'Labour did not win the last election': Mark Richardson unleashes on 'ineffective' Government

Mark Richardson has ripped into the Government, blasting them as "ineffective" ahead of September's general election.

On Tuesday, the Government announced the general election will take place on September 19 - where New Zealanders will be voting for their electorate candidate and their favourite political party.

It will be Jacinda Ardern v Simon Bridges - with Ardern campaigning to get her Government back in for a second term.

Discussing the election on The AM Show on Wednesday, Richardson aimed at the Government, saying the Labour Party, in particular, doesn't have much to campaign on.

"The shocking truth is, you could argue, that it's been the Green Party who aren't even really in the Government who have achieved the most.

"What can this current Government really campaign on? It has been arguably the most ineffective Government this country's ever had."

Richardson said when "the world crashed" under the previous National Government, "we did brilliantly.

"Labour did not win the last election - they were placed into Government by a coalition," he said.   

"They were not elected to Government, they were placed there by a man who puts his own personal grievances ahead of the country."

The AM Show host Duncan Garner said Labour technically did win the election because it was successful in its negotiations with New Zealand First, and newsreader Amanda Gillies agreed.

Gillies said New Zealand was doing "okay".

"They've made it work - Winston and Jacinda have made it work," Garner said.