New Zealand First is open to working with Labour if Chris Hipkins is not Party Leader

Winston Peters has repeatedly refused to work with Labour under Chris Hipkins specifically, stating "when I ruled out Hipkins in 2023, I ruled him out permanently", while also stating New Zealand First is ideologically opposed to the "woke agenda and race based policies" of Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori in his Tauranga State of the Nation speech.

On a late-night tweet on April 22 and again at NZ First's 2026 campaign launch on July 20, he reiterated he would not work with Labour after the 2026 election, invoking "woke communists."

Ryan Bridge repeatedly floated the idea that ruling out Hipkins personally, rather than Labour as a whole, left the door open to a post-election deal, asking Peters directly on-air (22 June 2026) whether he'd rule out a Labour coalition, which Peters dismissed as a "w**ker question" while reaffirming "we're not going with Labour."

Peters has since ruled out Labour categorically regardless of leader, making the narrower "only if Hipkins goes" framing false.