‘Dutch Donald Trump’ has setback in talks to form new coalition

‘New Social Contract party is throwing in the towel while we were still in talks. I don’t get it at all’

‘I’ve noticed that the negotiators have been saying more mean things about each other than nice things’

GEERT WILDERS’ hopes of becoming prime minister took an “incredibly disappointing” blow after talks to form a new coalition government in the Netherlands collapsed.

Pieter Omtzigt, leader of the “radical centrist” New Social Contract (NSC) party, walked out of the negotiations blaming a row over public finances on Tuesday night.

“Incredibly disappointing,” Mr Wilders, who has been called the “Dutch Donald Trump”, wrote on social media after it became clear his party could not form a majority government.

“The Netherlands wants this cabinet and now Pieter Omtzigt is throwing in the towel while we were still in talks until today. I don’t get it at all,” he added.

Mr Wilders, a veteran firebrand infamous for his fiercely anti-islam rhetoric, won a shock landslide victory in November’s snap general election.

The Nexit-backing nationalist has struggled to form alliances with establishment parties in the months since his anti-migrant Freedom Party (PVV) won the election. Support for the party is soaring despite the deadlock, with one poll showing it winning a staggering third of all available seats in the 150-seat Dutch parliament.

Mr Wilders had previously clashed with Mr Omtzigt, a popular centre-right politician and anti-corruption campaigner, over his own manifesto.

It called for a referendum on Dutch membership of the EU, questioned climate change, and called for the Koran and Islamic schools to be banned, stances which Mr Wilders has since distanced himself from.

The Netherlands needs to f i nd about €17 billion (£14.5 billion) in spending cuts, but Mr Wilders has instead promised tax cuts and no big reductions in spending.

That infuriated the fiscally prudent Mr Omtzigt, whose party said it would not make “empty promises that cannot be kept” to the Dutch people

Mr Wilders was locked in coalition talks with the liberal and pro-business VVD, the farmers’ party BBB and the New Social Contract party.

“It has not gone unnoticed by me that the negotiators have been saying more mean things about each other than nice things,” Mr Omtzigt said. The NSC said it was “finished” with this round of coalition talks, making it impossible as it stands for Mr Wilders to hold a majority.

It said it would remain “constructive” in talks over forming a government, but appeared to rule out serving in a majority cabinet with Mr Wilders, which would mean lending its support outside the coalition.

Dilan Yesilgoz, the leader of the centre-right VVD, said: “I am very surprised. We were having constructive talks, even today.”