A EURO-MP has urged her party colleagues to rebel against their leadership.

Lib Dem MPs have been ordered to vote against a plan to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU).

But Yorkshire Lib Dem Euro-MP Diana Wallis has urged her colleagues to vote for a referendum in the House of Commons on Monday.

She said: “I say this as a pro-European: the UK people desperately need a voice on the EU.

“The last vote on this issue was in 1975 and it is clear that our relationship with the EU has changed significantly since then without any national debate.

“I am confident that, when presented with the full facts, the people of the UK would vote to stay in the EU. We need the informed debate and the opportunity to move on.

“I have been fighting Euro elections since the early 1980s and, although on the face of it these would be ideal opportunities to debate EU issues, we never do as those elections get hijacked by some other national issue of the day.

“The Government must commit to a vote before the end of this Parliament or our democracy will be brought into further disrepute”.