Todd McClay all fired up to get teeth into boosting BoP's economic growth

Todd McClay says he is working as hard as he can in Wellington. Photo / APN

Rotorua MP Todd McClay will return to Wellington tomorrow to rejoin National's caucus but only after he's seen his dentist for the tooth he broke at an agricultural show.

The National MP retained the Rotorua seat with 15,911 votes and a 6867-vote election-night majority over Labour's Steve Chadwick, who will not be returning to Parliament off her party's list and yesterday told the Herald she would not seek any further role in central government.

The National Party also claimed 14,874 party votes, again well ahead of Labour's 6224 votes.

Mr McClay, who broke a tooth while chewing on a sausage at an agricultural show three weeks ago, put his re-election down to "working as hard as I could in Wellington".

"I think it is a reflection that not only had they [his constituents] seen that I had done that but that they want me to continue the work we started in this area. There has been some very important stuff happen here around education, [and] more than half a billion dollars of new roads around the Rotorua electorate, and I have focused on some of the difficult issues that Rotorua faces because of the recession.

"We are starting to see positive signs that we are pulling through that."

Mr McClay said this term he would focus on improving productivity and economic growth in the Bay of Plenty.

"Primarily it's about unlocking the potential we have in the wider Bay of Plenty," he said.

Mrs Chadwick, after polling 9044 votes and trailing well behind Mr McClay, needed the Labour Party to top 33 per cent of the nationwide party vote to get back as a list MP.

But the party got just 27 per cent, and with her list ranking of 34, her days in Parliament ended on Saturday.

The mother of three and former midwife was yesterday with family at Maketu and said she was considering her future but would not return to any role in central government.

Rotorua's former member of Parliament between 1999 and 2008, Mrs Chadwick was also a former Minister of Conservation and Associate Minister of Health.

She said she regarded her years working for the Helen Clark-led government as an "absolute privilege" and was certain the party could rebound from the towelling it got on Saturday.

"But my sadness is at losing the talents of Carmel [Sepuloni], Kelvin [Davis] and Stuart Nash that was what we wanted for renewal ...

"Their loss is a big loss but the party is bigger than individuals and the party needs a good shake-up."