Labour has decided to delay any implementation of changes from its tax working group until after the 2020 election in a bid to stop any further political damage from its tax policy.
The good news for Labour about the latest poll is that the party still has options - Greens or New Zealand First.
Labour would be able to form a Government with either party, in this week's 1 News Colmar Brunton poll.
Last week Labour could have formed a Government withNew Zealand First alone but not the Greens alone.
The bad news for National is that neither last week nor this week could it form a Government just with New Zealand First alone.
There is bad news for New Zealand First, too. It faces the prospect of no longer having a kingmaker role.
Labour would be able to form a Government with either party, this week's 1 News Colmar Brunton poll suggests. Photo / Dean Purcell
And both New Zealand First and the Greens are perilously close to not making it back at all.
The Greens are up two to 7 per cent and New Zealand First is down by three to 6 per cent.
It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the next Parliament could comprise Labour, National, Act and the Maori Party - no New Zealand First and no Greens.
It is clear that rural New Zealand is feeling under siege from the left's prospect of a water tax, farmers being brought into the emissions trading scheme within three years, and now with the slightly delayed possibility of a land tax or capital gains tax.
They are the political conditions under which the rural sector may well be reverting to their old party and turning 2017 into more of a two-horse race.
