Phil GOFF
Labour Leader
10 October 2011

John Key admits to lying

Prime Minister John Key has been forced into a humiliating back-down, admitting he lied to New Zealanders about comments he attributed to ratings agency Standard and Poor's, says Labour Leader Phil Goff.

"In Parliament last week, John Key claimed that Standard and Poor's had said that if there was a change of Government then a 'downgrade would be much more likely'. Today under questioning from Labour and journalists, he admitted that statement was a lie.

"The Prime Minister must now apologise for misleading Kiwis instead of running around claiming he relied on information emailed to him from an unnamed ‘source’.

"If his ‘source’ is in fact his Finance Minister Bill English, then he made a big mistake trusting him. He's the guy who went to visit the ratings agencies and when they downgraded New Zealand said he didn't see it coming.

"John Key claims that he didn't mislead the public or Parliament because he was referring to a source other than Standard and Poor's. That's not true.

"What he actually told Parliament was ‘When Standard and Poor's was giving a meeting in New Zealand about month ago, what it did say was that there was about a 30% chance that we would be downgraded. That is what happens when one is on a negative outlook. It did go on to say, though, that if there was a change of Government, that downgrade would be much more likely'.

"John Key has made a mess of our economy and is so desperate to dodge responsibility for his failure that he is resorting to telling porkies to cover his own backside. This is not the way a Prime Minister should behave. New Zealanders deserve better. They deserve the truth,” Phil Goff said.

ENDS

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