The PP falls into Más Madrid's trap by rejecting an initiative identical to the one presented by the Popular Party in the Senate.

Tired of "the Popular Party rejecting any initiative proposed by the left" in the Madrid regional assembly, Más Madrid set out this Thursday to test the "sectarianism of the Popular Party" by putting them to the test. And Isabel Díaz Ayuso's party has fallen right into the trap.

The story begins after Representative Pablo Padilla introduced a Non-Law Proposal (NLP) on climate shelters. The text, however, was a word-for-word copy of an amendment the Popular Party itself submitted in 2014 to a bill introduced in the Senate.

When the initiative arrived at the plenary session, MP Sergio Brabezo, the person in charge of defending the PP's position, criticized Más Madrid for generating "panic, alert, and social alarm." "Today they have completely disappointed me."

Brabezo's "swallow me up" moment came when Padilla aired his trick: "You've really disappointed me. Have you read the initiative we're talking about? Look, it's a substitution amendment from the Popular Party in the Senate, which is literally the initiative that brought Más Madrid to this House. You just poured seven minutes of intellectual garbage against your own initiative."

To the laughter of the Más Madrid and PSOE factions, Padilla explained that it was all part of an "exercise to see how sectarian you are." And while Brabezo looked serious in his seat, he retorted that "surely, when I leave this chamber, no one will remember me. But no one will forget you, because you have made the biggest fool of yourself in this chamber, because you have spent seven minutes spouting a bunch of nonsense against your own initiative, against your own initiative."

Vox joined in the jokes. "Sorry, Mr. Padilla, I criticized you because the initiative was weak," said deputy spokesperson Íñigo Henríquez de Luna. "But did you really copy it from the PP?" he asked mockingly, pointing at Brabezo.

To the widespread laughter, Padilla concluded by advising Brabezo not to use his turn to respond. "I wish you had come here and acknowledged that it was a good initiative, because, sir, you're laughing now because you don't know where to stand," he remarked.

And now, returning to a more serious tone, he summarized the purpose of his trap for the PP. “It's quite shameful that when we want to talk here about how to improve the lives of Madrid residents, you put sectarianism first. Because they're blindfolded by sectarianism, they're incapable of voting for anything the left offers, anything Más Madrid offers, even if it's their own initiative. Where does that leave you?”