Alok Sharma, the Member of Parliament for Reading West, has voted to support the EU Referendum Bill as it received its Second Reading in the House of Commons.

The Bill was introduced by Conservative MP James Wharton as a Private Members Bill, and if successful, will lead to the first public vote on Europe for 40 years, after a renegotiation for a new deal in the EU.

Alok Sharma said: “Only the Conservatives are voting to give the British people a say on Europe. Labour does not trust the British people to give their verdict on our relationship with Europe. Labour denied the British people a vote on the Lisbon Treaty in 2007 and now they want to refuse them a say again.”

Alok continued: “It has been nearly 40 years since the British people last had their say on Europe and most of us have never had a say on Europe at all. I was only seven years old at the last referendum. This question about our membership of the EU is already there and ignoring it will not make it go away. These concerns deserve to be heard and acted upon and I support the Prime Minister in his attempts to secure a renegotiation before holding an in-our vote on our membership of the EU.”