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'"Only by setting an early date can we kick-start EU renegotiation talks and give the British people what they so clearly want - a say on our country's future with Europe," he wrote.
End Quote Downing Street spokesmanWe will not allow this amendment to be passed under any circumstances - the PM will not let it stand"
"The fact is, the British people are not convinced there will be a referendum at all if we wait until after the next general election. So many things can change.
"They don't understand why we can't have one right away - and that makes them suspicious.
"Many people think delaying the vote is just a tactic to allow all the political leaders to kick the can even further down the road."
He said 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."
UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he would be "absolutely delighted" if there was an early referendum.
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.
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UKIP leader Nigel Farage says he would be "absolutely delighted" by a potential referendum over the EU.
"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."
In response to Mr Afriyie, according to the Mail on Sunday, a Downing Street spokesman said: "We will not allow this amendment to be passed under any circumstances. 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.
"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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