Dutch justice minister survives no-confidence vote over police figures

Dutch Justice and Security Minister David van Weel survived a no-confidence motion on 24 September 2026 after apologising over his presentation of police crime figures. Only the PVV and Forum for Democracy (FVD) supported the motion, which followed accusations that he had misled MPs about serious crimes left uninvestigated. [1] [2]

The dispute centres on a Court of Audit report published in June. According to the Dutch House of Representatives’ account of its findings, police did not pursue or complete investigations into more than 10,000 serious-crime cases in 2024, including violent and sexual offences. About 7,000 were rejected immediately; around 3,000 were initially taken up but later shelved because of insufficient capacity. [1]

DutchNews reported that Van Weel told parliament in June that more than half the cases cited were reports of crimes rather than formal complaints. The Court of Audit subsequently put that share at only 10% — a discrepancy raised by MPs during the debate. [1] [2]

Van Weel acknowledged that he had given parliament the wrong impression. He denied knowingly misinforming MPs and said he had not intended to downplay the audit’s findings. DutchNews reported that he offered a second, stronger apology before the vote. [1] [2]

JA21 MP Ingrid Coenradie said MPs had seen a change in his attitude at the last minute and would have preferred that approach from the outset, DutchNews reported. [2]

The debate also exposed a disagreement over how investigative priorities should be assessed. The auditors used a Crime Harm Index to examine whether priorities matched the offences causing the greatest societal harm. Van Weel rejected that index as the right starting point for investigations. He said matching police and prosecution data to the audit findings had proved difficult, but acknowledged that more should have been done to resolve differences over interpreting the figures. [1]