SPAIN'S president Mariano Rajoy has voted against his own State budget – but his faux pas in Parliament will not stop the proposals from going ahead.

An amendment to the budget for 2017 was put forward by the regional party Nueva Canarias, in power in the islands, and which the reigning PP government had already agreed to in order for the financial plan for the year to come into effect.

But the only dissenting voice in Parliament was Rajoy.

He immediately went red when he realised he had pressed the wrong buzzer, hitting the 'no' button instead of the 'yes'.

For his pains, he received an ironic round of applause.

Fortunately for the president, his vote was not decisive – had it been a split decision, he could have thrown his own party's plans in jeopardy with his erroneous casting vote.

Incorrect votes by pressing the wrong button are maintained – no recount or second vote is ordered and the politician who commits the mistake is not permitted to retract his or her vote.

Some of the PP's and the budget's opponents remarked that the president's gaffe might have been a Freudian slip.

Photograph: Twitter