Dutch MPs are on Tuesday afternoon debating what can be done to cut the cost of living in the Netherlands, with almost every party agreeing that the government needs to take action to help the middle class.

On Monday, national statistics agency CBS said inflation had hit 3.8%, with food costs rising in particular, and economists expect little change in the coming months.

On Tuesday morning, GroenLinks-PvdA published their “emergency plan” a month after the ruling VVD launched its own plan to help the Dutch middle class.

“The most important thing we are proposing is making sure people get more take-home pay,” GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans said. “We want to continue to link social security benefits with pay rises.” The party also wants the minimum wage to rise to €16.

The party continues to call for a rent freeze, the reintroduction of a price ceiling for energy bills, the reversal of cuts in spending on childcare, and potentially freezing public transport prices.

It puts the total cost of its package of measures at €4.7 billion and wants to pay for it via an extra tax on banks, more measures to combat tax evasion, and a tax on real estate speculation to stop landowners from holding onto land. Multinationals should also face higher taxes, the party says.

The VVD published its plans at the end of January. It aims to spend €1 billion to ensure that it is cost-effective to work and to work longer hours. It wants to reduce the tax on energy and increase childcare benefits for people on average incomes. Some of the cost of this would be covered by further reductions in development aid.

The party also wants it enshrined in law that people in work always benefit more from higher wages than those who do not. This, party leader Dilan Yesilgöz said at the launch in January, would mean that “working people are always number one and that working in the Netherlands is rewarded.”

Far-right leader Geert Wilders has called for rent and energy bill cuts, as well as a reduction in value-added tax on groceries, while coalition party NSC wants to cut tax on gas and introduce a maximum fee for childcare. The measures would be paid for by further limits to the 30% ruling, a five-year tax break for some high-earning foreign workers.

In parallel to the cost of living talks, ministers are also working out the details of the government’s spring financial statement, which is due to be finalised by 11 April.

“Parties agree about the problems – something has to be done about rising prices in the Netherlands,” said RTL correspondent Fons Lambie. “But they don’t agree about the solutions.”

While it is logical that the parties are now presenting their own plans, the cabinet is faltering, and the raft of suggestions could also be seen as a preview of a potential election campaign, he said. “It is a way of making clear what your party stands for.”