Protests: Corbyn Calls For 'Civilised Debate'

Jeremy Corbyn has called for protesters to avoid "personal abuse" after ugly scenes near the Conservative Party conference.

The Labour leader urged activists to take part in "civilised debate" as he spoke in Manchester city centre.

It comes after Charlotte Church wrote an open letter apologising for the behaviour of some anti-austerity protesters who spat at people and shouted "scum" at those attending the opening day of the Tory event.

Some 60,000 people joined a march in the city over the weekend to oppose Government policies.

Mr Corbyn, who was addressing a rally defending postal services on Monday night, said: "If we go into politics, we go into our union work, we go into our lives on the basis that what we say we hope is of value, what the other person says we hope is of value, and we engage in an intelligent, civilised debate, not responding to personal abuse and not making personal abuse."

He has come under attack by one of his most senior shadow ministers Pat McFadden for taking part in the demonstrations and has been accused of turning Labour into a protest movement.

Singer-turned-activist Ms Church, who was among those protesting against austerity at the weekend, said earlier: "I would never call anybody scum. I think it's fundamentally unhelpful in the issues that we are trying to talk about.

"Name calling is never a good thing. These are tiny instances which have happened in tens of thousands of people.

"Whoever the person that got spat in the face I'm sure it was a horrible experience.

"I plan to write an open letter on behalf of the majority of people who were protesting, just to say we are really sorry and this is not what it is about, to represent the rest of the people who were there who would never act like that."

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd told Sky News protests outside the conference venue had been "whipped up potentially by the Labour party leader and it's been pretty unpleasant".

She said Mr Corbyn's visit to Manchester was "not particularly welcome" and that it was "pretty odd" that the party was "campaigning at a Conservative party conference".