The Dutch government has collapsed after Geert Wilders withdrew his far-right party from the governing coalition following a row over migration.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof confirmed he was stepping down on Tuesday, and is expected to offer the resignation of the cabinet to King Willem-Alexander before the end of the day.

In televised remarks following an emergency cabinet meeting, Schoof said Wilders’ decision to withdraw the support of his PVV party was “irresponsible and unnecessary”.

“As far as I’m concerned, this shouldn’t have happened,” he added.

The coalition had been formed less than a year ago.

Wilders had asked for 10 additional asylum measures, including a freeze on asylum applications, halting the construction of reception centres and limiting family reunification.

“No signature for our asylum plans. PVV leaves the coalition,” said Wilders on X.

Later on Tuesday Wilders told reporters that he intended to become prime minister of the Netherlands “and ensure that the PVV becomes bigger than ever in the next elections”.

With the Nato summit due to be held in the Hague at the end of the month, it is likely that Schoof’s ministers will remain in power in a caretaker capacity until a date is set for the Netherlands to return to the polls.

Schoof had made a last-minute appeal to coalition party leaders on Tuesday morning, but the meeting lasted just one minute before Wilders walked out, ending the coalition.

There was shock and anger among political leaders, many of whom pointed out that several of Wilders’ demands were similar to policies already in the coalition agreement, and that they would not stand in the PVV’s way to implement them.

Many of the additional proposals put forward by Wilders had been dismissed during coalition talks because of legal concerns.

Wilders’ decision has put an end to an uneasy governing coalition which was born in July 2024 after months of political wrangling following elections the previous year.

Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration, far-right PVV was the largest party. The other members – which are still technically in the coalition – are the conservative-liberal VVD, the Farmers’ Citizen Movement (BBB) and the centrist New Social Contract.

Wilders’ former coalition partners accused him of engineering the crisis. VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz said the move was “super irresponsible”, adding: “This wasn’t about asylum at all.”

“I think Wilders is betraying the Netherlands,” said deputy Prime Minister Mona Keijzer from the BBB.

The opposition Socialist Party said the country had been “liberated from a political hostage situation”, with leader Jimmy Dijk calling the governing coalition “four right-wing quarrelsome parties that achieve nothing”.

Sandra Phlippen, the chief economist for ABN AMRO bank, said the immediate economic impact of the cabinet’s collapse appeared minimal because during its 11 months in office the government had “barely made any concrete plans”.

Dutch media also appeared unimpressed with the developments, with newspaper NRC saying that the cabinet “that was supposed to stand up for the citizens was destroyed by amateurism and incompetence”.

Wilders wanted the government to collapse as the support for his Freedom Party continues to drop in the polls, according to Armida van Rij, the Head of the Europe Programme at Chatham House.

By toppling the coalition over the issue of asylum, it’s likely Wilders will put it at the centre of his upcoming election campaign.

However, given that his party had been responsible for asylum and immigration for almost a year, there are no guarantees that such a gamble will pay off.

Additional reporting by Anna Holligan in The Hague