Inspired by Scots, Catalans to hold symbolic vote on breaking away from Spain

One of Spain’s biggest and richest regions, Catalonia, will today hold a much-disputed symbolic vote on whether it should break away as an independent state, in defiance of the central government.

Spain’s conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government has vowed to defend the unity of the country, as it recovers from a steep economic downturn, and has mounted a series of constitutional appeals to try to block the vote.

But Catalans have pushed ahead defiantly, fired up by the independence referendum held in Scotland in September, even though Scots voted not to break away from Britain.

Rajoy says his country cannot hold an independence referendum like Scotland because, unlike Britain, it has a written constitution that forbids it.

He downplayed the significance of the poll, at a party rally on Saturday in the eastern city of Caceres.

“What will take place tomorrow, we can call it whatever one wants, but it is not a referendum, not a consultation, nor anything that resembles it, I can’t even qualify it. What is certain is that it will not have any effect,” he said.