The new cabinet should prioritise health and care for the elderly, according to the latest public opinion survey by the Netherlands Institute for Social Research, the SCP.

The SCP, which conducts four polls a year on social issues, said 45% of people spontaneously mentioned these topics when asked what should top the political agenda.

Further down the list were immigration and integration (raised by 31%), the economy and differences in incomes, and education.

Josje den Ridder, spokesperson for the SCP, told NOS broadcaster: ‘Forty-five percent of respondents put [health and social] care in first place. You must take good care of old people, but is this well organised and do older people still get lonely?’

Respondents were less worried about the economy, but more concerned about disparities in income, while 52% did not feel unsafe in the country (and 42% did).

However, almost two-thirds thought future generations will have a worse time of it. ‘They say that things are okay for them now, but that they were better in the past, and it will only get worse,’ she reportedly added.