Peters leaves Tauranga, hits campaign trail

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has decided not to campaign in Tauranga at all today and will only spend a few hours there tomorrow.

He is spending the day in the Hutt Valley electorate to support his MP Ron Mark in a bid to take the electorate vacated by retiring Labour MP Paul Swain.

Polling in the Tauranga electorate shows National candidate Simon Bridges is well ahead and nationwide polling shows NZ First is falling short of the 5 per cent threshold.

The NZ First leader has been the subject of numerous stories about his party's acceptance of donations from big business, a failure to declare them and the use of trusts and lawyers' accounts to disguise them.

Peters has repeatedly said he is the victim of a conspiracy organised by his political opponents.

He is hoping that the police's decision not to lay charges for the party filing false donation declarations will lead to a last minute boost in support.

After campaigning in the Hutt Valley today, Peters returns to Tauranga tomorrow morning before spending the last hours on the electoral trail in Auckland.

- NZPA