One of the European Parliament's most senior figures has described Catalonia's declaration of statehood as "fake independence".

Guy Verhofstadt, the body's chief Brexit negotiator and an influential politician in Brussels, was reacting after the Catalan Parliament voted earlier to declare itself an independent republic. Spain was on the verge of imposing direct rule on the region.

The MEP called on Catalan politicians to urgently come to the table and stop the "march of the folly".

"A 'fake independence' is what I call it and I don’t recognize it," Verhofstaft wrote in a series of tweets. "As it is based on a referendum that was not only not constitutional, but lacked fundamental democratic legitimacy.

"It's now time to stop this march of the folly. The political parties in Catalonia must urgently come to the table to heal the cruel fracture that has been created in the Catalan society.

"We hope that the Spanish government will continue to do everything possible to initiate an open and inclusive process."

Earlier, EU President Donald Tusk said that for them, "nothing changes".

In a tweet, he said: “Spain remains our only interlocutor. I hope the Spanish government favours force of argument, not argument of force.”

Tusk’s remarks came amid a welter of criticism on social media, with user Colin Dunn suggesting that Catalonia had made a democratic choice, and adding: “EU should, and must, recognise that, or politically it risks irrelevance.”

Other users said Catalonia had been left with no choice, and James Utterson summed up the feelings of many: “The EU is a disgrace. Sitting on its hands whilst a member country prepares to violently attack its own people.”