2026.browncow.co.nz Aotearoa New Zealand

United Future — 2026 Election Research Report

Prepared 31 October 2026. Finding: United Future is NOT contesting the 2026 election. The party was dissolved on 14 November 2017 and formally de-registered on 28 February 2018 at its own request. The premise in the tasking ("Simeon Brown was last reported leader") is false — see verification below. No 2026 policies exist to score; this report documents the verified state of affairs so the meta-bot can treat United Future as a non-entity for the party vote.

1. Party snapshot

2. Key policies & feasibility

The party has no 2026 policy platform — it has no candidates, no party list, and is not registered. No policy can be scored against the 2026 constraints (1–7) because there is no party to adopt them. For completeness, the party's last flagship policies (pre-dissolution) are listed and scored NS (unscoreable — not a live 2026 proposal):

  1. Flexi-Super — let members choose when to draw down KiwiSaver (announced 2013–14) — feasibility: NS — moot; party dissolved before implementation; no 2026 sponsor.
  2. Income-sharing tax — married couples taxed on combined family income (2014 manifesto) — feasibility: NS — no live proposal; would have been technically fundable (near revenue-neutral) but has no proponent in 2026.
  3. No-fees tertiary education (abolish tuition fees and student allowances; 2014) — feasibility: NS — moot; 2014 independent costings put it at ~$1.9bn over three years, far beyond constraint 1 (no fiscal space).
  4. Ngārua Gorge Tunnel (Wellington) (2014 manifesto) — feasibility: NS — moot; 2014 costings ~$2.66bn, and constraint 2 (debt trajectory, 4.8% 10-yr yields) would make a new toll tunnel unfinanceable anyway.
  5. Core environmental bottom lines / native-forest carbon sinks (2016–17) — feasibility: NS — moot; no party to carry it.

Sources for the historical policy record: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/252409/united-future-releases-election-manifesto, https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/bribe_o_meter_united_future, https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1610/S00334/environmental-report-in-line-with-unitedfuture-policy.htm

3. Overall feasibility verdict

There is no 2026 United Future policy platform to assess; every candidate policy in the party's history scores NS because the party has not existed since 2017 and cannot be a party-vote option on 7 November 2026. Most feasible: none (no live policies). Least feasible: none (no live policies). The meta-bot should exclude United Future from all coalition-scenario and party-vote modelling.

4. Democratic-stability note

Nothing for 2026: the party is deregistered and poses no governance risk. If anything, its history is a case study in a healthy MMP system — a sub-threshold party voluntarily wound itself up, was formally de-registered, and its founder transitioned to media commentary without disruption. Its old kingmaker role (2008–17) is gone; no stable-democracy implication flows from it.

5. Young-people outlook note

None for 2026 — the party offers no policies, candidates or vote option for 18–30s. Its only historically youth-relevant ideas (no-fees tertiary, flexi-super at age of choice) are dead, and the no-fees plan would have been among the least feasible options given constraint 1 (fiscal space nearly gone) and constraint 3 (monetary tightening). Young voters looking for that centrist-liberal space should look to whichever registered parties field such platforms in 2026 (e.g. ACT, Opportunity, National on KiwiSaver/first-home policies).

Sources

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Future — dissolved 14 Nov 2017; de-registered 28 Feb 2018; leaders Dunne (2000–2017), Light (2017); 2017 vote 0.1%
  2. https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2018/amendments-to-the-register-of-political-parties-28-february-2018 — Electoral Commission cancellation of United Future's registration
  3. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/343759/united-future-to-disband — RNZ on the disbandment decision (Light: cannot reach 5%)
  4. https://www.1news.co.nz/2017/11/13/united-future-party-to-disband-due-to-falling-vote-numbers-extremely-proud-of-what-weve-achieved/
  5. https://www.1news.co.nz/2017/11/14/united-futures-demise-sad-but-understandable-peter-dunne/ — 0.1% 2017 vote; Dunne "sad but understandable"
  6. https://elections.nz/assets/pagecomponent-file-files/Register-of-Political-Parties-and-Logos-29-September-2026.pdf — 17 registered parties as at 29 Sep 2026; no United Future
  7. https://www.times.co.nz/homepage-top-section/party-candidate-and-list-nominations-confirmed/ — 17 parties/530 candidates for 2026; alphabetical list without United Future
  8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_New_Zealand — registered parties outside Parliament (no United Future)
  9. https://vote.nz/assets/pagecomponent-file-files/Party-lists-for-the-2026-General-Election.pdf — official 2026 party lists; no United Future
  10. https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/08-04-2026/why-simeon-brown-was-handed-the-reins-of-nationals-election-campaign — Brown is National's campaign chair
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeon_Brown — National MP, Pakuranga; Minister of Health; regained energy portfolio Apr 2026
  12. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics_election-2026/2090974/we-ve-got-to-do-things-differently-goldsmith-makes-his-plea-at-lively-epsom-debate — Goldsmith is National's Epsom candidate
  13. https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-sunday-session/audio/peter-dunne-former-minister-and-commentator-on-the-start-of-the-election-billboards-and-hoardings-going-up-and-what-it-means-for-the-campaign/ — Dunne "former United Future leader" (Sep 2026)
  14. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/252409/united-future-releases-election-manifesto — 2014 manifesto (income-sharing, flexi-super)
  15. https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/bribe_o_meter_united_future — 2014 independent manifesto costings
  16. https://www.economicnews.nz/article/independent-assessment-party-spending-plans-fiscal-farce — Dunne as "former United Future leader" (Jun 2026)

Graph: skipped — no live policies to chart.

This page changes only when the overnight check finds something material; every change is footnoted with its reason in the update log. Sources for every claim are on this page.