CHELMSFORD MP Sir Simon Burns has joined the Prime Minister in the fight for the UK to remain in the European Union.

MPs have been quick to reveal their positions on Europe after David Cameron announced a preferred date of Thursday, June 23, for the in/out EU referendum at the weekend.

The announcement came after he secured a deal to reform the UK’s membership of the EU last week.

The Prime Minister has said he will vote to stay in the EU with our reformed membership. Sir Simon, a long-term fan of Europe, said it’s now vital voters have their say in June on the future membership of the country.

He said: “I believe it is in the national interest for us to remain within the European Union, but frankly this is not an issue that is going to be decided by MPs alone, but by the individual voters of Chelmsford and the rest of the UK.

“It will be for them, rather than MPs, like me, to determine whether we remain in the EU.”

Will Cameron’s changes keep us in?

PRIME Minister David Cameron returned from Brussels last week with a reformation of the UK’s membership of the EU, but will it be enough to convince people to vote to stay in?

The vote, scheduled for Thursday, June 23, will be just seven weeks after the public go to the polls for local council elections and to vote for a new police and crime commissioner.

The referendum will ask: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union, or leave the European Union?”

British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens, who are resident in the UK and aged over 18, will be able to vote, along with UK nationals living overseas for fewer than 15 years.

They will vote on whether the reforms to, among other things, freedom of movement, protecting the sovereignty of the nation, child benefit and migrant welfare payments, are enough to keep us in the EU.

The reforms would come into place immediately, should we vote to stay in the EU and would see child benefit paid to migrants with children living abroad recalculated to reflect the cost of living in their home countries, as well as new powers to exclude people believed to be a security risk.