Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK needs a closer relationship with Europe, pledging to "fix the country" if he wins the next election.
However, he insisted "we can't go back" on Brexit.
The Labour leader said he has "completely accepted" the 2016 referendum result, which saw the UK exit the EU, but added: "We should have a closer defence and security set of arrangements with Europe".
Speaking to the Sun, Starmer said: "We are not going back in to the EU."
Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK needs a closer relationship with Europe, pledging to "fix the country" if he wins the next election
PA
But he continued: "I think we have to cast our minds back, the country was completely divided, we had three years of arguments, of different positions, the Tory party was divided, my party was divided and the country was divided. And we were all trying to find a way forward.
"We voted through the Brexit deal after the last General Election. I did that because I thought it was the only way for the country to move forward.
"I still think we could get a better deal, I think we should be able to trade more freely with Europe, I think we should have a closer defence and security set of arrangements with Europe, but I have completely accepted the result.
"I voted for the Brexit deal. We need to look forward, and certainly not look backwards. I don't think anyone wants to go back."
He added: "And my job is to fix the country up, fix the immediate problems and take our country forward.
"So we can genuinely say after five or 10 years this country is now better than it was in 2024 when we were elected into office, if we are elected into office."
The same interview saw Starmer criticise Nike for the new England kit, which saw the red St George's cross on the collar redesigned, replacing it with a multicoloured one.
Starmer branded the change "wrong", adding: "I’m a big football fan, I go to England games, men and women’s games, and the flag is used by everybody. It is a unifier. It doesn’t need to be changed. We just need to be proud of it.
“So, I think they should just reconsider this and change it back.
"I’m not even sure they can properly explain why they thought they needed to change it in the first place.”
The new kits will "celebrate football heroes of the past with a modern twist", Nike said when they were announced. Nike said the change was a "playful update to unite and inspire".
But Reform UK MP Lee Anderson told the Express: "The left have a nerve to ask me why I want my country back.
"This virtue signalling, namby-pamby, pearl-clutching woke nonsense must stop. Any more of this and I'll be on the first flight to Rwanda."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Conservative MP Brendan Clarke Smith saying that the new design "looks nothing like our flag".
He said: "Maybe somebody in the design department misheard Three Lions and instead went for three lines on a shirt.
"I’m not sure what this is supposed to be, but it certainly looks nothing like our flag and I’m not sure it needs an ‘update’ either.
"That said, I doubt they’ll shift many at those sort of prices."