Sir Keir Starmer mentioned “Brexit” just once in his speech to the Labour Party Conference this week - in the context of immigration.

It was unsurprising, given the Prime Minister’s track record of ignoring the same elephant in the room about which he previously shouted so loudly when he vehemently opposed Brexit back in late 2019.

However, it was dispiriting nonetheless.

Sir Keir did not mention "Europe", or the "European Union", in his speech.

The single mention of "Brexit" came in this section of the Prime Minister's speech: “The debate is not about the worth of migrants. That is toxic and we must move beyond it. It’s about control of migration. It’s always been about control.

“That is what people have voted for time and again. And look - they weren’t just ignored after Brexit. The Tories gave them the exact opposite. An immigration system deliberately reformed to reduce control.”

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It seemed like so much playing to the gallery, to those red-wall voters who swept Boris Johnson to power in December 2019. The same voters that Sir Keir and his Government now seem so desperate to pander to at every opportunity after winning many of them back over in the July 4 general election.

European Movement UK, which was formed by Sir Winston Churchill in 1949 to prevent further conflict between European countries and has former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Heseltine as its president, summed up the situation rather well this week. It quite rightly portrayed Brexit as “the underlying crisis facing this country”, declaring: "Shhh. Just don't mention the EU." And European Movement UK observed: "PM ignores EU in flagship speech."

It declared: “Sir Keir Starmer didn't mention Europe at all. If he's serious about national renewal, he must finally face the damage being done in every corner of the UK.”

Surely it is difficult to disagree with this statement.

Sir Nick Harvey, former defence minister and chief executive of European Movement UK, said: "Being outside the European single market is costing our economy £115 billion a year and the public finances more than £40 billion a year. The Government can neither stimulate significant growth nor rebuild public services without addressing that. Harsh reality won't go away just because they are too timid to mention it."

“Too timid” is a most apposite description.

The latest omission on Europe from the Prime Minister is clearly not accidental, given such head-in-the-sand behaviour has been par for the course in major policy speeches by Sir Keir and members of his Cabinet.

Mike Galsworthy, who chairs European Movement UK, said: "Closer ties between the UK and EU are the only way to fix so many of the problems pummelling the UK economy and affecting us all. We have cut ourselves off from our principal market, our most important partners, and that is the underlying crisis that faces this country.

"Sir Keir Starmer cannot get something for nothing in his EU negotiations. We need him to be more ambitious, starting with youth mobility, touring visas and enhanced UK-EU defence cooperation."

European Movement UK noted that Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy did "didn't mention Labour's commitment to introducing EU touring visas for UK musicians and artists" in her speech to the Labour Party Conference.

The organisation added: “When the general election was called in May, European Movement's president, Lord Heseltine, felt it would be the most 'dishonest of his lifetime', saying, 'you can’t have a discussion about the country’s economy, or its defence, or immigration, without mentioning Brexit'. Now more than ever, the UK must have a forward-looking independent inquiry into the impacts of leaving the EU on the UK, and the future of the UK-EU relationship.”

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Such an inquiry, of course, looks most unlikely.

Labour’s silence on Brexit will indicate to many that Sir Keir’s Government knows exactly what damage is being done to the UK by the hard exit from the EU implemented by former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson.

And you would hope that Sir Keir would from time to time remember, at least privately, why he so stridently opposed Brexit back in 2019.

If this UK Government does not know the damage being done to the UK economy and society by Brexit, this is a monumental failure on its part.

There is plenty of expert analysis for it to read.

Office for Budget Responsibility chairman Richard Hughes said of Brexit’s effect in the spring of last year: “We think that in the long run it reduces our overall output by around 4% compared with had we remained in the EU.”

Centre for European Reform associate fellow John Springford estimates Brexit had by the second quarter of 2022 reduced the UK's gross domestic product by 5.5%.

Economists at heavyweight US investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a research paper published in February: “The UK has significantly underperformed other advanced economies since the 2016 EU referendum, with lower growth and higher inflation.”

Read more: Kate Forbes says economic growth crucial, sees Brexit 'conspiracy of silence'

There are plenty of other experts telling a similar tale. Hopefully, Sir Keir does not, like Michael Gove declared, think people in this country “have had enough of experts”.

The welter of analysis tells a simple truth: Brexit is causing very major economic damage.

This is something that should be of deep concern to the Labour Government, especially given Sir Keir claims economic growth is its "number one priority".

Yet Sir Keir and his Cabinet colleagues seem to view the simple truth on Brexit as unworthy of being mentioned.

The Prime Minister told the Labour Party Conference: “The truth is that if we take tough long-term decisions now, if we stick to the driving purpose behind everything we do - higher economic growth so living standards rise in every community; our NHS facing the future - waiting lists at your hospital down; safer streets in your community; stronger borders; more opportunities for your children; clean British energy powering your home - then that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you, we get there much more quickly.”

If he is actually looking for “higher economic growth” to boost living standards, Sir Keir should shake off his timidity and start trying to take the UK back into the European single market.

Given the continuing absence of Labour policies that might boost growth, it will be an excruciatingly long haul unless the Prime Minister addresses the huge Brexit problem. Sadly, listening to Sir Keir and his colleagues this week, the path ahead looks to be one of protracted misery, through the UK Government’s most deliberate choices.