There was uproar towards the end of debate in the new-look lower house of parliament on Wednesday evening when VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz proposed a motion asking the senate to delay its own debate on legislation to spread refugees around the country. 

In effect, Yesilgöz as an MP was asking the senate to stop legislation that Yesilgöz as justice minister had backed in cabinet and which was devised by her own junior minister, from the VVD. 

Her motion was backed by the three other parties currently in talks on forming a new right-wing cabinet in the Netherlands – the far-right PVV, the pro-countryside BBB and Pieter Omtzigt’s new party NSC. 

The legislation to make sure all local authorities take their fair share of refugees does not fit with the current make-up of the lower house, Yesilgöz said. “There is a new majority and this motion is part of that,” she said. 

Other parties were astonished by the move, which pitted the parties in the outgoing coalition against each other. Even SGP leader Chris Stoffer, who opposes the legislation, said he would vote against the motion because it contravened the rule of law. 

The lower house and the senate operate independently and such an intervention is extremely rare. The senate is due to debate the legislation on January 16. 

Caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte wrote to parliament later in the evening saying the cabinet backed the plan to spread refugees around the country and that it recommended against adopting the motion. It is up to the senate to decide its own agenda and whether legislation should be adopted or not, he told MPs.

Jaap Velema, the mayor of Ter Apel where the country’s refugee reception centre is struggling to cope, said the decision by the likely new coalition was disappointing. “Setting aside the discussion about how many people we let in, we have to make sure that those who do come here are properly looked after,” he said. 

Political leaders have abandoned us, he said. “They should be taking responsibility.”

Earlier in the debate, MPs had backed Geert Wilders’ suggestion that Ronald Plasterk lead the next round of coalition talks. They also backed calls to scrap the own risk element in healthcare “when possible”.