Mark Rutte admits mistakes in tv interview, but won't 'do everything differently' [_link]

— DutchNews.NL (@DutchNewsNL) May 11, 2021

Kim Putters, head of the socio-cultural planning agency SCP, said the new cabinet should prioritise restoring trust in politics in the wake of the child benefits scandal that prompted the last government's resignation.

'People's trust in the political system is under pressure,' said Putters, adding that politicians needed to show that they were `taking people's concerns seriously'.

His words were echoed by national ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen, who warned in 2017 that the tax office's overzealous pursuit of families suspected of defrauding the child benefit system was causing serious hardship and injustice.

Van Zutphen said: 'When I speak to people they don't distinguish much between the political world, a government agency or a department. To the ordinary citizen it's all the government, and they're the ones who have to change their behaviour.'