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Labour’s lead in the UK election is holding steady as the Tories deal with a scandal. 

The party has admitted that their campaign head, Tony Lee, placed bets on the timing of the vote, allegedly just days before Sunak went public. 

The BBC revealed that Tory candidate Laura Sanders, wife of Lee, is also being investigated by Britain’s Gambling Commission. 

UK Correspondent Vincent McAviney told Mike Hosking that it’s a huge scandal that these people have seemingly used insider information to infringe the UK’s betting laws. 

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New Zealand's officially out of a technical recession but may not be out of the woods. 

Stats NZ figures show GDP rose 0.2% in the three months to March and the same amount for the year. 

However, per capita GDP decreased by 0.3%. 

Infometrics Chief Economist Brad Olsen told Mike Hosking that the numbers are not looking promising for Q2. 

He said that some of the important pieces of the business economy haven’t been doing as well —construction, non-food manufacturing, professional services— which doesn’t bode well for general economic momentum. 

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Tomorrow’s Super Rugby Final is set to be an intense match. 

The Blues face off against the Chiefs at a sold-out Eden Park, kicking off just after 7pm.  

ZB’s Rugby Commentator Elliott Smith told Mike Hosking that the Chiefs have come out of nowhere in the last couple weeks. 

The Blues were expected to face the Hurricanes in the finals, the Chiefs entering the playoffs sitting fourth on the table.  

He said they’ve stepped up not just one or two levels, but, to use a sporting cliché, they seem to have gone up and grown an extra leg, finding their feet and swept away the hurricanes on their home turf. 

“It sets up an interesting final.” 

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A Northland business leader says the large power outage will significantly impact business.  

Widespread power outages began yesterday morning when a transmission tower toppled at Glorit, northwest of Auckland. 

NorthPower says supply has since been restored to the majority of Northland. 

Top Energy is showing 61 customers in Bay of Islands still without but warns there's potential for further outages as they manage load restrictions.  

North Chamber chief executive Darryn Fisher told Mike Hosking that the business impact isn't yet known, but he expects it'll be significant with economic head winds already at play. 

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Freight operators are thrilled they can deliver goods to Northland a lot faster from next week. 

State Highway 1 over the Brynderwyns will reopen to two-way traffic from 11.59pm next Wednesday, just in time for Matariki weekend. 

The Transport Agency says additional space has been created so crews can work on repairs without lengthy closures. 

James Smith, General Manager of Policy and Advocacy at the National Road Carriers Association, told Mike Hosking that it's important to note that this repair only gives them another seven years of the Brynderwyns, and then the whole lots coming down. 

He said that what they're saying is that while that fix is in place, let's get on with building the diversion as fast as they can, because if the previous government had continued with it, it would’ve been just about done by this point. 

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We'll know later today whether New Zealand was in a technical recession last financial quarter.

Gross Domestic Product figures for the three months to March are released later this morning.

ASB is forecasting a 0.1% rise.

Senior economist Kim Mundy told Mike Hosking that they're not expecting another recession, but neither are they expecting strong growth.

She says they think the second quarter will actually be worse.

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