Simon Bridges prepares for 'three strikes' law battle

National has held on to the Northcote seat, taking more than half the vote in Saturday's by-election. Dan Bidois beat the Labour candidate Shanan Halbert by 1300 votes well down on the more than Jonathan Coleman's 6000-plus majority in the general election. But the lower voter turnout meant the party pulled around the same percentage of the votes this time around - 52 percent. Flanked by senior National Party members, the new MP Dan Bidois celebrated his win at the Birkenhead Rugby Club.