Minister’s resignation opens new crisis in Spanish govt

MADRID – Spain’s health minister has resigned over irregularities found in her master’s degree, the second cabinet member to be replaced in the just over 100 days since Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez came to power.

Carmen Monton announced her resignation late on Tuesday, a day after news website elDiario.es published irregularities in her 2011 degree on gender studies. Her final work, it later emerged, had chunks of text copied from websites and other works.

Sanchez, who became prime minister in June promising to root out corruption, lost a culture minister over a tax fine. His centre-left government has been marred by erratic policy-making, with several U-turns on cabinet decisions.

The resignation also puts pressure on opposition leader Pablo Casado, whose degree from the same public policy institute as Monton’s is under investigation.