UK will split before Spain, says country’s foreign minister

SPAIN’S foreign minister has said he expects the UK to “split apart” before his own country does.

Josep Borrell’s remarks came as tensions rose between London and Madrid over references to Gibraltar in the Brexit “divorce deal” document.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has said he will vote against the Brexit withdrawal agreement at a special EU summit on Sunday unless Gibraltar’s future is considered a bilateral issue between London and Madrid rather than between the EU and UK.

Mr Borrell told Politico: “I am very much (more) worried about the unity of the United Kingdom than the unity of the Kingdom of Spain.

“I think the United Kingdom will split apart before the Kingdom of Spain.”

Mr Borrell said Spain would not stop an independent Scotland joining the EU if it left the UK on a legal basis with Westminster’s consent.

Madrid has repeatedly opposed nationalists in Catalonia who want the region to break away from Spain, insisting such a move would be unconstitutional.

Spain has been mired in a political crisis since October last year, when Catalonia’s separatist politicians failed in an independence push. A number of Catalan leaders were arrested, and others fled abroad, after Madrid insisted that a referendum on independence was illegal.

The separatist poll led to violent clashes on the streets of Catalonia as the central government was accused by independence supporters of being heavy handed.

Earlier this month Spanish prosecutors called for the former vice president of Catalonia, Oriol Junqueras, to be imprisoned for 25 years if he is convicted of rebellion and misuse of public funds for promoting the region’s independence.

In total, 22 separatist leaders are set to go on trial in January.

Some Brexiteers have accused Spain of hypocrisy over its claims on Gibraltar as it controls two coastal territories in North Africa, Cueta and Melilla.