The presentation of the new government’s strategy at the end of October did not make it clear enough what an ‘unbelievably exasperating’ agreement it actually is, Labour leader Diederik Samsom told a television talk show on Tuesday evening.

More emphasis should have been placed on all the difficult measures which are needed to get the Netherlands back on track, Samsom told the Pauw & Witteman show.
But that aspect of the deal was overshadowed by his and VVD leader Mark Rutte’s pride they had been able to reach an agreement so quickly, Samsom said.
The agreement came unstuck shortly after its presentation when there were wide-ranging protests about the plan to make health insurance premiums income dependent. That idea has since been dropped.
Both the VVD and Labour have plunged in the opinion polls since agreeing to form a new government