Dutch government's majority support at risk

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A member of the far-right Freedom Party, a Dutch government ally, said on Tuesday he would quit in a move that would deny the Liberals-Christian Democratic government an assured majority in parliament and make it harder to cut the budget deficit.

The minority government led by Liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte depends on the support of the Freedom Party, which gives it 76 seats in the 150-seat lower house.

Rutte will have to bargain with Hero Brinkman, who is quitting the party, or other smaller parties, such as the reformed SGP, to pass legislation in the lower house. He relies on SGP support to pass laws in the senate.

Brinkman, 47, said he would not let Rutte's government collapse but stopped short of pledging unconditional support for new budget cuts now being discussed by the coalition parties and Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders.

"You should never support something in advance before you know the content but the chance that I'd see insuperable problems is very small in my view," Brinkman told reporters.

The Netherlands, which has been in recession since July, needs a fresh round of austerity cuts if it hopes to hit a deficit target of 3 percent of gross domestic product next year, as required by the European Commission.

The governing coalition and the Freedom Party may have to cut up to 16 billion euros, Dutch government forecaster CPB said earlier on Tuesday.

Brinkman, a former policeman who will continue as a one-man faction in parliament, said he quit Freedom because Wilders allowed too little democracy and dissenting voices in the party.

"He's not as powerful as Wilders, but he's more powerful outside than inside the party, and much more powerful now than he was yesterday," said political pollster Maurice de Hond.

"The chance that he lets the government fall is not big, in fact it is very small, but in the long term Brinkman could be a problem because he has the power to put topics on the agenda."

(Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger)