Rita Verdonk, the outspoken former integration minister who was expelled from the free market Liberal party (VVD) last week, is to remain in parliament.

Verdonk told tv programme EenVandaag that she would not relinquish her seat, nor would she give up her membership of the party.
Verdonk, who said she will not take part in next week’s debate on the budget, said she would focus her attention on traffic congestion. ‘If I had been minister of transport, the jams would have been a lot shorter,’ she said.
VVD leader Mark Rutte said Verdonk’s decision to form her own political grouping combined with her refusal to leave the party was a ‘contorted construction’. Party chairman Jan van Zanen said the VVD board would now decide how to proceed.