Metiria Turei won't be resigning as co-leader of the Green Party after new admissions around her benefit fraud and lying to the Electoral Commission.
Instead she says she won't be seeking or accepting a ministerial position in any Labour-Green government.
Ms Turei, who had her heart set on becoming Social Development Minister if the Greens helped form government, was accompanied by co-leader James Shaw for her announcement on Friday.
It comes three weeks after she admitted committing benefit fraud in the 1990s, by lying about having flatmates while she was an unemployed solo mum and law student.
On Thursday night came a new admission that her mother was one of those flatmates - though she maintains they were financially independent - as well as a confession that she registered to vote at a false address in 1993 so she could vote for her friend who was a candidate in Mount Albert.
Ms Turei admitted she had considered resigning but said she had the support of colleagues and constituents to stay on.
Former Labour leader Andrew Little made the same admission before he resigned this week, but Ms Turei said she had zero intention of quitting.
She decided on Friday morning to instead to give up the possibility of becoming a minister in September.
"I would very much liked to have been a minister in the new government," she said.
She acknowledged it put Labour in a difficult position and the Labour Party had expressed concerns with her.
But ending poverty had been her top goal in parliament and remaining an MP was the best way to do that, she said.
Mr Shaw said he never asked for Ms Turei's resignation and supported her as co- leader.
He didn't perceive any more difficulty in the relationship with Labour now than several weeks ago.
He said he had close personal relationships with Labour leader Jacinda Ardern and finance spokesman Grant Robertson.
Ms Turei again maintained she had no regrets over coming forward with her confession and would not apologise for doing what she did to ensure her daughter was fed.
SEE ALSO: 'She's a liar': Christine Rankin says Metiria Turei should quit, face prosecution
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