Wes Streeting has said leaving the European Union was a "catastrophic mistake" and the Vote Leave campaign "deluded itself" that the UK could forge a free trade "nirvana". The Ilford North MP took aim at Brexit in his first public appearance since resigning as health secretary as he set out his fledgling policy platform for a run at the Labour leadership.

Mr Streeting, speaking at the Progress think tank’s conference in London on Saturday, said Britain must pursue a new special relationship with the EU. He signalled that he wanted to see the country rejoin the trade bloc in the future. Moving closer to Europe was the first of three major policy ideas Mr Streeting floated. Voters backed leaving the bloc by 52% to 48% in the 2016 referendum.

In his speech, Mr Streeting also called for a debate over what type of capitalism his party wants and how the UK creates and benefits from economic growth. Thirdly, he insisted the UK must not treat the destruction of shared truth as inevitable.

Mr Streeting said the country needed to look to the creation of the BBC amid the media innovations of the early 20th century as a blueprint for how to "take the pen back" from social media bosses in Silicon Valley.

The MP called for a proper contest to replace Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, confirming he would stand if a race is triggered.

His speech comes after Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham was cleared to run for selection to be the candidate in the Makerfield by-election.

Mr Burnham needs to be an MP in order to join any contest to succeed the Prime Minister, who has vowed publicly that he will fight any challenge.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester told ITV that he would not be advocating for Britain to rejoin the EU at the by-election and his focus would be on domestic issues rather than getting trapped in a debate about the bloc.

But he said in the long term a case could be made for rejoining.

Sir Keir on Monday said his Government would be defined by putting the UK at the "heart of Europe", but stopped short of promising to reverse Brexit.

The Prime Minister vowed to set up an "ambitious" youth experience scheme as the centrepiece of his efforts to recalibrate the UK’s relationship with Brussels.

He urged the party to reject arguments of the past when asked whether Labour would seek access to the EU single market or customs union as part of a future manifesto.

Sir Keir was speaking in a pitch to voters and Labour campaigners after his party suffered an electoral drubbing across England, Wales and Scotland last week.