Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has criticised what he calls the ‘big fat me mentality’ in the Netherlands in a speech to VVD supporters.

Rutte told a party gathering in Arnhem on Friday evening he did not want to live in a society in which people think they can do what they like and still have the right to all sorts of services. The values of the ‘hard working Dutchman’ should be central in society, Rutte said.

‘In such a society, you take care of yourself and you give to another,’ he said. ‘You treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself.’

In particular, Rutte condemned the ‘loutishness and egoism’ exhibited at institutions supported by the taxpayer, such as housing corporations, schools and banks.

‘I get so irritated by bankers who say they need to be paid more because they can earn so much more abroad,’ he said. ‘Then I think, “off you go to London then, cheerio”.’

Rutte also criticised the way people denigrate teachers, police officers and soldiers. ‘I don’t understand why parents get so angry if their child comes home with an extra assignment as punishment,’ Rutte, who still teaches at a vmbo school in The Hague once a week, said.