Simon Bridges retains Tauranga

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges and his wife Natalie. Photo and video: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Incumbent National Party MP Simon Bridges has retained his Tauranga seat, receiving 19,111 votes.

His nearest rival was Labour's Jan Tinetti, who received 8841 votes.

It was a slight decrease on 2014, when Simon won 20,711 votes.

However, the National frontbencher will enter his fourth term as Tauranga's MP confident he has the consistent support of his electorate.

'It's a really pleasing result. I'm excited to have a renewed mandate for Tauranga. We have a strong record in this city over nine years.”

He says the National government has done a good job in providing infrastructure to Tauranga, but he knows the electorate expects more to be done on housing and social services.

'I'm also keen to see a museum for Tauranga, and I absolutely think central government has a role to play in that. It's a team effort.”

The effect of Jacinda Ardern on some voters meant Simon and his fellow National MPs were briefly concerned about bleeding party votes to Labour in their generally safe electorates. But Simon thinks the economy was what brought National's numbers back up on the night.

'I think there was a renewed focus on the economy, and a lack of focus in Labour's policies, especially around tax. People also made their assessments and backed Bill English's depth of experience.”

As for whether he thinks National will be able to form a government with their only likely coalition partner of substance – New Zealand First – Simon believes their strong party vote, even after three terms, puts his party in a strong position.

'There isn't the same mood among voters as there was at the end of Labour's three terms in 2008,” says Simon.

'But we'll have to see where the final cards lie.”

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2 comments

Tax

Posted on 24-09-2017 12:37 | By roseh

If the scaremongering hadn't been done by the national party over Labours tax things may have been a bit different. Simon if you want a Museum Well you pay for it certainly hope you don't think ratepayers can.You need to try and live on a single pension for a month or two and then see what happens.And i have done it now for over 10 years >But the way things keep going up I'm hoping I pass on before I run out of savings to keep paying these rises.So don't add anything else


Government?

Posted on 24-09-2017 14:51 | By socantor01

Why do we have to have "Working for Families"?Is it because employers can't, or won't pay a proper wage that families can live on? Surely, if we are following economic liberalism, if a business can't afford to pay its way, then shouldn't it go out of business? Likewise, if some farmers can't survive without using cheap immigrant labour or have to rely on free water for irrigation, shouldn't they be allowed to just fade away.Government, business and socialism are strange bedfellows. Yet they seem to go well in our New Zealand economy. i wonder how one would describe that sort of economy?


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