Ryan Bridge: Labour's fallen for Nicola's election trap

Labour's fallen into a cunning wee trap set by Nicola Willis a few weeks ago.

She laid the bait —releasing 'fiscal rules' her party would abide by if re-elected— and challenged Labour to do the same.

On the weekend, they took the bait and released their own 'fiscal strategy'. Which is different form their 'fiscal plan' – more on that in a second.

The problem for Labour is that its strategy reveals that it wants to do exactly the things National has been saying they want to.

Tax, borrow, and spend more.

There's a gap between what they say they're willing to spend and what they have announced they'll tax.

There are billions of dollars they want to spend that they haven't yet explained how they'll tax.

Rental interest deductibility, which they'll announce soon, won't cover the shortfall.

Which plays into National's attacks. And the entire basis of their campaign, which is that you can't trust Labour not to tax the bejeezus out of you and leave you broke.

In an election campaign, unanswered questions, the void, is filled with noise.

To be in control of a campaign, you want to be making the noise and not have others make it for you.

And to make matters worse, Labour says they won't release their fiscal plan, which is more detailed and fills in the blanks, till the PREFU. Which is a month away.

Until they front with some answers, you can't help but look at this as a successful election bait, set, trap from Nicola Willis.

Ryan Bridge is a New Zealand broadcaster who has worked on many current affairs television and radio shows. He currently hosts Newstalk ZB's Early Edition - where this article was sourced.