British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered an embarrassing defeat in parliament on Monday, after Eurosceptic members of his Conservative Party joined with opposition MPs to reject proposed rules for the upcoming referendum on remaining in the European Union, agencies reported.
It is Cameron's first parliamentary defeat since winning the general election in May by a narrow majority, according to Reuters.
AFP points out that the defeat in the House of Representatives, where he has a majority with only 16 mandates, indicates that Cameron is facing a struggle to keep his own conservatives - Eurosceptics in line ahead of the referendum, which should be held by the end of 2017.
The government's plan to limit the application of the so-called purdah-propisa (rules on purdah), according to which it is ministers are prohibited from making statements in the election campaign that could influence the result of the vote, was rejected with 312 votes, compared to 285.
For the purpose of overvoting, the Eurosceptics teamed up with MPs from the main opposition Labor and Scottish National parties.
Commenting on the results of the vote, shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn said the government had acted "sloppy" with the arrangements for the referendum and that it was a "humiliating defeat for Cameron", as MPs from all sides backed Labour's purdah-regulation approach, which implies complete impartiality in the campaign, the BBC reported.
Conservative Owen Paterson said that if the public perceives that the referendum is rigged to help one side, they will not see it as legitimate and will not feel that the debates are genuine, and whatever the results are, many will not accept them.
Reuters estimates that the defeat in the vote with the help of rebels from his own party will "set off an alarm" for Cameron, signaling that deep historical divisions over Europe among the Conservatives still exist.
Bonus video:
