Starmer refuses to say whether he wants to see Britain rejoin the EU in his lifetime

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to say whether he wants Britain to rejoin the EU in his lifetime, at a time when pressure is mounting on the prime minister to forge closer ties with the bloc.

It comes after Andy Burnham, who is expected to challenge the prime minister for the Labor leadership, previously said he hoped Britain would rejoin the bloc in his lifetime.

Sir Keir told reporters at the G7 Summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, that “we shouldn’t spend all our time looking back on Brexit” when asked if he wanted the same thing.

He said: “We have made it very clear that we want a closer relationship with the EU and we are achieving that. So last year we had a summit with the EU, which had 10 topics including defence, security, trade, economy and emissions.

“Our work on youth mobility is already continuing. Now we have another summit on July 22 this year.

“I had a very successful bilateral meeting with Ursula. [von der Leyan, President of the European Commission] We did it yesterday and this will be an opportunity for us to build on what we have achieved so far and bring the EU and the UK closer together.

“I think it’s the right thing to do.” He added: “One of the reasons why we have been able to make such good progress with the EU is, first of all, that I and EU leaders have collectively recognized that we should not spend all our time looking back on Brexit and reconsidering the Brexit vote over and over again.

“We have to look forward to what the relationship with the EU will be like. Secondly, we have decided that we will not do diplomacy by shouting into megaphones. In fact, we are doing it professionally, quietly, and we have made real progress on this issue.”

Asked if he wanted Britain to rejoin the bloc in his lifetime, he dodged the question and instead referred to Labour’s manifesto commitment, which runs until the end of this parliament.

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“We have a clear manifesto commitment not to rejoin the EU and that is why we have opted for the closer relationship we have established. We are slowly but surely developing with the EU,” he said.

Labor has ruled out rejoining the single market or customs union during this parliament, as well as any return to freedom of movement. But the debate over Brexit has reignited in the last few weeks after leadership rival Wes Streeting called for rejoining the UK.

“We need a new, special relationship with the EU, because Britain’s future is in Europe and one day, one day, it will return to the European Union,” he said.

Although Mr Burnham claimed he wanted the UK to rejoin, he later vowed not to “re-introduce” the Brexit debate and insisted he had not proposed a plan to rejoin as part of his leadership bid.

He said Brexit was “damaging” but warned that “Britain will be stuck in a permanent stalemate if we argue all the time.”

Sir Keir, meanwhile, has put relations with the European Union front and center in his government plan, pushing for closer ties with the bloc, including a youth mobility scheme that would allow young people to live and work in the UK and Europe.

On Tuesday the Prime Minister, together with EU council president Antonia Costa, finally announced the date of the second UK-EU summit, scheduled for 22 July.

Despite initial speculation that the summit could be postponed until the autumn following reports that talks on the youth mobility plan had reached an impasse, the announcement dispelled fears of a loss of momentum.