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Keir Starmer has failed to rule out campaigning to rejoin the EU in the future at a Mirror hustings for the Labour leadership candidates.

Last month the frontrunner to succeed Jeremy Corbyn said there was no question that could happen after Brexit.

Since then his position seems to have softened.

Today he admitted: "I don't think it's a priority for now and the immediate future," but asked to explicitly rule it out he refused to do so.

When pressed he said: "It's for our kids to decide what our future relationship is" to huge applause from the audience in Dudley Town Hall.

It came in a response to a question by fellow candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey in a segment allowing each of them to question the others.

"Our Brexit policy clearly impacted our election performance, do you agree we should rule out campaigning in the 2024 election to rejoin the EU?"

(Image: Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning)

Lisa Nandy told the audience in Dudley that Labour got into a "complete and utter mess over Brexit".

She said she campaigned for Remain as a member of the Shadow Cabinet but that once the party had told the public they would respect the result of the referendum in the 2017 election they should have done it.

"We promised it in our manifesto in 2017 and I went out and my neck

She said they got into a situation where Remainers thought Labour was in favour of Brexit and Leavers thought the party was in favour of Remain.

And she explained that she realised "take back control" went much wider than Brexit.

But Ms Long-Bailey joked "I only wanted a yes or no".

When she pressed Lisa Nandy, she replied: "I'd rule it out. We haven't got the option, we've lost that right because we didn't take the deal that ticked every box that we had about protecting close economic and political cooperation. We refused to do it.

Keir Starmer told the hustings that there had been no easy option for Labour in regards to Brexit.

(Image: Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning)

To large applause he said he campaigned and voted for Remain but he accepted the result.

He told the members that if people thought “we were cruising to victory but for Brexit then I’ll suggest they weren’t out there campaigning”.

But he said: "The Leave- Remain argument is over. We have left the EU."

He added: "We can't inherit a problem which has been deep in the Tory Party for 40 years and make it a problem of the Labour Party."

When pressed further he failed to rule out campaigning to rejoin.

(Image: Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning)

After the hustings, Rebecca Long-Bailey told the Mirror: "I don't think we should campaign to rejoin the EU.

"It would be absolutely disastrous and think we should be setting out a positive vision now of what Britain looks like outside of the EU.

"Also, holding the Government to account on the trade deal so that it doesn't water down workers' rights, environmental protections and consumer protections in the way we think they will."

The leadership candidates faced a grilling from the Daily Mirror's editor Alison Phillips and Labour party members at Dudley Town Hall.

Dudley used to be a Labour stronghold but the town’s two constituencies fell to the Conservatives in December’s general election .

Mirror readers also heard from the five candidates for the deputy leadership: Angela Rayner, Rosena Allin-Khan, Ian Murray, Dawn Butler and Richard Burgon.