The row over a referendum on Europe is set to cause ructions within Labour ranks as well as the Conservatives, a senior MP has warned.
Graham Stringer accused Labour leader Ed Miliband of making a "mistake" by subjecting the party to a three-line whip on next Monday's vote over whether to hold an in/out national poll on the EU. The former Labour whip said he will defy the order for MPs to oppose the proposals, arguing it was time people were "given a choice".
"I don't agree with him (Mr Miliband)," he told BBC Radio 4. "He's got his job to do. I think it is a mistake of all three party leaders when the public are clearly aching for a say on Europe to say, no, you can't have it. I shall vote for the motion. I think there should be a referendum."
It comes after Labour claimed David Cameron was facing a "mutiny" over the vote with a number of ministerial aides poised to quit.
More than 60 Conservative MPs have backed a motion calling for a national poll, and senior party figures have pledged to defy the leadership if it ordered them to oppose the plans - Conservative Stewart Jackson said he was one of those who would quit his junior position in Government. Meanwhile the parliamentary private secretary to Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson told the BBC that Europe was a "totemic issue" for the party.
An amendment to the motion apparently designed to head off a Tory rebellion has been tabled by backbench MP George Eustice. Mr Eustice, who as a former press secretary to Mr Cameron is seen as close to Downing Street, emailed fellow Tory MPs with the amendment and urged them to back it.
It calls for the Government to start renegotiating Britain's relationship with the EU before holding a referendum on the results of that process. In his email, Mr Eustice suggested the amended motion "more closely reflects the views of the majority of the parliamentary party".
A second amendment, tabled by Conservative MP Richard Harrington and backed by four other Tories, states that it was "wrong" for previous governments to hand over powers to Brussels without a referendum but does not call for a fresh referendum now.
The amendment appears to be designed to allow Conservative MPs to voice their euroscepticism without breaching their loyalty to the Government, though it is not yet clear whether it has the backing of Downing Street.
Some 78 MPs have so far signed the referendum motion, including 61 Conservatives, nine from Labour and all eight members of the DUP.