The Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, apologised to the general public on Thursday after a photograph was released in which he is seen smoking with the PSOE spokesperson in Congress, Adriana Lastra, in the courtyard of the Lower House. The pair are surrounded by a group of journalists.

It is quite clear from the photo that many were neither wearing face coverings nor maintaining any sort of social distancing.

Following the apology he then criticised Vox staff who he said were responsible for the publication of the photo, saying that he was not responsible and claiming that “this is nothing more than harassment by Vox”.