Harry's Law hides the real villains

Helen Clark, who claims to tell it likes it is - should tell the public which other Labour MPs will be protected by the retrospective Duynhoven law, says National Party Leader Bill English.

"Who is Labour hiding?

"It would be better for Labour to front up now than to deal with the outrage if at some later stage Parliament discovers another MP has broken the law but hasn't been brave enough to come forward.

"Labour has deceived the public and abused the Parliamentary process to protect one of its own," Mr English says.

"At first the Government described the law that Mr Duynhoven's guilty of breaking as an 'archaic' piece of legislation, conveniently forgetting it had been amended and backed by Labour last year.

"Next the Government argued that the cost and inconvenience of a by-election was behind the law change - now we know it has been more expensive for Parliament to sit in urgency," Mr English says.

"Then we have Crown Law advice that showed there was a vacancy on June 11, but Government subterfuge has allowed the disgraceful situation to continue until today.

"The Government has failed to deliver on one of its core obligations to uphold and administer the law in an even handed manner," says Mr English.

"Mr Duynhoven's now been placed above every other New Zealander who is forced to accept the consequences of their actions - regardless of whether they've broken the law knowingly or not.

"Mr Duynhoven has become the first MP elected to Parliament without a single public vote being cast," says Mr English.

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