UK newspaper The Guardian reports, quoting unnamed sources:

  • David Cameron is drawing up plans to bring forward an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union by a year to 2016 in order to avoid a politically dangerous clash with the French and German elections in 2017
  • "The mood now is definitely to accelerate the process and give us the option of holding the referendum in 2016," one source said. "We had always said that 2017 was a deadline rather than a fixed date."
  • A parliamentary bill to approve the referendum will be included in the Queen's speech on 27 May
  • The bill will be formally tabled in the House of Commons shortly afterwards to ensure that the prime minister has the option of holding the referendum next year

More at the link

I'll keep an eye out for confirmation from other sources. The UK Telegraph yesterday had similar reports