Cost of living: what's actually true, versus what both leaders are claiming
Inflation accelerated to 4.1 percent the same week Labour and National both launched their cost of living pitches.
Inflation just jumped from 3.1 percent to 4.1 percent in a single quarter, the fastest rise in over a year, and it lands right in election season.
Food prices are up 4.6 percent on the year and household living costs are up 2.1 percent, by Stats NZ's own numbers, not ours.
On 28 September, Labour and National both officially launched their 2026 campaigns, and cost of living was front and centre for both. Chris Hipkins built Labour's whole launch around it, promising a 10 percent student loan write off from April, and said an earlier Luxon remark "made me so angry, it still does." National's Nicola Willis told voters Kiwis are being "impatient" for expecting a quick turnaround.
We checked that against the numbers. Stats NZ shows inflation rising, not falling, last quarter.
Both parties pitched their solution on the same day prices sped up. Whose plan do you actually think brings the cost of living down?
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