Dutch PM and Cabinet quit over child welfare payments scandal

Mark Rutte (Peter Dejong/AP)

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and his entire Cabinet resigned to take political responsibility for a scandal involving investigations into child welfare payments that wrongly labelled thousands of parents as fraudsters.

In a nationally televised speech, Mr Rutte said he had informed King Willem-Alexander of his decision and pledged that his government would continue work to compensate affected parents as quickly as possible and to battle the coronavirus.