Geert Wilders and Rita Verdonk are deceiving their supporters with their populist and unworkable solutions, says Liberal (VVD) party leader Mark Rutte in an opinion piece in Tuesday’s Volkskrant.

These leaders of the ‘new politics’ are guilty of cheap rhetoric by ignoring the law in their solutions, he says.
Wilders is the leader of the anti-immigration party PVV and Verdonk set up her own movement, Trots op Nederland (proud of the Netherlands) after being thrown out of the Liberal party earlier this year.
In the future voters will have to choose between a smooth presentation and a well-thought out reform process, says Rutte. ‘Anyone who thinks he can change the world with a few sound-bites deceives not just the voters but himself too,’ he adds.
The Liberal leader believes that lively debate encourages the recruitment of new talent and says that without new blood and new ideas, ‘new politics’ will be over- dependent on a single strong personality.
His comments come a week after the veteran Liberal politician Hans Wiegel suggested merging the VVD, PVV and Trots op Nederland – a proposal which was sharply criticised by Liberal party leaders.