John Key at this afternoon's media conference John Key has confirmed National will not do a deal with the Conservative Party in East Coast Bays, where Colin Craig is standing. “In East Coast Bays, where the Conservatives have a candidate, the only option to accommodate that party would be to remove a sitting MP from the ballot paper and that, as I have said, is a bridge too far. So there will be no electorate accommodation with the Conservatives," he's said this afternoon,. Key told a post-Cabinet press conference "There's not going to be a last-minute change of mind." When a reporter stated "a lot of voters think Colin Craig is crazy,” he said Craig’s personality was not a dominant factor in the decision. Key says his party would work with the Conservatives post-election if they make it to Parliament. It means Craig, who believes being gay is abnormal and a choice, will take on sitting National MP Murray McCully in East Coast Bays. In Pundit’s ‘poll of polls’ the Conservative has an average level of support of 1.5 per cent. Without an electorate seat it will need five per cent of the party vote to get into Parliament. Key says National will only seek the party vote in Epsom and Ohariu, where it’s made deals with support partners ACT and United Future. United Future leader Peter Dunne, the sitting Ohariu MP, is gay-friendly, as is his party since its Christian right element left in the mid-2000s. David Seymour is ACT’s Epsom candidate. He’s previously stated he’s pro same-sex adoption and marriage equality, saying he can’t understand why it’s the role of the government to decide on either.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 28th July 2014 - 4:20pm