Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez | Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images Spain’s Sánchez: Brexit and Catalan independence ‘based on lies’ ‘The possibility of an orderly Brexit still exists and that’s the appeal I’m making to British MPs.’

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the methods used by Brexiteers are similar to those seen in the push for Catalan independence.

In a joint interview with the Guardian, Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and La Repubblica, Sánchez said: “The techniques of the Catalan independence movement are very similar to those of [Nigel] Farage and other ultra-conservative leaders who have defended Brexit.

“They say ‘Europe’s stealing from us!’ or ‘Spain is stealing from us!’ or ‘If we had more economic resources …’ At the end of the day, I think that engaging in campaigns or political projects based on lies eventually leads societies down a blind alley and that’s really hard to manage.”

Sánchez said the British people should have been offered a different choice back in 2016. “It’s not ‘Do I leave or do I stay?’ Maybe the question that should have been asked was: ‘Do you want to stay in a better Europe?' because there are certainly lots of things that need to change in Europe.”

But he said the best thing now would be an orderly Brexit, adding that the agreement struck between Brussels and Theresa May is "the only possible and viable deal."

“The U.K. parliament is facing a dilemma that will require all its MPs to act responsibly to avoid a hard, disorderly Brexit. The possibility of an orderly Brexit still exists and that’s the appeal I’m making to British MPs.”