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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Labour leader Chris Hipkins will square off again in Question Time today as the two party leaders suffer declines in popularity according to the latest poll.

In yesterday’s 1��һ�ǿ�����-Verian poll, Luxon was on 25% as preferred Prime Minister while Hipkins was at 15% – both down three percentage points on the last poll.

Their respective parties had also dropped one point from the August poll with National on 37% and Labour on 29%. The Green Party was at 12%, Act 8%, NZ First 5% and Te Pāti Māori 4%.

Luxon told 1��һ�ǿ����� it was a “really tough time” for Kiwis but the Government was focused on delivering for New Zealanders.

“We’re making tough decisions, we’re also moving at an incredible pace. There’s encouraging signs, we’ve seen some good recent progress around interest rates, around inflation falling, but importantly we’re also seeing people saying they’re confident about the future and the direction that we’re going.”

On the preferred Prime Minister results, he said he was not focused on polls but working for New Zealanders because the country had “fantastic potential”.

Chris Hipkins – who spent two weeks overseas in the United Kingdom earlier this month – said he was not too worried about his preferred Prime Minister ranking at this point in the electoral cycle.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins will be interrogating PM Christopher Luxon during Question Time today. Photo / Marty Melville

He said in all of the publicly available polls Labour was up on its election night result, although they did “bounce around” from month to month.

Today’s Question Time was the first since September following a two-week recess block.

Hipkins, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick were all listed as having questions for Luxon.

Labour also appeared keen to continue scrutinising NZ First Minister Casey Costello over her endorsement of heated tobacco products to help with smoking cessation. Labour health spokeswoman Dr Ayesha Verrall was set to ask Costello about it.

Labour is likely to criticise Costello for how she welcomed the use of the products at the same time as almost all products having to be pulled from shelves due to the implementation of new regulations that were conceived under the previous Labour Government and continued by the current Government.

Costello has said she believed the market would respond and more products would become available. The Government had set aside $216m to pay for a reduction in excise tax on such products.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for ��һ�ǿ����� since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.