Ex-MP Speaks on Education, Independence and Political Integrity

Laia Estrada, former CUP deputy in the Catalan Parliament, has said the party must return to its role on the political margins and resist efforts to occupy the centre ground. Estrada, who represented the CUP from 12 March 2021 until her resignation on 19 March 2023, made the remarks in an interview with El Periódico, republished by L'Empordà, reflecting on her time in office and current education mobilisations. Estrada, a secondary school teacher of Biology and Geology in ESO and Batxillerat, left institutional politics to resume teaching. She now works under temporary contracts via the Generalitat’s teacher pool, describing the situation as precarious. Since stepping down, she has actively participated in recent teachers’ assemblies at Reus’s Casal Despertaferro, where she lives with her family.

Education Mobilisation and Systemic Neglect

She argues that public education in Catalonia has been systematically neglected and is now fighting back through mass mobilisation. Estrada voted against the latest USTEC-CPME agreement with the government, despite acknowledging it contains advances. She insists the deal is insufficient given the sector’s ‘sagnant’ conditions and stresses that progress has come only from street pressure.

All of us who voted no, but also those who supported it, must take to the streets,

she said, underscoring unity in action despite internal divisions.

Exit from Parliament and Party Principles

Her departure from the Parliament followed months of personal deliberation, though it gained public attention after the CUP was photographed with the PSC-led government and its partners ERC and Comuns over a housing decree. Estrada criticised the move, calling it a political error that legitimises parties representing a state she views as oppressive.

It’s very different to vote for a proposal than to claim you’ve reached a great agreement with parties that represent the State suffocating us,

she stated, clarifying her resignation was based on principle and coherence, not timing alone.

Critique of CUP’s Central Ambitions

Estrada warned that when the CUP seeks centrality, it abandons its foundational role as a radical force. This vacuum, she believes, has allowed far-right group Aliança Catalana to grow by positioning itself as an alternative to the system, despite what she calls its alignment with Spanish centralism. She accused Prime Minister Salvador Illa of deliberately amplifying Sílvia Orriols’s profile for partisan gain, comparing it to Pedro Sánchez’s treatment of Vox. To Estrada, this dynamic reveals hypocrisy and undermines genuine independence efforts.

Reflections on the Independence Movement

Looking back on the 2017 independence process, Estrada called the 1-O referendum a victory that challenged the 1978 regime, but criticised failures including the lack of follow-up to the unilateral declaration, the end of post-strike mobilisation, and insufficient solidarity with exiled leaders. She also faulted the messaging, saying citizens were misled into believing independence would be swift and painless. While defending the CUP’s past successes, such as enabling Puigdemont’s presidency and pushing for referendums, she insists the movement needs new leadership and rupture, not negotiation.

We need a new moment of rupture with the State, and it will hardly come with the same leaders,

she concluded. Estrada served as councillor in Tarragona City Council from 2015 to 2021 before entering the Parliament. Her activism began with the Assemblea per l'Habitatge Digne de Tarragona and the feminist collective Cau de Llunes. Though she faced legal consequences from a 2009 protest (the so-called Bershka case), leading to her dismissal in 2018, she remains committed to grassroots struggle. For now, she has closed the door on returning to elected office, focusing instead on teaching, family, and community engagement.

Reported by Parlament de Catalunya, L'Empordà.