A bill on the in-out EU referendum passed on its second reading in the Commons yesterday, with a large majority voting to back a referendum.

The Bill was passed in the Commons by 544 votes to 53, with the Tories who promised a vote as part of their election campaign gaining the support of Lib Dem, SNP and Labour MPs.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond - who is driving the Bill through Parliament - said the vote meant an entire generation of Britons would have the right to decide on the country’s relationship with the EU. The last vote on EU membership was in 1975, two years after Britain joined what was then called the European Economic Community.

However, the already controversial proposal took a further divisive turn, as Euro-sceptic MPs from a number of political parties claimed that the Bill would free the government from commitments to impartiality, to which it is normally bound by ahead of a referendum; this, some said, would leave the government free to use public money to campaign to remain part of the EU.

Though Hammond denied that this would be the case, Eurosceptic former environment secretary Owen Paterson said the lack of a ‘Purdah’ could make the EU referendum appear “rigged,” and risked the results being seen as “illegitimate.”

MPs also criticised the decision to raise spending limits on the rival campaigns, which they claimed would benefit the pro-European ‘Yes’ camp.

Views also differed on the issue of voting age; Labour, Lib Dem and SNP MPs support lowering the voting age to 16, as was the case in last year’s referendum on Scottish Independence.

Speaking after the vote, Labour MP for Leeds Central and shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn said that, though Labour may still take part in an official ‘Yes’ campaign on EU membership, there would be a distinct ‘Yes’ campaign from the opposition.

Reacting to concerns expressed by some party members that Labour’s participation with the Tories  in the Better Together campaign ahead of the Scottish Independence referendum last year damaged the party’s reputation, he said,  “I’m not going to be standing on a platform with David Cameron.”

He continued, “We don’t yet know what the (official) Yes campaign is going to be. That decision is for later, it’s not for now. [But] There are distinctive Labour values about workers’ rights and fairness which are not shared by the Conservatives. Look at the legislation they’re proposing to bring forward.”