Belgium slipped closer towards a full-blown political crisis on Friday when Yves Leterme, prime minister, proposed his government’s resignation after the nation’s supreme court found signs of government interference with the judicial system.

Mr Leterme’s gesture did not automatically mean the collapse of his five-party ruling coalition, because King Albert II, as head of state, has the power to accept or reject his resignation. During an earlier government crisis in July, the king rejected it.