Speaking in an interview with public broadcaster BBC, Starmer said the government should be prepared to go further in areas where closer alignment serves the national interest.
He said the relationship between Britain and the EU was stronger than it had been in a decade.
Britain narrowly voted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum and formally exited the bloc in 2020.
"I think we should get closer, and if it’s in our national interest to have even closer alignment with the single market, then we should consider that—we should go that far," Starmer told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg.
"I think it’s in our national interest to go further," he added.
Last month, London and Brussels agreed to allow British students to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus+ exchange programme from 2027, begin talks on electricity market integration and finalise a food and drink trade agreement, the Reuters news agency reported.
Starmer said similar cooperation should be considered in other sectors, arguing that relations with the EU should be assessed on an "issue-by-issue, sector-by-sector" basis.
The opposition Conservative Party, which was in power during the Brexit referendum and Britain’s departure from the EU, accused Starmer’s Labour government of a "Brexit betrayal," saying closer alignment with the single market would undermine the country’s sovereignty, Reuters reported.
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Source: bbc.com, Reuters