'Margaret Thatcher square' opened in Madrid

Margaret Thatcher died in April last year. Credit: PA

A square in central Madrid has been named Plaza de Margaret Thatcher in tribute to the late Prime Minister.

The public space sits in the centre of Madrid, but was previously unnamed until politicians in the conservative People's party put the Iron Lady's name forward last year.

Lady Thatcher's son Sir Mark attended the inaugration ceremony in the Spanish capital yesterday, and said his mother's "history, her honour, will be adequately defended" by the people of the city.

The bid was supported by current Prime Minister David Cameron, according to conservative news website Breitbart, which posted a copy of his letter celebrating the square as a testimony to the Iron Lady's "truly international legacy".

Madrid's mayor Ana Botella called Britain's first female Prime Minister one of "the past century's most extraordinary figures", and a "transforming personality".

However it appears not all Spanish politicians were as enthusiastic. According to the Guardian, Milagros Hernández of the United Left called the use of Lady Thatcher's name "disrespectful".

Instead, she argued, Madrid should have honoured the "British miners, trade union members and the thousands of poor who were left behind during her 11 years of office".

Another, Patricia Garcia of the centrist Union, Progress and Democracy party, said: "Even though she was very influential in the 80s, it doesn't seem to me that she had any direct relationship with Madrid or Spain."

The move is the second effort in Madrid to pay tribute to Lady Thatcher, after a school in the suburb of Barajas was also named after her.