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NZCPR
Dr Muriel Newman established the New Zealand Centre for Political Research as a public policy think tank in 2005 after nine years as a Member of Parliament. A former Chamber of Commerce President, her background is in business and education.
There are many lessons for New Zealand in last week’s British election result, which saw the 14-year reign of the Conservative Party ending in a crushing defeat.
While the number of seats won by Labour appeared to indicate a huge swing to the left in support of Sir Keir Starmer’s Party, that isn’t the case at all.
Of the 28.8 million votes cast for the 650-seat House of Commons, Labour’s proportion barely rose. They only gained an additional 1.6 per cent of the vote but their seat number more than doubled from 202 to 411.
The Conservatives’ vote collapsed from 43.6 per cent to 23.7, with 244 MPs losing seats and only 121 retaining them.
Reform UK stormed onto the scene from nowhere, winning 14.3 per cent of the vote and five seats, while the Liberal Democrats, which trailed Reform by 600,000 votes, picked up 72 seats!
The Greens increased their vote from 2.6 percent to 6.7, winning four Parliamentary seats, with the balance of 37 seats in the House held by 10 other groupings.
The reason for the anomalies is, of course, the UK’s First Past the Post voting system. If they had proportional representation instead, the results would have been very different: Labour would have only won 220 seats, the Conservatives 154 seats, Reform would have secured 93 seats, the Lib Dems 79, and the Greens 44.
So, what caused the bizarre results?
It was the Reform Party.
Established in 2019 as the Brexit Party to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, its name was changed to Reform UK in 2021.
Just four weeks out from the election, Reform had no money, no coverage, and little hope of making a difference.
Then Nigel Farage rejoined the Party as leader for an eighth attempt at winning a seat in the House of Commons.
The veteran Member of the European Parliament catapulted the Party into relevance. Reform hoovered up over four million largely disillusioned Conservative votes. That allowed the second placed parties – mostly Labour and the Lib Dems – to win marginal and even safe Tory seats in unprecedented numbers.
By vote share, Reform is now the UK’s third-largest party, ranking in second place in more than 100 electorates, 89 of which were won by Labour this time around.
Given the staggering success of Reform, let’s have a quick look at their election policies to see whether any would have relevance in New Zealand.
First of all, their policy platform was framed as a ‘contract’ with British voters: “Our Contract with You is a serious plan to reshape the way our country is run. The government must work for the British people. Not against them. The Tories have broken Britain. Labour will bankrupt Britain. A vote for either is a vote for more incompetence, dishonesty and defeat. We are ruled by an out-of-touch political class who have turned their backs on our country.”
Reform’s plan for each new government to replace the top echelon of the Civil Service with their own appointees, has a great deal of merit: “Replace Civil Service leaders with successful professionals from the private sector, who are political appointees, who come and go with the government.”
With many senior officials in New Zealand’s Public Service still committed to the previous government’s agenda – to the point where the Coalition can’t even get them to call the country by its correct name – if such a policy was introduced here, it would remove a major handbrake to progress.
In healthcare, Reform would relieve pressure on the public health system by harnessing independent health provision: “Tax Relief of 20 per cent on all Private Healthcare and Insurance.”
Their goal of zero hospital waiting lists within two years would be achieved by funding treatment in the private sector when the public system couldn’t cope: “Patients will receive a voucher for private treatment if they can’t see a GP within three days. For a consultant it would be three weeks. For an operation, nine weeks.”
And tax relief would be offered to prevent staff shortages: “All frontline healthcare and social care staff to pay zero tax for three years. This will help retain existing staff and attract many who have left to return.”
To relieve pressure in the public school system, Reform would use tax incentives to encourage parents to send their children to independent schools: “Tax relief of 20 per cent on all Independent Education.”
They would also clamp down on woke ideology, cancel culture, political bias, and the undermining of free speech throughout the education sector – including universities.
In welfare, to ensure those who can work do work, Reform would: “Enforce a two-strike rule for job offers whereby all job seekers and those fit to work must find employment within four months or accept a job after two offers. Otherwise, benefits are withdrawn.”
Reform also rejects climate extremism: “We must not impoverish ourselves in pursuit of unaffordable, unachievable global CO2 targets: Scrap Net Zero and all existing subsidies.”
By the time the election came around, the British people were so disillusioned over the state of politics, that only 59.9 per cent voted – the lowest turnout in 20 years.
And although the writing had been on the wall for the Conservative Party, they appeared incapable of halting their decline.
Their election result is yet another clear demonstration that voters have no hesitation in punishing party infighting at the ballot box.
While the importance of unity was a point made by the new Prime Minister, who stressed that the Labour Party he was leading had been rebuilt from the one that so disastrously lost the 2019 election under the leadership of the left-leaning Jeremy Corbyn, in reality, all Keir Starmer needed to do was move the Party into the political centre and appear competent!
For the Conservatives, some deep soul searching will be needed as they face up to what is a profoundly changed electoral landscape.
They have five years to sort themselves out.
On election night, many of the high-ranking Tory MPs who lost their seats, admitted the main reason for their defeat was that they had lost touch with their voters and had failed to address the underlying concerns of the British people.
In reality, their arrogant ‘born to rule’ attitude – something that all too often afflicts centre-right parties in Government – cost them dearly.
Especially as Reform, in contrast, appeared down-to-earth, gritty, in touch with the people.
What happened in Britain should be a warning to our Coalition Government. The euphoria of hope immediately after their election win is fading as supporters question whether the promised reforms will be delivered.
Their concerns are not over the progress being made in balancing the books and rebuilding the economy, but over their lack of headway in reversing Labour’s He Puapua agenda.
The fingerprints of Maori supremacy are still everywhere – in spite of the Coalition being elected on a promise of removing race-based privilege and restoring the country back to what it was.
In fact, their Coalition Agreements clearly stated: “The Coalition Government’s priorities for this term include ending race-based policies…”
They specified what their programme of reform would include: “Our Government will not change the official name of New Zealand… We will ensure public service departments have their primary name in English and communicate primarily in English… We will defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law… We will not advance policies that seek to ascribe different rights and responsibilities to New Zealanders on the basis of their race or ancestry… We will reverse measures which have eroded the principle of equal citizenship… We will issue a Cabinet Office circular to all central government organisations that public services should be prioritised on the basis of need, not race… We will conduct a comprehensive review of all legislation (except Treaty settlements) that includes ‘The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi’ and replace all such references with specific words relating to the relevance and application of the Treaty – or repeal the references…”
Yet little has happened.
Government funded agencies still call the country ‘Aotearoa’. Many, including the Public Service continue to display Maori names first – some with websites so full of Maori mumbo jumbo as to be almost unintelligible. Health New Zealand has not only approved the display of radical separatist posters promoting ‘decolonisation’ in hospital emergency rooms and other public spaces, but they are also pressuring staff into undertaking karakia or Maori prayer on a daily basis. Others are defying the new administration in similar ways.
Worse, the Coalition is now guilty of betraying its pledge to voters to “not advance policies that seek to ascribe different rights and responsibilities to New Zealanders on the basis of their race”, by drafting new laws that include special privileges for Maori.
Their betrayal is evident in their high profile Fast-Track Approvals Bill, where, instead of the four positions on the Expert Panels convened to determine whether fast-track projects should be approved being appointed on merit, one is reserved for Maori.
With the Fast-track Bill in front of a Select Committee, National still has an opportunity to demonstrate its election promises were genuine by removing race-based provisions.
If you feel strongly about this, and would like to share your views with MPs, their email addresses can be found on the NZCPR website HERE.
In fact, given the lack of action of the Coalition in standing against separatism, many voters are now beginning to question whether their election promises were just political spin.
The reality is that New Zealanders want to live in a country where democracy is strong, and everyone is treated as equals. That requires the Government to urgently repair the damage created by He Puapua, which has resulted in Maori tribalists infiltrating every level of political influence to gain advantage.
To concerned voters, it looks like Maori supremacists are winning the battle for control of our country, with the Coalition caving in to their demands.
National appears to be the weak link. Unless they address this issue, faith in the Government will decline and they will pay the price at the next election.
In fact, they haven’t even made good on their commitment to amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act – to require Judges to deliver what Parliament intended instead of giving away the coast to opportunistic tribal claimants – even though scheduled Court hearings make the law change urgent.
Of course, this is not the only issue of concern, but because of the toxic influence of separatism, it is of crucial importance. It also underpins how we feel about our Prime Minister, and at this stage, it appears that either he doesn’t care – or he’s afraid.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, the former Judge and law lecturer Anthony Willy is deeply concerned about the influence of separatism on our Constitution and suggests solutions – including preventing ‘tikanga’ or Maori custom from undermining the Rule of Law:
“Nobody knows the content of tikanga until some learned elder comes to the court with an explanation… Then there is the problem that if the custom is not knowable in advance how can it be called ‘law’…
“Fortunately, the whole tikanga thing can be simply rectified by the addition of one line in the various statutes which govern practice in the courts: ‘Maori customary practices or tikanga are not part of the common law of New Zealand’.
“Such an amendment is crucial not only in the criminal law but in civil litigation. To allow some half remembered native custom to intrude into legal relationships has the potential to derail the ingredient of certainty crucial to the common law.”
The big question is whether National is listening.
The Coalition is now approaching its first year in office. The honeymoon is over. It is time for a reality check. They must now deliver on what they promised and meet the expectations of supporters who voted for change.
The British election should serve as a warning to politicians that voters are not swayed by excuses – they want action.
This article was originally published by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research.
