Parliamentary scout Ronald Plasterk wants the leaders of the four parties that could form a right-wing coalition to hold talks in pairs to try to break the deadlock over Geert Wilders’s anti-Islam policies.

Wilders and Caroline van der Plas, leader of the farmers’ party BBB, both supported the idea of discussing the parties’ differences in smaller groups as Plasterk began a second week of exploratory talks.

Dilan Yesilgöz, leader of the right-wing liberal VVD, and Pieter Omtzigt, of the new centre-right party NSC, have reservations about forming a coalition with PVV leader Wilders, who won 37 seats in the election on November 22.

Yesilgöz, whose party has 24 MPs, has said she will only support a Wilders-led minority government “from parliament”, indicating the VVD would not join the cabinet, while Omtzigt has ruled out starting coalition talks until Wilders gives clear guarantees he will respect the constitution.

The PVV’s election manifesto included a number of proposals, such as closing Islamic schools, banning the Koran and preventive detention for suspected jihadists, that breach fundamental rights enshrined in the Dutch constitution.

Wilders said during the campaign that he was prepared to put the plans into “cold storage” in order to work with other parties, but also said that restricting Islam in the Netherlands was in the PVV’s DNA.

Wilders “available”

Wilders emerged from a meeting with Plasterk on Monday to say he was “available to talk to everyone” as he tries to put together a working majority of 76 seats, either in a coalition or through confidence and supply deals.

“I’m hoping to hold a lot more talks this week with the scout and hopefully with my other colleagues, with a positive attitude,” he said. “Hopefully we will find a basis to take things further together.”

Van der Plas accused the VVD and NSC of putting the interests of their parties above the country and urged them to discuss their concerns with Wilders.

“I think you can’t ignore the two and a half million people who voted for the PVV,” she said.

“They’re not all racists; they’re people with concerns about the country, about their children, about the housing situation. I think you need to do the right thing by these people and sit down together.”

Yesilgöz: “Can’t wait”

Yesilgöz said she was eager to get started on negotiations, without specifying if the VVD was willing to change its position on taking part in the cabinet.

“I can’t wait to start negotiating,” she said. “And negotiating means playing our full part at the table.”

An opinion poll at the weekend by Maurice de Hond found that the PVV would win five more seats if an election were held today, while the VVD would lose one-third of theirs. One in six VVD voters is now planning to switch to the PVV.

The left-wing partnership of Labour (PvdA) and GroenLinks, led by Frans Timmermans, which has categorically ruled out power sharing with Wilders, would drop three seats to 22, while NSC would slip from 20 to 19.