SPAIN will hold snap elections on April 28, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Party (PSOE) said today.

The announcement follows the defeat of the government’s budget on Wednesday. Mr Sanchez’s minority government rested on support from Basque and Catalan separatists.

The Catalan Republican Left and Catalan European Democratic Party abandoned the government in the budget vote after the PSOE said it was not prepared to discuss self-determination for the region.

There is no constitutional mechanism for Catalonia to declare independence from Spain and Mr Sanchez said he was not prepared to endorse discussions that went against the constitution.

His government has attempted to restore dialogue with Catalan parties after Madrid’s brutal clampdown on the unconstitutional independence referendum held in 2017, under right-wing prime minister Mariano Rajoy, but tensions have risen since Tuesday saw the beginning of a trial in which a dozen separatist politicians are charged with sedition, misuse of public funds and rebellion for their part in organising the referendum. They face sentences of up to 25 years in prison if found guilty.

The PSOE-led government has also disappointed supporters by tacking to the right on immigration after initially adopting a more humane approach to that of France or Italy.

Last month the Ministry of Public Works denied permission to a rescue ship, Open Arms, to set sail in order to save refugees being trafficked across the Mediterranean, a decision that won praise from Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

A week later it refused permission to another rescue ship, Aita Mari, prompting its owner Humanitarian Maritime Rescue vice-president Inigo Gutierrez to warn: “As time passes and we wait here, people drown.”

But the decision to vote down the budget was controversial in Catalonia, with Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau warning it was a “grave error.”

While the PSOE is in first place in most opinion polls, the combined vote of the right-wing People’s Party and Ciudadanos is projected to be larger and socialists are also wary of the growth of the far-right, anti-immigrant and homophobic Vox party, which entered a regional parliament for the first time in last year’s Andalusian election, helping form a right-wing coalition in a region that had been governed by the Socialists for 36 years.