EU referendum backed by majority voters in constituency ballot The People's Pledge campaign said 14,590 votes were recorded, of which 90% backed a referendum on Britain's EU membership. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA Campaigners for a referendum on EU membership claimed a breakthrough on Thursday when nearly 15,000 voters in Thurrock, Essex, backed a referendum by an overwhelming majority in a special constituency poll. The multi-party People's Pledge campaign disclosed that 47,995 ballot forms had been distributed across the Thurrock constituency and 14,590 votes recorded, with 13,111 (89.9%) backing a referendum and 1,479 against. Ian McKenzie, the campaign's communications director, said the 30.3% turnout was "truly astonishing," higher than many council election turnouts.. He added: "This turnout is unignorable. The sitting MP and her Labour opponent cannot stick their fingers in their ears, or they are half the politicians I think they are. We were just 2,000 short of the votes the main candidates got in the election. Votes could be cast by post, online, text or phone. The poll was overseen by Electoral Reform Services. The campaign plans 11 more constituency referendums this year and up to 100 next year to pile pressure on the party establishments. The next referendum is likely this summer in a constituency chosen from a shortlist of 10 put forward by constituency activists. Thurrock is classic anti-EU territory, but the campaign insists it is not anti-Europe and has an innovative campaign strategy that will unsettle the main parties. McKenzie, a highly regarded Labour campaigner, insists he is personally pro-European, but has been happy to work alongside Tories, such as the Eurosceptic Douglas Carswell, to show the demand for a referendum. Thurrock was chosen by People's Pledge to make MPs in marginal seats recognise the importance of the issue to their electorates. The Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price won Thurrock in May 2010 from Labour with a majority of 92. She voted against an EU referendum in the Commons in October. The question on the ballot paper read: "Voters should be given a national referendum on whether the UK remains a member of the European Union. Agree or disagree? Privately the campaign is also putting pressure on Labour and the Conservatives to consider putting a commitment to a referendum in their 2015 election manifestos. The issue has already been discussed by the shadow cabinet in the past month but so far there is strong opposition to trying to steal a democratic march on the Conservatives. Only 11 of the 64 MPs that have signed the People's Pledge are Labour. The 11 include the leftwinger Jon Cruddas, the former Europe minister Keith Vaz and the chair of the backbench business committee Natascha Engel.