The Dutch cabinet has resigned following the release of a reporting condemning the government for its role in a child care benefits scandal.
This 2017 photo shows Prime Minister Mark Rute, center left, and Dutch King Willem-Alexander, center, posing with ministers on the steps of Royal Palace Noordeinde in The Hague, Netherlands. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) The Dutch government offered its resignation to the king on Friday after a report detailed its role in a 2019 scandal over the mismanagement of child care subsidies.
“Innocent people have been criminalized, their lives have been destroyed and Parliament has been incorrectly and incompletely informed about this,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a press conference following the announcement.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his entire Cabinet resigned Friday to take political responsibility for a scandal involving investigations into child welfare payments that wrongly labelled thousands of parents as fraudsters.
In a nationally televised speech, Rutte said he had informed King Willem-Alexander of his decision and pledged that his government would continue work to compensate affected parents as quickly as possible and to battle the coronavirus. We are of one mind that if the whole system has failed, we all must take responsibility, and that has led to the conclusion that I have just offered the king, the resignation of the entire Cabinet, Rutte said.
Smug Brexit-bashing Dutch PM Mark Rutte forced to QUIT along with entire cabinet over child benefit scandal
Dan Keane
Updated: 16 Jan 2021, 0:40
BREXIT-bashing Dutch PM Mark Rutte has been forced to resign over a childcare benefit scandal.
Mr Rutte, an outspoken critic of Britain’s choice to leave the EU, stepped down after thousands of parents in the Netherlands were wrongly accused of child benefit fraud.
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All four parties in the ruling coalition resigned after accepting responsibility for the scandal (Pictured is the Cabinet alongside Dutch King Willem-Alexander, centre, in 2017)Credit: AP:Associated Press
All four parties in the ruling coalition resigned after accepting responsibility for the scandal, though the government will remain in a caretaker capacity to manage the coronavirus crisis.
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