Socialist party leader Lilian Marijnissen has called for limits on the number of people coming to the Netherlands to work, saying it is big companies, not society, which are benefiting.

Writing in the populist Telegraaf, Marijnissen said there are some 800,000 arbeidsmigranten in the Netherlands and that there need to be more controls over who can come and live and work here. 

“At the moment people can come here from outside Europe as an ‘expat’ if they have a certain income and everyone from the EU can work here without any preconditions,” she wrote. “Many ‘expats’ get a tax break and this is driving housing rent up, particularly in the big cities.

“In normal neighbourhoods, affordable housing is being snapped up from under the noses of first-time buyers and stuffed full of workers from Eastern Europe who often end up paying a ridiculously high rent for a room.”

This “unregulated migration” is disrupting society and boosting the shortage of housing, she said. “This is why we want limits to migration.”

The SP parliamentarian said this should be done in three phases. Firstly, there should be a temporary stop on people coming to work in the Netherlands. Then legislation should be amended to make sure people are no longer exploited, and thirdly employers should need a permit to bring in people from outside to work. 

In particular, the EU should be “made aware” that the situation in the Netherlands is untenable and that means a temporary stop on free movement, she said. “We need to opt for fewer labour migrants and discuss what industry and economy we want for our country.” 

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Immigration is set to be a key issue in the November general election, and the coalition government fell over a failure to agree on limits to refugee family reunions. 

The SP won nine seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament in March 2021 but according to the polls, is set to lose two of those.

An unrepresentative poll of some 4,000 Telegraaf readers found that 79% say foreign workers are not needed in the Netherlands, with just 16% saying the current shortage of workers means they should be welcomed.