The Dutch Labour Party has come under fire from its opponents, who claim the cutbacks proposed in its election manifesto don’t go far enough.

In the run-up to the 9 June election, the Labour Party is currently ahead in the polls. It is the latest party to set out its scenario for government cutbacks over the next four years. The party’s manifesto launched on Wednesday proposes cuts totalling 20 billion euros.

But according to the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, the next government will need to make saving of 29 billion euros in order to pay off the country’s massive national debt in the wake of the economic crisis.

Steady
The Labour Party’s new leader Job Cohen has warned against too radical cuts that could wreck the economy. Since Mr Cohen took the helm last month, Labour has surged in the polls. His supporters see him as a steady hand in times of crisis, with the capacity to bring together an increasingly polarised society.

But Labour’s critics in the Christian Democrat party and conservative VVD, currently trailing second and third in the polls, say Labour is simply putting off making tough choices, and passing on the problem to a future cabinet. According to the Labour Party programme, the extra nine billion euros in savings will have to wait till the following term of government. The VVD describes Labour's plans as “irresponsible”, and the Christian Democrats accuse Labour of handing the bill for the crisis to middle-income households.

Hot potatoes
Labour’s key cutbacks would include two political hot potatoes. The party would raise the retirement age to 67, a plan already agreed by the last cabinet, but now up in the air again until after the election. At the same time it would gradually wind down the Netherlands’ generous mortgage interest tax relief – a move that has always been fiercely opposed by both the Christian Democrats and the VVD.

The Labour manifesto also proposes an eight percent hike in the tax band for incomes above 150,000 euros, bringing it to a hefty 60 percent. The party also wants to replace student grants with a loan system, on the basis that unskilled workers now subsidise the education of wealthy professionals.

As well as cuts, Labour also sees pay restraint as a tool to tackle the budget deficit – in the Netherlands, trade unions and employers are tellingly termed “social partners”. Labour leader Job Cohen says he would like to see a repeat of the historic 1982 ‘Wassenaar agreement’ on pay restraint, which helped rein in soaring unemployment and put the economy back on its feet.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide