Protests have spread, with Spain’s ruling party said to be 'out of touch' with voters

Forty members of the Spanish ruling party and a number of prominent businessmen will stand trial in the country’s biggest political corruption scandal since the end of the Franco regime.

Judge Pablo Ruz, of the National Court in Madrid, yesterday ordered a former health minister and three former treasurers of the centre-right Popular party to stand trial, along with 36 others, on 12 charges, including bribery, cash-for-favours in office, and embezzling €449 million of taxpayers’ money.

The case could cost Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister, the general election in November. He has not been charged in what is being called the Gurtel affair, but the scandal has badly tarnished the party he leads.

Luís Bárcenas, one of the three former party treasurers caught up in