SIR Keir Starmer today tried to woo back sceptical Brexiteers by vowing to "take back control".
The Labour boss used his New Year speech to appeal to the Leave supporters who deserted the party in droves at the last election.
But the once-devout Remainer came under fire on multiple fronts and was warned he still has “a lot of convincing to do”.
Despite advocating a second referendum while working for Jeremy Corbyn, he said he “couldn’t disagree” with the arguments made by Brexiteers during the campaign.
He even pinched Vote Leave’s catchphrase as he revealed plans for a Take Back Control Bill to spread democracy around Britain will feature if he becomes PM.
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Speaking in East London, Sir Keir said: “It’s not unreasonable for us to recognise the desire for communities to stand on their own feet.
“It’s what Take Back Control meant. The control people want is control over their lives and their community.
“So we will embrace the Take Back Control message. But we’ll turn it from a slogan to a solution. From a catchphrase into change. We will spread control out of Westminster.”
The Tories branded Sir Keir’s latest pitch for power “another vacuous relaunch” and accused him of peddling “empty slogans”.
Conservative MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said: “It’s outrageous that Sir Keir thinks he can fool the British public by saying he will ‘Take Back Control’.
“He voted 48 times to frustrate Brexit and the will of the people and was a key advocate of a second referendum.”
Baroness Kate Hoey, a former Labour Minister, said: “He has a lot of convincing to do especially for those Labour voters in the Red Wall who deserted the party at the last election."
Labour MP Diane Abbott said the policy was just “an empty promise” if there was no new money.
And Remainer bible the New European told Sir Keir to “fire” whoever told him to steal the Take Back Control rhetoric.
Sir Keir declined to say whether he regretted arguing for a second referendum while working for Jeremy Corby.
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But he told the Sun he accepted there was “always something very important sitting behind that leave vote.”
And he admitted the message of Take Back Control - masterminded by Dominic Cummings - captured a “powerful” feeling in the country.
Yet it risks opening a fresh row with sections of his own party still agitating for closer ties with the EU.
Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wants to rejoin Brussels’ single market - meaning Britain would have to follow the block’s rules - but Sir Keir flatly ruled that out.
Labour says the Take Back Control Bill will be in Sir Keir’s first King’s Speech should he win the keys to No10.
It would give the public greater powers to decide on how services are run in their areas and how government funding is spent.
New laws would also force Westminster to bend to the will of local residents unless there are very good reasons to block something.
Since becoming leader in 2019 following the party’s worst result since the 1930s, Sir Keir has tried to claw back support in Red Wall towns that abandoned Labour.
Trying to muscle in on the Tories’ turf, he said today: “The changes we’ve made – on antisemitism, on national security and NATO, on making economic stability the platform for everything we do – has restored a degree of trust. Laid a foundation. This year, we’ve got to build on that.”
