Labour MP Stuart Nash apologises over mental health comments

Labour MP Stuart Nash. Hawke's Bay Today Photograph by Warren Buckland

Labour's police spokesman Stuart Nash has apologised for backing a policy to exclude people on anti-depressants from becoming police officers.

Nash had been asked about the policy that prevents new recruits on anti-depressants from joining the force.

He said he agreed with it, saying it protected such people from harmful conditions.

"I think there are enough people out there who would make brilliant police officers without any existing mental health condition," he told Fairfax.

"Do we want someone with an existing mental health condition in the police force, considering the high degree of stress, week-in, week-out that a lot of these officers face?"

Mental Health Foundation chief executive Stuart Robinson criticised that view as "simple-minded and unacceptable", and this afternoon Nash responded - taking to Twitter to say "I got this wrong".

"Should have consulted the experts first," he wrote. "My sincere apologies."

Just want to say that I got this wrong. Should have consulted the experts first. My sincere apologies https://t.co/9VFntjkLJH

— Stuart Nash (@Stuart_NashMP) April 10, 2017

The Police policy lists current use of psychotropic medication, such as medication to treat depression or anxiety, as a medical exclusion.

Prime Minister Bill English was steering clear of the issue at his regular post-Cabinet press conference, refusing to say what his view on the policy was.

"That is a matter for the Police...it is a matter for them, I'm not going to try and run the police force from here."