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Adam Afriyie: "Eighty per cent of people want a referendum''
A leading Conservative backbench MP has said he will try to force the government to hold an early vote on whether Britain should leave the EU.
Adam Afriyie said voters were "not convinced" by the prime minister's promise to put the issue to an "in or out" referendum in 2017 - after the next general election.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said he would push for a vote next October.
But one fellow Eurosceptic said the move was "really bad timing".
Mr Afriyie - who has denied newspaper claims he is being groomed to replace party leader David Cameron - said he would table an amendment to the European Union (Referendum) Bill on Monday.
'Absolutely delighted'Mr Cameron has pledged to renegotiate the UK's relationship with the EU before an in/out referendum in 2017.
But, speaking on the BBC's Sunday Politics programme, Mr Afriyie said there would be "ample time" to conduct this renegotiation by as early as next year.
"By having a referendum in 2014, it gives us 12 months to renegotiate," he said. "But more than that, it kick-starts negotiations."
End Quote Downing Street spokesmanWe will not allow this amendment to be passed under any circumstances - the PM will not let it stand"
EU member states would need to "accommodate" British demands for reforms "if they wish us to remain".
He argued: "I think it strengthens the prime minister's hand."
The MP continued: "Eighty-per-cent of people want a referendum. More than 50% of people want a referendum this side of the election. British businesses need certainty.
"Look, we can carry on kicking this can down the road forever. But I've had a struggle with my conscience over this one. I don't want to cause any trouble over it, but I think it's absolutely essential that Parliament and MPs have the opportunity to search their souls and to give people a referendum this side of the election."
In his Mail on Sunday article, he predicted that - without a referendum before 2015 - "large numbers of people will continue to vote UKIP whatever happens - and if they do, there is a distinct danger that Labour will gain a majority and we will never see a referendum at all".
Meanwhile, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he would be "absolutely delighted" if there was an early referendum.
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UKIP leader Nigel Farage says he would be "absolutely delighted" by a potential referendum over the EU
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme on Sunday that a referendum before 2015 would be good for British industry and business.
"Adam Afriyie has put his finger on the real problem - and that's that four years ago, Mr Cameron gave us a cast-iron guarantee that there would be a referendum. This time last year, he was saying there would not be a referendum, and he is now saying there should be a referendum.
"People are not quite sure what to believe."
But Home Secretary Theresa May warned that Mr Afriyie had "got it wrong".
Speaking on the Andrew Marr programme, she said: "We need to be negotiating that settlement with the European Union and then put to the British people the Europe of the future - not the Europe of the past - and give them that opportunity to say in or out.
"What is crucial is that we have, at the next election, a Conservative party that will be offering people that renegotiation of a new settlement with Europe, looking to the future and then putting that to the British people in an in/out referendum. And what the amendment possibly could do... is jeopardise that bill."
A Downing Street spokesman said of Mr Afriyie's plan: "The PM will not let it stand."
'Completely mad'Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom, a prominent anti-EU campaigner, backed Mr Cameron's idea of a referendum if the Conservatives win the 2015 election.
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Home Secretary Theresa May says Conservative MP Adam Afriyie has "got it wrong"
"The timing that David Cameron's proposing... is actually good because there's a huge amount of change that's going to take place in the EU that gives Britain the chance for real reform," she told BBC Radio 5 live.
"So calling it early just loses that chance, so it's completely mad to do that."
Mr Afriyie's plan was a "huge disappointment," she added.
James Wharton, the Tory MP who is attempting to steer the referendum bill through Parliament, told the station it could even "kill" the legislation altogether.
"My concern is that any amendment, no matter how well-meaning it might be, is going to make the progress of the bill more difficult and it'll make it easier for those MPs who want to use procedural techniques to slow it down and stop it... that bit more possible.
"I don't want to see that. I'd like to see my bill go through and I think this harms the chances of that happening."
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