Labour Conference: Jeremy Corbyn sends message to Sinn Féin

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has sent a message to a Sinn Féin fringe event at his party conference.

He had originally been billed to speak at the meeting, but was replaced by shadow secretary Vernon Coaker.

Mr Corbyn's message, which was read out at the start of the meeting, said austerity was having a severe impact "on both sides of the Irish Sea".

The Labour leader added: "We urgently need a new approach."

He also extended his best wishes to "all the parties dedicated to finding a settlement" in Northern Ireland.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has criticised Mr Corbyn after he defended his controversial talks with Irish republicans during the Troubles.

"The violence was wrong on all sides and I've said so all along," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

"My whole point was that if you were to bring about a peace process, you weren't going to achieve it by military means."

Acting First Minister Arlene Foster said that his support for a united Ireland was "unsurprising" given what she described as his "long standing links to Sinn Fein during the IRA terror campaign".

Speaking at the meeting in Brighton on Sunday, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Mr Coaker, said there were "special circumstances" which meant austerity had a particular impact.

He called for the government to show more "flexibility" and "empathy" for Northern Ireland.

The event was billed as "Good Friday Agreement Under Threat - Equality not Austerity".

It took place on the day before talks between Northern Ireland's five main political parties moved into a second week, with the focus on paramilitary groups.

Discussions began last week in a bid to resolve the political row at Stormont.

The crisis was triggered by the murders of former IRA men, Kevin McGuigan Sr and Gerard 'Jock' Davison in Belfast earlier this year.

Chief Constable George Hamilton said he believed IRA members had been involved in the murder of Mr McGuigan Sr in Belfast last month.

He said the IRA was still in existence, but added that the organisation was not engaged in terrorism.

In protest, the Ulster Unionists withdrew from Northern Ireland's ruling executive, with three Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) ministers also later resigning, and DUP leader Peter Robinson stepping aside as first minister.

Unionists agreed to join the talks when the government ordered an independent review of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland earlier this month.

Meanwhile, speaking at Sunday's event, Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey said that if the Stormont institutions failed, "anti-agreement elements" were waiting to "fill the vacuum".

He said the murderers of Gerard "Jock" Davison and Kevin McGuigan were "criminals" opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.