The UK "will not go back into the EU" under a Labour government, Sir Keir Starmer has said, in a speech attacking the government's record on Brexit.

The Labour leader vowed to "move on arguments of the past" and seek to "make Brexit work".

He said the UK was "stuck" and needed a plan to get its "economy growing again".

And he recommitted to keeping the UK out of the EU single market, customs union and free movement rules.

Speaking to the BBC's political editor Chris Mason before the speech, Sir Keir said: "We want to go forward, not backwards. And therefore this is not about rejoining the EU.

"It's very clear that what we can't do is reopen all those arguments, all those divisions that caused so much anguish over past years."

He said the economy was stagnant under the Conservative government and its Brexit deal was "holding us back".

Labour's plan, he said, would focus on "unblocking" the government's Brexit deal by removing barriers to trade with the EU and taking steps to resolve border issues in Northern Ireland.

The Labour leader's address marked an attempt to regain control over an issue that has been a dividing line between the party's MPs, members, and some of its voters.

Sir Keir - who as Jeremy Corbyn's shadow Brexit secretary said the party should advocate staying in the EU in any second referendum - has largely avoided talking about Brexit during his time as leader.

Before Monday, he had not made a set-piece speech on the issue since the UK cut legal ties with the EU, and mentioned it just five times in a 11,500 word essay ahead of Labour's annual conference last year.

With official forecasters continuing to say Brexit has damaged the UK's economy, he has faced pressure within Labour - including from London mayor Sadiq Khan - to push for Britain to rejoin the bloc's single market.

On Monday Mr Khan told the BBC he disagreed with the party's position on Brexit and said the "country's future is best served being members of the single market".