Chch political landscape set for shakeup?

'There's growing anger and resentment' PHILIP MATTHEWS

VISITING: John Key lunches with Nicky Wagner in Ballantynes.

A political starter for ten. Which politician from which party said this about Christchurch East last year?

"The roads and other infrastructure in the electorate are a disgrace three years after the earthquakes. National has cause to be concerned."

That was former ACT MP John Boscawen, who is not exactly a hardcore Left-winger or a so-called "carper and moaner". Boscawen was commenting on a story in the National Business Review in the wake of National's defeat in the Christchurch East by-election.

Defeat? Maybe you need a stronger word.

"National was totally humiliated," political commentator and former Labour Party president Mike Williams says. "That was a landslide."

In a seat vacated by long-term Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel, newcomer Poto Williams actually increased Labour's majority. It was said that Labour got the vote out in an old-fashion, door-knocking campaign led by retired MP Jim Anderton involving a cast of hundreds; but the result was also taken as the electorate's verdict on National's management of the broken city.

It came only two years after National's win in 2011 was interpreted as a mandate from Christchurch, an assurance that the Government was on track with the recovery. Two electorates switched from red to blue and Labour's share of the party vote dropped in all of the seven electorates in greater Christchurch.

National's victorious Christchurch Central MP Nicky Wagner does not attribute all of the 2011 result to at the time strong rhetoric about the rebuild, but three years later, after all that has and not happened, does she think people still feel positive about her government's handling of Christchurch?

Read this article:
Chch political landscape set for shakeup?