A LAST-minute bill introduced in the Catalan parliament yesterday put Catalonia on course for a confrontation with Spain’s central government in Madrid over an independence referendum it plans to hold on October 1.

The conservative national government has already said the poll is illegal and immediately said it would challenge the Catalan government’s bill — which paves the way for it to be formalised — in the Spanish Constitutional Court.

Spain’s vice president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría warned that passing the bill will have “serious consequences”, and that those responsible could face criminal charges.

The Catalan Prosecutors Office, a branch of the Spanish Prosecutors Office, said it would take legal moves against the five members of the Generalitat’s [Catalan government’s] bureau who tabled the bill.

Opposition parliamentarians tried to filibuster the bill, but the pro- indy majority in the parliament won through.

The bill enables the referendum result to be implemented 48 hours after the result is declared and has no minimum turnout requirement. Albert Royo Mariné, secretary general of the Diplomatic Council of Catalonia (Diplocat) told The National it was an historic day: “It is a victory of democracy, a historical day and a dream come true for many Catalans who want to vote on their political future, for many already passed away and who fought for this country, its freedom, its democracy.

“It is a pity that those MPs against indy avoid coming up with political arguments and hid behind filibustering.”

The vote in Barcelona came after the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Catalonia heard at a debate in London that any political arrests there would be “grotesque” and would “compound a constitutional crisis”.

Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams was speaking during the debate on the Catalan referendum hosted by the APPG – of which he is chair – and organised by the UK delegation of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC).

He said it was up to the people of Catalonia to decide the nature of their relationship with the rest of the world and specifically the Spanish government.

“From where I sit it looks as if the Madrid government is just refusing to concede what is really happening,” he said.

“It seems to me they are not addressing that political reality. It would be grotesque if electoral officials were to be locked out, politicians arrested and everything else that has been threatened over the last months and years.

“It would compound a constitutional crisis if arrests were made, a democratic crisis for the Spanish state and the European Union – an EU member apparently stifling debate, contrary to European values about democracy and participation.

“I think the Madrid government would do well to change its stance.”

The debate saw a panel of MPs and journalists put the case for and against Catalan independence to an audience of more than 100.

And indy-seeking Catalans found an unlikely ally in Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, who said Spain was at fault for refusing to respect the result of the poll.

He said: This referendum should not be happening under a cloud. The people of Catalonia have a right to make their own choices, decide their own destiny.

“The political reality is very clear. Where you have an historic nation that feels unhappy and uncomfortable in the position it is in, it should and must have the right and freedom to choose its own destiny. No democrat can argue with that.

“We had to accept that Scotland is a nation, not just a region of the UK. Spain seems to treat the nations in Spain as regions rather than nations in their historic context.

“Democracy must prevail – the people of Scotland had their choice and although the debate rumbles on and will rumble on for many more years to come, the reality is the UK Government did not try to prevent that referendum… The people of Catalonia should be respected whatever the decision on October 1.

“I personally will respect that decision and I hope the UK Government will do the same.”

SNP MP Douglas Chapman said there was one thing that stood out about the battle for Scottish independence, since campaigning started almost 70 years ago.

“It’s been a non-violent approach based on the law of democracy, and not one drop of blood has been spilt during the time we’ve been campaigning,” he said.

Chapman compared Scotland’s pre-referendum experience with London, that resulted in the Edinburgh Agreement and both sides’ acceptance of the result.

He added: “When I see what’s happening in Catalonia and Spain I can’t see what the end game might be in terms of respecting the outcome because you may receive an overwhelming amount of support to have your parliament based in Barcelona, or wherever, but how is Spain going to respect that outcome and how to you move the process on from where things might be in the early days of October?”