'They hate us': Outgoing National MP says party has gone 'too far to the right'

Outgoing MP for Banks Peninsula Vanessa Weenink is worried National will be pulled "too far to the right" as she reveals many of her constituents told her they hated National in the lead up to the election.The former National MP called herself a "squishy centrist" and said she would "worry for the party that they don't have enough squishy centrists or you know woke liberals like Chris Bishop"."The risk is that the party might be pulled too far to the right."The risk is that they'll feel like they really have to consolidate with their base."Heading into Parliament for her final caucus, she told media she was "gutted" to lose her seat.But she said people in her electorate were telling her that they hated National."Oh look, a lot of people in that electorate were telling me literally that they hate us. Like they really got to that point."There were people there telling us they literally hate us, and then other people would tell us that 'look, you guys have lost your way. You used to be, you know, much more reasonable, and you're listening far too much to those other people in your coalition'."Asked if she agreed with those comments, Weenink said "I wouldn't publicly agree with them, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with everything they said either."She said it was her opinion National got pulled too far to the right by its coalition partners. But she maintained Christopher Luxon was the right person to lead the party and that he was a strong enough leader to stop the pull to the right.Asked why National's party vote was so low, she said "New Zealand is getting quite fed up with with what seems to be a bit of bickering and fighting, and they just actually want to get on with the real issues."Asked if National was to blame for some of that bickering, she said "oh yeah, absolutely.""There'll be a bit of a review and a navel gazing after all of this."She wouldn't say if National had been too negative during the campaign.She also revealed that Opportunity approached her to stand as a candidate in Banks Peninsula for that party, which she said was "ridiculous."She said an Opportunity candidate in that race would have helped split the vote and potentially led to her victory, acknowledging that wasn't a resounding endorsement but said "it's not a resounding success anywhere is it?""It's a very divided, close electorate where there's only 2% difference in the party vote between National and Labour."She also said her constituents understood MMP, and voted for a Labour candidate to limit the overhang.