Catalan separatists retain majority: 'Mariano Rajoy has received a slap in the face from Catalonia'

Catalonia's secessionist parties won enough votes on Thursday to regain a slim majority in the regional parliament and give new momentum to their political struggle for independence from Spain.

It was hardly an emphatic victory, however, as the separatists lost support compared to the previous vote in 2015, and a pro-unity party for the first time became the biggest single bloc in the Catalan parliament.