A JAILED activist turned politician has dismissed talk of a split in the Catalan independence campaign and has warned Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez that he will face calls for an agreed referendum.

Jordi Sànchez, one of the candidates in Sunday’s election who is on trial over the 2017 indyref, was speaking to journalists via a video conference hosted by the Catalan News Agency in the latest apparent relaxation of authorities’ stringent rules on the prisoners’ electioneering.

Sànchez, the candidate for Together for Catalonia (JxCat), said: “Our word cannot be bought and does not change.”

The Socialist party (PSOE) of Pedro Sánchez has been leading in opinion polls, which have indicated that, while they would win, they would not garner enough votes for an outright majority and could be forced into a coalition with others, including the far-right Vox.

Pro-indy Catalan MPs helped him oust Mariano Rajoy, but their insistence on seeking concession over Catalan self-determination in return for their support, led to him calling a snap election when they would not back his budget proposals.

Sànchez, the jailed former president of the Catalan National Assembly, added that JxCat would not aid Vox’s ascent into government.

He said a new indyref would not be linked to any date: “We will not be caught on a specific date, what we have to do is unlock the situation.

“Is Pedro Sánchez willing to sacrifice stability in Spain and democracy to prevent the citizens of Catalonia from expressing ourselves freely? We have to be strong to have dialogue.

“We were many [during the referendum] and we did not ask each other where we came from. In schools we did not ask ourselves what we were voting for, we were there to exercise a democratic right.

“There are always disputes and tensions in the campaign. We will work side by side to find the common denominator.”