Salvador Illa, deputy leader of the Catalan Socialist Party, said less than 40 per cent of Catalans wanted the region to be separate from Spain and such a move would be “illegal”.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said he wanted to “follow the people’s will for Catalonia to become an independent state” in a major speech to the Catalan parliament on Tuesday but called for talks with the government in Madrid.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Illa said a “new path” should be taken to create a “new statute of autonomy” for Catalonia.
He said: “It is possible to defend separatism according to the Spanish constitution, what is not possible is to break the rule of law.
“I would like to point out that in Catalonia, there is not a majority of people in favour of separatism.
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“In fact, according to the last ‘fake’ referendum and previous elections, there is around 38 per cent of people in favour of independence, of separatism.
“So they lack legal validity, political legitimacy and, in addition, they lack a social majority for independence.
“What we think is that we should find a new path that doesn’t divide the Catalan society in two halves and we think this path should be to negotiate politically a new statute of autonomy for Catalonia, with the rest of Spain.
“This is the path we socialists propose.”
Mr Illa has previously said the move for independence was a “dangerous process” that had to be managed “carefully”.
More than 90 per cent of the Catalonians who went to the polls earlier this month voted in favour of independence, although the Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy and the King have rejected the results.
With thousands watching outside the Catalan parliament and millions watching across the world, Mr Puigdemont yesterday said it was an “historic moment”.