Keir Starmer faces a major voter backlash after insisting Britain must keep moving towards closer ties with the EU. The Prime Minister reignited old grievances as he again tried to pin the blame on Brexit for the country’s lacklustre economic performance since Labour came to power.

But Nigel Farage said voters “won’t be fooled” by the scaremongering, insisting the PM will pay at the ballot box. Sir Keir’s intervention came as he desperately tried to defend Rachel Reeves over accusations she misled the public about the state of the public finances. He urged voters to stick with his “long term plan” after a weekend of brutal recriminations against the Chancellor for repeatedly talking up a fiscal crisis to soften Britons for her monster £26billion Budget tax raid.

Appearing to move on from the scandal, Sir Keir claimed the UK must “confront the reality” that the economy has suffered after leaving the European Union.

He said Britain must carry on “reducing frictions” with the bloc following the historic decision to leave the EU back in 2016.

“Let me be crystal clear, there is no credible economic vision for Britain that does not position us as an open, trading economy,” he said during a speech in South London.

“So we must all now confront the reality that the Brexit deal has significantly hurt our economy and so for economic renewal, we have to keep reducing frictions.

“We have to keep moving towards a closer relationship with the EU, and we have to be grown up about that, to accept that this will require trade-offs.”

Sir Keir, who voted for, campaigned for and backed remaining in the EU, has vowed to make Brexit work since becoming Prime Minister.

His latest remarks have reignited fears that his ultimate aim is to reverse Brexit.

Writing in the Daily Express, Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader, warned: “According to Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer the real blame for our economic disaster lies with the 17.4million British people who dared to vote for Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum.

“Few will be fooled by Starmer’s transparent attempt to shift the spotlight away from his chancellor and her disastrous Budget.”

Mr Farage added that only his party “can be trusted to fix broken Britain.”

“We will cut public spending, slash red tape, remove EU rules and be on the side of the small businesses and working people who make up alarm clock Britain.

“We will also finally make good on the promise on Brexit, by taking back control of Britain’s borders, laws and money.

“And we will never try to blame British voters for the problems created by the establishment’s own failures.”

The Tories also hit out at Sir Keir’s latest moves towards Europe.

Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said: “This is a turn back the clock government.

“On union rights and now cosying up to Brussels, there is no vision or fresh thinking.

He added: “Just bowing to socialist backbench prejudice.”

Sir Keir used his speech to try and shore up the Chancellor’s position following a furious Budget backlash and demands for her to be axed.

Ms Reeves has faced claims she misled voters by overstating the scale of the fiscal challenge.

She has also reportedly been accused of misleading the Cabinet.

But the Prime Minister said: “There was no misleading.”

He called the Budget a moment of “personal pride” and pointed to the choice to lift the two-child benefit cap but sidestepped questions about committing to reducing the benefits bill and what action he would take if Labour MPs sought to block changes.

The PM was forced to abandon welfare cuts planned earlier this year in the face of a major backbench rebellion.

Britain has been inching towards Brussels since Sir Keir entered No 10 last year.

Both the UK and EU signed a deal back in May that covered areas such as defence, fishing and trade and also pointed to a youth mobility scheme.

The Prime Minister and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen restated the need to swiftly implement the post-Brexit reset deal earlier this month.

But Sir Keir’s efforts were dashed last week when talks on the UK joining the European Union’s flagship £130 billion defence fund failed.

Negotiations foundered over how much the UK should pay to participate in the EU’s Security Action for Europe (Safe) rearmament fund.

Reports suggested the UK rejected French demands to pay up to £5 billion to participate in the scheme.

Minister for European Union relations Nick Thomas-Symonds said it was “disappointing” but the UK was focused on obtaining “value for money”.

And the Cabinet Office said British firms would still be able to take part in the scheme “on third country terms”.