Leader of the House Chris Hipkins is blaming National for the shambolic commotion in Parliament yesterday, saying that he had to move quickly to find a compromise because he did not expect a challenge for the election of the Speaker.
Yesterday the Commission Opening of Parliament ground to a halt when Labour nominated Trevor Mallard as Speaker.
National's shadow leader of the House Simon Bridges called a point of order when he realised that the Government was missing five MPs, whose votes could not be cast in their absence because they were yet to be sworn in.
Eventually Hipkins walked over and brokered a deal. National would not contest the Speaker position, and Labour would support National's wish to have 109 select committee positions - an issue that the parties had been clashing on all week.
The Government still had 58 votes against the Opposition's 56 - but Labour did not want the vote contested.