LEADING Sinn Fein politician Martin McGuinness warned yesterday against unionist pre-conditions on talks to end the Stormont crisis.

But he said his party had “no fear whatsoever” of a snap election for a new Northern Ireland Assembly.

Mr McGuinness, the six counties’ Deputy First Minister, made his comments as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLAs failed to attend an assembly meeting.

Sinn Fein said a “sham fight” among unionists was threatening the power-sharing Stormont executive as the smaller Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) attacked the government’s performance.

Mr McGuinness said: “I want to see, and am working for, talks to take place with a view to a successful outcome.

“But if there is no successful outcome, then, in my view, the next logical step is an

election.

“That is the stark choice facing all of the parties in this process,” he said.

Talks between all parties on the crisis, mediated by Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers, were due to begin in Belfast last night.

On Friday, DUP leader Peter Robinson resigned as First Minister and three other DUP ministers also quit the executive, leaving Arlene Foster as a “gatekeeper” First Minister to prevent any government business being conducted.

The crisis follows last month’s murder of dissident republican Kevin McGuigan, which the Police Service of Northern Ireland claims was carried out by Provisional IRA members in revenge for the May killing of Gerard “Jock” Davison.

Hardline Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party leader Jim Allister alleged that people had peddled lies that the IRA had disbanded before power-sharing was restored in 2007.

“It is time we sweep away the debris of failure that this assembly represents,” he said.

But Communist Party of Ireland executive committee member Joe Bowers attacked unionist “hypocrisy and sectarianism.”

He said: “The existence of republican and unionist paramilitaries continues to cause all our people serious problems. But unionist hypocrisy on this issue is breathtaking.

“All the main unionist parties continue formal relations with smaller loyalist parties linked to paramilitaries while screaming about the existence of the IRA.

“Violence has not and cannot make any contribution to solving the problems facing our people.

“Neither can unionist hypocrisy and sectarianism.”