Sánchez searches for political support to increase Spain's defence spending

As he held one-to-one meetings with party leaders this week, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was still struggling to find enough political support to increase expenditure on defence.

Sánchez's Socialists do not have a majority in parliament and his coalition partners Sumar and other usual political allies have said they are against spending more.

Spain is under pressure to increase investment in defence as it has the lowest spending as a percentage of the size of the economy within Nato.

On Thursday, Sánchez held a rare meeting with the leader of the Partido Popular (PP) main opposition party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, as a start to negotiating his support. Feijóo said Sánchez had given him little new information.

Earlier this week, on a visit to Finland, Sánchez called for the EU to give funds to help Spain's increase in defence spending.