Chris Hipkins has made it clear he is out of touch, out of ideas and is set to take Labour into its most negative campaign in history, National’s Campaign Chair Chris Bishop says.

“The Labour-aligned Council of Trade Unions has launched nasty American-style attack ads on National to help their mate Chris Hipkins and his increasingly desperate Labour Party. ‘Be kind’ has truly become ‘be nasty’ under Chris Hipkins and his union elite buddies,” Mr Bishop says.

“The highly-resourced CTU is able to spend almost $400,000 on these grubby attack ads and is in lockstep with Hipkins in running the most negative election campaign seen in decades.

“Serious questions need to be asked of Chris Hipkins about how much he knew of his union mates’ relentlessly negative and scurrilous campaign. It’s hard to believe Labour didn’t know about it when a former advisor to Grant Robertson is now a senior staffer at the CTU and an active Labour Party volunteer.

“Labour has been caught out repeatedly spreading disinformation about National’s policies and it seems Hipkins will stop at nothing to cling to power. This weekend, Hipkins launched his campaign with an email featuring outright lies about National. We can take six weeks of Labour’s lies and attacks, but Kiwis can’t take another three years of Labour’s reckless economic mismanagement.

“Kiwis are crying out to hear how political parties will help them get ahead. But in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, Chris Hipkins has nothing to offer people but lies and negativity, helped out by big unions that are more focused on attacking National than supporting working people who are drowning in Labour’s cost of living crisis.

“National’s campaign is relentlessly focused on New Zealanders and only a Party Vote for National will get our country back on track by rebuilding the economy to reduce the cost of living, with things like our Back Pocket Boost which will make families up to $250 per fortnight better off.”

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