell us that Bridges is telling anyone who will listen that the messaging on CGT was wrong, that Amy Adams is useless and that he mostly blames Paul Goldsmith for the hole they find themselves in?.
However, it is not all bad news, as, long term, this is bad for Labour and good for National. CGT isn’t completely dead yet. Jacinda chose her words very carefully saying it would not happen while she is the leader. That leaves the door open for a capital gains tax from Labour when she decides to step down.
Labour supporters are not at all happy with the decision, calling it “cowardice”, “a blunder” and “weak”. They still want a CGT and they are bitter about it. The blame is not being placed squarely on the shoulders of their “compassionate” leader, but instead, is being laid at the feet of Winston Peters. Because of this, they are saying that there needs to be a Labour-Green government with no NZ First.
This gives Winston Peters breathing space and hands a smart leader of National a potential coalition partner moving forward that is better than the New Conservatives. I know, I know, I like them too but, to be fair, they are nothing more than a pipe dream at this stage.
Our sources tell us that Alfred Ngaro is going to leave National and go with the New Conservatives, which explains why National didn’t waka jump Jami-Lee Ross. They couldn’t let Ngaro go with no waka jumping AND hammer Jami-Lee Ross.
I know you don’t want to hear this, but National supporters are going to have to learn to curb their hatred of Winston. This back-down by Labour has set him up nicely to go to war with Labour over taxes and jettison the government early next year but within six months of the election.