Prime minister Dick Schoof has attacked Geert Wilders’ decision to pull the far-right PVV party out of the Dutch government after 11 months as “irresponsible and unnecessary”.

The prime minister’s disappointment was clear during a short press conference at which he confirmed he would be tending his cabinet’s resignation to king Willem-Alexander later on Tuesday.

Schoof said he had tried to persuade Wilders not to withdraw his ministers from the four-party coalition, but without success. “The rest of the cabinet will continue in a caretaker capacity,” he said.

He added that he and the three remaining parties – the right-wing liberal VVD, centre-right NSC and farmers’ party BBB – would continue to try to implement the policies in the coalition agreement until a new cabinet is formed. Despite speculation that some PVV ministers may stay on, all have decided to go.

“The task this cabinet was given at the start was to tackle questions about housing, the cost of living, security, migration and nitrogen,” he said.

New elections will follow, but Schoof did not indicate a date and NSC leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven speculated that they may not take place until the early months of next year.

However, VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz said she favoured holding elections as soon as possible. “The country needs clarity and a strong cabinet. Voters must be allowed to have their say about which way the country should go,” she said.

Wilders aims for PM

Wilders joined the calls for an early poll and said his party would come back stronger. “My aim is to become prime minister of the Netherlands next time and ensure that the PVV becomes bigger than ever at the next election.”

Opposition parties such as GroenLinks-PvdA and the centre-right CDA also favour an autumn election, where they will hope to make gains.

The latest Peilingwijzer poll of polls puts the PVV and VVD neck-and-neck with just under 20% of the vote, with GL-PvdA just behind.

The CDA is predicted to treble the five seats it won in 2023, mostly at the expense of NSC and BBB, both of which broke away from the Christian Democrats in recent years. The latter two parties are predicted to be reduced to one or two seats each.