The parliamentary groups of the four parties who will form the next Dutch coalition government have all given the stamp of approval to the political programme for the next 3.5 years, the party leaders said.

The right-wing Liberal VVD was the last of the four to sanction the new coalition agreement, which is likely to be presented later on Tuesday.

It has also emerged that prime minister Mark Rutte is the only one of the four party leaders who will be part of the cabinet. D66’s Alexander Pechtold, Gert-Jan Segers of ChristenUnie and Sybrand Buma will all remain in the lower house of parliament, where the new coalition has a majority of just one, in order to maintain party discipline.

‘A new parliamentary party leader might not have the authority to control potential dissidents. The motto of the new government is ‘Trust in the future’, but the architects of Rutte III do not have that much trust in their own parties,’ the Volkskrant said in its analysis.