Owen Smith, the UK’s shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said there would have to be a “unique and imaginative” solution to the border

The British Labour Party would explore ways of keeping Northern Ireland effectively inside the EU after Brexit, its spokesman has said.

Owen Smith, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, told a Sinn Féin fringe event at Labour’s Brighton conference that a special EU status for the North appeared to be the only solution to problems caused by Brexit.

Mr Smith said that Northern Ireland’s “unique circumstances” would have to be reflected in a “unique and imaginative” solution to issues such as the border.

“What I am increasingly convinced of myself is that we will need . . . to be much more imaginative and much more concrete in what we offer,” he said. “And crucially I think we will need to accept that the unique circumstances