Covid 19 coronavirus: National leader Simon Bridges fronts press before Question Time

National Party leader Simon Bridges will speak to media this afternoon before he questions the Prime Minister in the House for the first time in a month.

Bridges will focus his comments on some of the issues raised by business and what he thinks the Government should be doing to mitigate those problems.

But he is expected to be pressed on his leadership of the National Party, following the persistent leaking of information from his caucus.

Last night, Newshub reported that senior National MP Nick Smith sent an email to Bridges expressing his disappointment that a new Covid-19 policy team had been set up.

Smith is in charge of National's policy unit and is said to be upset he did not have more involvement in the new team.

Details of that email – which had all of National's 55 MPs copied in – were leaked soon after it was sent.

This comes after Bridges was heavily criticised for his response to the Government's announcement that the level 4 lockdown had been extended.

A Facebook post where Bridges said the lockdown extension was a result of the Government's lack of preparation attracted almost 30,000 comments – many of them critical.

After speculation from left-wing bloggers that Bridges' leadership was in trouble, National's deputy leader Paula Bennett proactively tweeted that it was "false speculation".

"I get people are bored and looking for entertainment but false speculating on the leadership of the National Party has no factual basis," she said.

Bridges will be in the House just after 2pm this afternoon for question time, where he will grill the Prime Minister.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website