Sánchez wins investiture vote after controversial decision to secure support of Catalan separatists

Pedro Sánchez has clinched a second term as Spain’s prime minister after winning an ill-tempered investiture vote that was dominated by his decision to secure the support of Catalan separatists with a controversial amnesty.

The vote on Thursday came almost four months after an inconclusive snap election in July in which Sánchez’s governing Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) was narrowly defeated by its conservative rivals in the People’s party (PP).