Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will not attend Fidel Castro's funeral

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will not attend Fidel Castro's funeral or a memorial service to commemorate Cuba's revolutionary leader, his spokesman has confirmed.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry will represent Labour at Tuesday's memorial in the capital city Havana.

The British Government will be represented by minister for the Americas, Sir Alan Duncan, as neither Prime Minister Theresa May or Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will attend.

Mr Corbyn has been criticised for saying that "for all his flaws", Castro will be remembered as a "champion of social justice".

His comments sparked an outcry over the Castro regime's human rights abuses and lack of democratic accountability.

Following the former president's death at the age of 90 on Friday, it was announced that his remains would rest in Havana's Jose Marti Memorial until Tuesday, when a mass gathering will take place in the Plaza de la Revolucion.

The casket containing his ashes will then be transported around the country on a four-day, 900-kilometre journey from Havana to Santiago de Cuba, retracing in reverse the route of his rebel army advancing on the capital in 1959.

On Sunday December 4, he will be laid to rest at the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia in Santiago de Cuba, alongside 19th-century national hero Jose Marti.