Catalans vote

CATALANS vote tomorrow in a quasi-referendum on independence from Spain. 

The poll will be the latest step in a process that, according to Artur Mas, the head of Catalonia’s regional government, will lead to a unilateral split from Spain unless central government agrees to call a binding referendum on independence.

The country’s prime minister Mariano Rajoy has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of the wealthy northeastern region seceding from Spain.

A resurgent nationalism fuelled by the kind of disenchantment with central governments now so common across the West is, obviously enough, the driving force behind the desire for independence.

A vote for independence is anticipated as it was in the Scottish independence referendum just over a year ago. How Madrid would react to such a result remains to be seen but it is hard not to think that a single, unified entity would be, or should be, the best option for all Spaniards.

Whatever the result, the possibility of a vote to leave Spain should be seen as a shot across the bows of the establishment politics that have disappointed voters right across Europe.