Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, commenting on the twentieth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, said:

“The Good Friday Agreement was a defining moment in Irish history which allowed peace to prevail. It was a great achievement and I pay tribute to the work done by Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam and Paul Murphy, as well as those on all sides in Ireland, north and south, in achieving the crucial breakthrough of the peace process.

“No one wants to be marking the twentieth anniversary of the agreement while the assembly at Stormont remains suspended. Efforts must be redoubled to restore the assembly, and to ensure a lasting open border as part of the Brexit negotiations.

“There must be no return to a hard border between north and south, and no return to the horrors of the troubles. All of us on both sides of the Irish Sea have a responsibility to maintain hope for the future.

“The history of Ireland is a great teacher of oppression and brutality, imagination and poetry. For Irish communities everywhere – including in my own constituency – the Good Friday Agreement will always embody their hopes for peace and justice. We must cherish and learn from it for the future.”