Huge rallies in Spain against Catalan separatist deal with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez 'cannot be ignored' says Jim Shannon

The rallies were sparked after socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez courted pro-independence Catalan parties to help him attain power.

He cut a deal with those parties that included an amnesty for separatists who led a failed bid to secede from Spain in 2017.

News channel France 24 reported that cries of "Sanchez, traitor", "Sanchez in jail" and "Catalonia is Spain" were shouted on Saturday by protestors of all ages.

Speaking before the latest rally, Mr Shannon, who takes a keen interest in foreign affairs, said: “It seems to me like the majority of those in Spain wish to see Spain united and under one government.

"I understand a certain amount of autonomy could be given to the Catalan region, but independence is not something they're prepared to give.”

Such a sentiment “can't be ignored,” he said.

He also warned that secession can carry a high price for those wishing to split away.

"It's all very grand for the Scots Nats to hanker for independence, and at the same time for that independence not to be achievable,” he said.

"You want to have some independence, there's a cost with it: the cost will be a financial one.”

Opinion polling in Catalonia has varied over the last decade, sometimes showing a slight edge in favour of independence, sometimes the reverse.

However, at a nationwide level, Catalonian independence parties poll only a few percent of the total vote in general elections.

Last Thursday, Mr Sanchez was chosen by a majority of legislators to form a new government.

He was backed by 179 lawmakers in the 350-seat lower house of parliament. Only right-wing opposition deputies voted against him.

The amnesty deal that the Socialists signed with two key Catalan separatist parties that command 14 votes would clean the slate for hundreds of separatists in legal trouble following the north-east region’s illegal 2017 secession bid that sparked Spain’s biggest crisis in decades.