Madrid vows to enforce 'civic order' but Catalan leaders expect at least 60% turnout for vote

There will not be a referendum on Catalonia's independence on Sunday, the cabinet spokesman for Spain's government said as the vice-president of the region predicted the majority of eligible voters would turn out.

Madrid's culture minister Inigo Mendez de Vigo accuses the secessionist coalition ruling the northeastern region of bending the laws to go ahead with a vote regardless of warnings from courts and a suspension by the country's Constitutional Court earlier this month.