Labour leader Andrew Little said the Prime Minister should sack Transport Minister and Tauranga MP Simon Bridges over claims Mr Bridges broke ministerial rules in developing the Northland byelection bridges pledge.
Andrew Little has said if the Prime Minister has any standards at all, he has to take action against Simon Bridges.
Mr Little made the call yesterday, saying Mr Bridges sought advice from the NZ Transport Agency prior to announcingplans to upgrade 10 one-lane bridges in Northland during the byelection campaign.
A rule in the Cabinet Manual states that requests from officials during election campaigns must only be for the purposes of their portfolio areas "and not for party political purposes".
Mr Little said the guideline existed so the incumbent party did not have an undue advantage over political rivals.
He has breached the Cabinet manual and the Prime Minister, if he has any standards at all, has to take action against Simon Bridges.
"He has breached the Cabinet manual and the Prime Minister, if he has any standards at all, has to take action against Simon Bridges."
The Cabinet Manual is a set of guidelines of behaviour for ministers over which the Prime Minister has authority. Mr Key said he was not aware of any rules preventing ministers getting advice from officials to develop policies.
"During election campaigns, and a byelection is no different, you see political parties making all kinds of promises. You're allowed to use resources of the officials in terms of what would be Government policy."
Mr Key said he had not seen any evidence that Mr Bridges breached the manual.
In a letter to Labour adviser Rob Salmond, Mr Bridges stated that he did not seek any advice from officials on the commitment to upgrade the 10 bridges, but had received "general information" on the one-lane bridges in Northland over a period of time.
Documents released to Mr Salmond under the Official Information Act showed that included emails with information and approximate costings just days before Mr Bridges announced the 10-bridges plan in his capacity as National's transport spokesman during the byelection.
