Deputy PM says Spain has power to halt Catalonia referendum

Spain's deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria says the government has sufficient legal power to halt a planned referendum on Catalonia's separation from Spain.

She spoke a day after the two parties with most seats in Catalonia's Parliament agreed to hold a self-determination referendum in 2014 in the northeastern region that includes the city of Barcelona.

The governing Convergence and Union agreed to the referendum in return for the Republican Left of Catalonia's support to form a new regional government following recent elections.

The national government says any referendum proposing a change in the region's status within Spain would be illegal.

Catalonia is Spain's most economically powerful region but now the most indebted due to the crisis.