Wilders fails to form far-right Dutch coalition

The Freedom Party, known by its Dutch acronym PVV, emerged as the largest party in Almere after local elections on March 3.

Among Mr Wilders' policies for the town were major tax cuts, a ban on Muslim headscarves in public places, a ban on new mosques and the deployment of "street commandos" to crack down on street crime.

Emerging from coalition talks, Almere Labour Party leader Alphons Muurlink said that the PVV was "the most spendthrift party I have ever seen," and had no idea how to fund its divisive programme.

Mr Muurlink said that Mr Wilders' party had showed no desire to negotiate about forming a coalition and appeared happy to wind up in opposition.

And in The Hague, where the PVV came second, the Labour Party, which won the election, refused to even talk about joining forces, saying that there was an "unbridgeable chasm" between its social democratic ideology and Mr Wilder's populist bile.

The PVV claimed that it was being forced to stay in the opposition through "the manoeuvring of the political elite."

But political analyst Andre Krouwel of Amsterdam's Free University laughed at the suggestion that Mr Wilders' party ever seriously wanted to accept responsibility for governing Almere.

"They had half-hour talks with all the parties without actually discussing policies," Mr Krouwel said.

"The PVV has no intention of sitting in City Hall - that would make them very vulnerable because it would mean that they would have to negotiate and compromise and they are not prepared to do that."