Mike's Minute: Surely the clock is ticking for Chris Hipkins

The Mike Hosking Breakfast

You can see how the rumblings around the future of Chris Hipkins as Labour Leader have started.

They have added to their problems this week with the social media post from David Parker wittering on about his tax dream. The old Capital Gains Tax, get all those rich bastards lined up and raid their pockets.

It's a sorry old state they find themselves in.

The power crisis is a nadir of sorts. The cold hard reality of their policies has come home to roost for us and haunt them.

You can argue the same around the economy, in general of course, and their Covid approach. Three recessions in two years. A record unmatched by anyone I can find is pretty damning for a government that spent six years basically wrecking the place.

But the power is indisputable. We have no gas because we haven't looked for any because they closed it down.

The lack of rain or wind isn't their fault, but the fragility of the system is. All the stuff they said would happen to close the gap hasn’t. The Onslow idea went nowhere. And the simple, irrefutable truth is as a result of a lack of supply is the price is up, some people can't pay it, and people are out of work.

It's a series of very clear simple dots that can be laid directly at their doorstep.

It goes to credibility, they have none. And now we have tax.

If Labour go to the next election with a package of new taxes, like capital gains, they may as well not campaign.

They will have a two-fold problem. One, the recent memory of their performance in government is still fresh in voters' minds. Two, a new idea being we will tax you some more for good measure.

They will, of course, be facing a government that has cut taxes and may well, if they are lucky, have an economy with some real steam driving it.

If Hipkins makes it that far, his vision will seem so weird, so out of touch, and so ideologically mad he will not only lose, but quite possibly badly.

You can't hide your past; you can hope people forget, and time helps that.

But if more tax is their calling card for 2026, it's game over before it's even started.

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