The right-wing Dutch government is prepared to drop its plans to introduce higher fees for slow students and scrap schemes encouraging youngsters to do community work in order to get the education ministry’s budget for 2025 through parliament, RTL reported on Wednesday afternoon.

Some of the cuts to the special payments for teachers working in the big cities, on spending on religious education and on scientific research will also be sacrificed in order to win approval for the remaining plans in the upper house of parliament.

The cabinet wants to cut €2 billion from spending on education, much to the fury of opposition parties. Their support is needed to pass the plans in the senate, where the coalition is far short of a majority.

Talks have been going on between the coalition and some opposition party leaders for several days, in an effort to broker a deal.

The four coalition parties and five opposition parties (D66, the three religious parties and far-right JA21) are due to meet later on Wednesday again to discuss the latest offer, RTL said.  The coalition partners, RTL said, have made it clear that this is their final offer.

The concessions made to the opposition parties will reduce the amount generated by the cuts by some €600 million and as yet it is not clear how this will be covered.

Prime minister Dick Schoof last week urged the nine parties to come up with a “total package” to settle their difference over the budget in one go. “We cannot have the same discussion week in, week out,” he said in his weekly interview with NOS.

Opposition parties have already forced a climbdown on plans to raise VAT on culture, books, newspapers and sport.

An estimated 20,000 students, lecturers and other university and college staff took part in a demonstration in the centre of The Hague on Monday in protest at the government’s planned cuts to spending on education.