McGuinness says won't accept 'reckless' UK welfare cuts

BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said on Wednesday his Sinn Fein party would not accept "reckless" social welfare cutbacks demanded by the British government that have become a major sticking point in crisis talks. Sinn Fein and pro-British rivals the Democratic Unionist Party are in talks to avoid the collapse of the region's power-sharing government after police said Sinn Fein's former allies in the Irish Republican Army were probably involved in a killing. The talks have widened to include a range of issues including the implementation of a wave of public spending cuts that are being rolled out elsewhere in the United Kingdom by Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative government. "The sheer scale of what the Tories [Conservative Party] are attempting to do is staggering. But Sinn Fein will not agree to this ideologically driven austerity agenda," McGuinness told a Sinn Fein meeting in Belfast, according to the text of his speech. He boasted of exemptions the government has secured for Northern Ireland and said he would continue to push for a softer approach to take account of the economic impact of three decades of sectarian violence that ended in a 1998 peace deal. But the British government minister responsible for Northern Ireland earlier on Wednesday said there was no scope for Northern Ireland to secure a better deal. "We are clear. The government will not fund a more generous welfare system in Northern Ireland than it does in the rest of the UK," Theresa Villiers told the Conservative Party's annual conference. McGuinness said, however, that he believed compromise was possible and warned supporters that the collapse of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government would be worse for the people of the province. "It may be against the odds but I believe the current talks can be successful," McGuinness said. "That will require a resolution that continues to protect the most vulnerable." A 1998 peace deal largely ended three decades of sectarian violence between Catholics who want a united Ireland and Protestants who want Northern Ireland to remain British. More than 3,600 people died in the conflict. Sinn Fein has said a full collapse of the power-sharing government would lead to a "very real prospect" of increased violence. (Reporting by Amanda Ferguson; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Gareth Jones)