Labour continues to insult New Zealanders with claims that they have managed the economy well, National’s Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says.

“Labour is completely detached from reality and out of touch with everyday Kiwis who are struggling with the cost of living after six years of Labour’s economic mismanagement.

“Anyone who heard Grant Robertson claim ‘victory’ today would be well within their rights to feel insulted and outraged.

“Labour has mismanaged and vandalised the economy on a scale unlike anything we have seen in recent history.

“Government is spending up 80 per cent - $1 billion a day more than 2017. The current account deficit is the largest in the OECD. The economy has been anything but well-managed by Labour.

“The IMF forecasts show that next year our economic growth will be among the lowest in the entire world. The Reserve Bank and other major economists are predicting recession later this year.

“The reality for struggling New Zealanders is that it already feels like we are in recession.

For many people, things feel so bleak that they are looking at opportunities overseas and voting with their feet, with almost 40,000 Kiwis permanently leaving the country last year.

“The Labour Party is working on overdrive to try to convince everyone that our economy isn’t a mess, but when inflation is still high and interest rates are continuing to go up, Kiwis feel the reality.

“They feel it when they are calculating their mortgage repayments, trying to make the gap between their wages and rising interest rates add up.

“They feel it when they anxiously look at the dollars ticking up as their grocery items are scanned through the checkout.

“They feel it when the petrol light pops up on the dashboard of their car and they wonder how long they can make what’s left in the tank last before having to fill up.

“New Zealanders are bearing the brunt of Labour’s economic mismanagement. Middle-income Kiwis are turning up to budgeting services and food banks for the first time in their lives because they just can’t get ahead.

“National will provide tax relief to working New Zealanders, with an average-income family with young children receiving $250 a fortnight under our plan. That’s meaningful relief that will help them navigate the cost of living crisis Labour has created.

“Labour’s recklessness with the books and the lack of an economic plan has got New Zealand into this mess, and only National will be able to get us out of it. We will rebuild the economy and get New Zealand back on track.”

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