Prominent SP member Renske Leijten (44) is stepping down as a Member of Parliament. Leijten announced this on Saturday afternoon at the party council, the highest body of the socialist party.
Leijten: ,,After almost 17 years in the Lower House, it is enough. This certainly does not mean that I will stop as an SP member, but for me democracy is no longer in the House of Representatives or in political The Hague. It is now time for me to step out of the bubble in The Hague and engage in our democracy in a different way.”
In the House of Representatives, Leijten has spent years promoting good care, democracy, the referendum and has been an important link in exposing the benefits scandal, together with Member of Parliament Pieter Omtzigt.
“I certainly look back with pride on my time as a Member of Parliament,” says Leijten. ,, SP actions led to the adoption of the first two laws of the SP, against wage dumping in home care and to prevent tenders in home care. I am also proud that we have been able to prevent market forces and tenders in ambulance care.”
More than 140,000 preferential votes
Since 30 November 2006, Renske Leijten has been a member of the SP’s parliamentary group. She was previously chairman of ROOD, the youth organization of the SP. The fame she gained with the benefits affair earned her more than 140,000 preferential votes in the 2021 elections.
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The SP is ‘incredibly grateful’ to Renske Leijten for all the years she has devoted herself to as a Member of Parliament, the party’s website states. SP leader Marijnissen: ,, Politicians do not need less Renske Leijtens, but more. Fortunately, she remains active in the SP, but we will miss her terribly in The Hague.”
‘so grateful’
Benefit parents have also been affected by her departure. It is a sign of Leijten that before announcing her departure in the morning she already called Kristie Rongen, the victim of the benefits affair, to inform her. ,,Although I already knew it, I now see all the push messages about Renske’s departure with tears in my eyes,” says Rongen. “She was the very first to stand up for us. We wouldn’t have been anywhere without Renske. We are still in trouble now, but at least what happened to us as parents is now out in the open. I am so grateful to her and Pieter Omtzigt for that. Perhaps it will be able to mean even more outside the House of Representatives later on. But anyway: out of sight certainly does not mean out of mind. I am making something for Renske, when I am in The Hague on Tuesday I will hand it over.”
Leijten will officially say goodbye to the House of Representatives on Tuesday 4 July. On Wednesday, July 5, Nicole Temmink will be installed as a Member of Parliament on behalf of the SP.
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2023-07-01 10:39:17
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