Ilam MP says the 'real work starts now'; New MPs discuss their victories

Sarah Pallett.

Labour's Sarah Pallett, who took Ilam at the election, is still coming to terms with her historic win.

Ilam was thought to be a safe blue seat - Gerry Brownlee held the seat since 1996, and his loss over the weekend to Pallett was met with shock by both National and Labour supporters.

Pallett, a former midwife, won by a 2,220 vote majority.

Speaking to Chris Lynch on Newstalk ZB from the Beehive, she said the result was "fantastic".

"The real work starts now," she said – that work included finding an office.

"People are ready for that change; people are ready to support Labour's mandate and appreciate the work done of the last three years."

"I've had some old clients reach out to me as well...that has been absolutely delightful," she said.

"I'm at the beehive now, it's pretty exciting."

A number of Christchurch's newly elected MP's are celebrating their victories today.

They joined Canterbury Mornings with Chris Lynch on Newstalk ZB from 10am.

Duncan Webb told Lynch engaging with the east side of central Christchurch is one of his top priorities.

The Labour politician retained his seat at the election.

"We know that [the east] is a really struggling area. The incomes are really low, housing quality is really poor.

"One of my missions is to go in and engage that community and work out how we lift it up."

Duncan Webb.

National's Waimakariri's MP, Matt Doocey, told Lynch his party's poor result this election is partially due to a lack of "internal discipline".

"You can go back to Jami-Lee Ross, Hamish Walker, Andrew Faloon, we had a leak just before the election, leadership issues," he said.

Although he held on to his Waimakariri electorate, Doocey's majority last election – 10,766 votes – was wiped away over the weekend, with him keeping his seat with a much slimmer 1,976 majority.

National Party support in the electorate also dropped from 53.5 per cent in the 2017 election, to 28.7 per cent in 2020.

"Unfortunately I felt the effect of that."

Wigram MP and Labour campaign manager Megan Woods said the party expects to form a government in the next two to three weeks.

"We don't want to let this drag on for weeks and weeks," she told Lynch.

Woods won the Wigram seat by a landslide with more than 12,000 votes between her and National's Hamish Campbell.

"Christchurch people understand what a recovery takes and in Labour they saw a party who was willing to put people at the centre of the recovery."

New Banks Peninsula MP, Labour's Tracey McClellan, told Lynch she was first at the beehive in Wellington this morning.

"I'm in wellington n0ow and I think I'm the first one here because I couldn't sleep."

Tracey McClellan. Photo / Supplied

McClellan won the electorate by more than 10,000 votes in front of National's Catherine Chu.

Labour was the big winner in greater Christchurch this election with nearly all of the seats going to the party.

Doocey and Nicola Grigg (Selwyn) are the only National candidates who won their electorate in the area.

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Christchurch East MP Poto Williams told Lynch that Christchurch issues will be "pushed strongly" at Labour caucus meetings.

"We have our own unique situation here...we are still dealing with some legacy earthquake issues," she said.

She said she was "really pleased" Labour had received so much support in Christchurch, with 51.9 per cent of the party vote in Christchurch going to Labour.

"I think there is more certainty for the people of Christchurch."

Williams won the Christchurch East electorate by 14,455 votes, almost doubling her victory from the 2017 election.