Tory MP Wants EU Referendum Before Election A Conservative MP has broken ranks with his party by saying he wants an EU referendum before the next general election set for 2015. Adam Afriyie said the public was "not convinced" that Prime Minister David Cameron would stick to his pledge to hold an "in-out" vote on Europe by 2017. Mr Afriyie wants the poll to take place three years earlier in 2014 and is reportedly set to force a Commons vote on the issue in five weeks' time. But Number 10 slapped down his plan to table an amendment to legislation that paves the way for a vote in 2017 - insisting it would not be allowed to pass "in any circumstances." Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Afriyie said delaying posed "significant dangers" including building support for the UK Independence Party (Ukip) - a serious concern for many colleagues and activists. And he claimed the support of "many MPs from across all the main parties" for an early referendum. But he was warned by the fellow Tory MP trying to steer the Government-backed legislation through Parliament that the move would delay and even "kill" his private member's bill altogether. James Wharton said: "This amendment would make it far more difficult to navigate the challenging procedural hurdles we need to overcome and I hope its sponsors might rethink their approach. We need to build as broad a base of support for the bill as we can if we are to get it through Parliament and the policy of a re-negotiation, followed by an in/out referendum, is the right one to do that and the right one for the country. I hope MPs will decline to support it as the ultimate impact might well be to kill my bill, which would only help those who don't want any referendum at all.