Metiria Turei resigns as Greens co-leader

Metiria Turei has resigned as co-leader of the Green Party.

She quit just hours after being briefed on a new poll which showed support for her party cratering, and shortly after she refused to answer a new allegation from RNZ that she received substantial support from her daughter's grandparents during her time as a self-confessed beneficiary fraudster.

James Shaw will be the sole leader for the election and the party will select a new female co-leader at a general meeting.

Previously, Mrs Turei said she would not resign over her admission of defrauding Winz and would stay on as co-leader until the election.

However, opinion poll results out tonight show a dramatic collapse of party support following the crisis at the Green Party after her admissions.

“Resigning as co-leader is my decision. The party did not ask me to resign and as recently as last night the executive gave me a vote of confidence,” Mrs Turei says.She says questions being asked about her family influenced her decision. "It was the best thing for my party, for my family."

Mrs Turei will no longer be on the Green Party list but will campaign for the party vote only in Te Tai Tonga (the South Island and parts of Wellington).

Her resignation as co-leader comes after Green MPs Kennedy Graham and David Clendon withdrew from the party caucus because they would not stand while Metiria Turei remained as co-leader.

Mr Shaw says the pair won’t be returning.

Facing reporters in Parliament, Mrs Turei stressed she was not asked to resign but stood down on her own accord.

“It was not about others; it was about me deciding this was in the best interests of my party and my family.

“One of the questions being asked is whether my daughter lived with me at all.”

A week ago she denied she was living with the father of her daughter in the early 1990s after it was revealed they were listed at the same address on the electoral role.

That followed her controversial admission that she lied about the number of flatmates she had while on the benefit.

RNZ is reporting it was working on a story asserting Mrs Turei had received significant support from her daughter's grandparents during the period in which she was on the DPB.

The accusations were emailed to Metiria Turei so she could respond.

However, the Greens have been in meltdown anyway as a new poll out this evening shows.