Listen: Simon Bridges - Why no uproar over Winston's 'Fatty' comment?

National Party Leader Simon Bridges. Photo / Mark Mitchell

On his final day as Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters used sizeist language in the debating chamber reportedly saying "Throw fatty out" in reference to Gerry Brownlee.

National Leader Simon Bridges spoke to The Country's Jamie Mackay about the incident, saying he thinks there may be double standards going on in Parliament when it comes to Peters.

"If you'd had Bill English say that about someone on the other side you could imaging the uproar for days and days and days. I do think we in this country hold Winston to a slightly lower standard on these sort of things."

Listen below:

A fall in business confidence and continuing strikes are currently facing the Government. Bridges says the economy is in a serious situation and even though it is his job as leader of the Opposition to point this out, he takes no pleasure in it.

"Our business confidence going from second best in the OECD to second to worst, our unemployment rising; all of these things which are entirely preventable - there's only one rational, credible explanation and that's that these are the Government's doing. Nothing else has fundamentally changed."

Bridges says he has a clear message for the Government - "do something to turn this around."