Exiled Catalunya minister now working in UK

She has returned to St Andrew's University in Edinburgh, where she was head of studies for the faculty of economics and finance until last summer.

Dr Ponsatí was named regional education minister on July 14, 2017, but would only be practising her role for three-and-a-half months before she was forced to flee along with three other regional ministers and Puigdemont to Brussels to avoid arrest for her part in the disputed independence referendum.

All five were immediately sacked by the State government when it invoked Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, placing Catalunya under national control.

Dr Ponsatí graduated in economics from Barcelona University and holds a PhD from Minnesota University in the USA, after which she worked at the prestigious St Andrew's for several years.

The Scottish university has taken her back straight away and she is now settled in her old job.

She wrote on Twitter: “The catalán exile has reached the UK. Enjoying my freedom of movement as a European Union citizen and this week I went back to work at St Andrew's University.”

Puigdemont (pictured right, with Clara Ponsatí on his left) remains in Belgium along with ministers Antoni Comin, Lluís Puig and Meritxell Serret.

They are safe from custody as long as they stay outside of Spain, since a national arrest warrant is hanging over their heads, but the European arrest warrant issued at the time of their departure was cancelled a month after its issue by Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena.