Proposed changes to the UK's relationship with the European Union have failed to win over the public - with a poll showing support for a so-called Brexit has grown.
British Prime Minister David Cameron hoped the package he has spent months negotiating would boost the In campaign.
But a YouGov poll for The Times carried out two days after the outline plan was revealed found 45% intended to vote Out - up three points on the previous week.
Some 36% of voters want Britain to remain in the 28-strong bloc, while 19% are undecided.
This represents a record lead for the Out campaign.
The poll result came after Stuart Rose, the former Marks and Spencer boss leading the campaign to remain in the EU, predicted a win "by a substantial margin".
The Tory Lord made his claim in an upbeat and witty speech to political journalists at Westminster in which he poked fun at his anti-EU opponents and even Mr Cameron.
But Eurosceptic MPs immediately dismissed his boast as a joke.
Conservatives for Britain chairman Steve Baker, who was in the audience, said the prediction "may come back to haunt him".
On the peer's prediction of the referendum result, Mr Baker later came up with his own prediction: a victory for the Leave campaign by 60% to 40%.
And UKIP's leader Nigel Farage accused Lord Rose of "massive complacency" and said: "He may be in for a shock".
